Note: Spoilers are in white. You can read them if you highlight them.
The Host (Stephenie Meyer)
★★★★1/2
First off, let me say that anyone hating on it for Twilight-related reasons will be bludgeoned to near-death with a toothpick. Read it before you make your opinions.
I started reading this the day we picked up our books (Wednesday of dead week, I think), and had to finish it by the following Saturday, because I had to know what happened by the end so badly. I actually had to cover the parts of the page that I hadn't read yet with my hand so that I wouldn't read ahead. Somehow, Meyer managed to convince someone who was used to "nobody-died-at-the-end-except-for-nobody-cares-Irina" Breaking Dawn that there was, in fact, a chance that someone important would die. It was one of those stories that made you think, "Gosh, it would really suck if I died before I could finish this."
Actually, right up to the part where Wanderer was taken out of Melanie, I really did think that Meyer was incapable of killing her off. When it actually happened, I had to put the book down and process it for a second. I actually thought that the first part of the next chapter was some sort of psychedelic afterlife thing or something. Of course, instead of dying, she gets put into a seventeen-year-old body, and her main issue in life goes from being "How am I going to eat tomorrow?!" to "Hohoho, let's see how old and not awkward I can pretend I am!"
Let me say to those of you who read the high rating in disbelief that the summary on the inside cover does not adequately convey the essence of The Host. It is, in large part, a love story, but it is also much, much more. Those of you who read it searching for an epic romance with Jared will be disappointed... the reasons being that, a. Jared is not the only main love interest of the protagonist, and b. there is another character who draws Wanderer to him with probably greater force than Jared does. This second character really should have been mentioned in the summary in some way, but, like the idiomatic chopped liver, is ignored for the purpose of selling the novel to people expecting something like Twilight.
Another great thing about the book was the imaginativeness (yes, that is a real word) of the various alien worlds that are introduced. They were reminiscent of places like those of Gulliver's Travels and The Little Prince: they acted as foils for Earth. The creatures that exist on them were so fantastic that I was surprised that they had been used in a book for adults- but then, I think anyone can appreciate that sort of thing. I don't know how accurate these places could be scientifically, but then anything can exist if you call it an allegory, which I think, in this case, you can. The Host has a message; I don't particularly want to name it, because that would make me feel like I was answering SAT questions, but there is a clear message coupled with the compelling story.
On to the flaws. These were distracting, but they didn't completely ruin the book (if they had, I would have given it a lower rating). It was the difference between a bruised and a rotten apple. First, the romance was very awkward sometimes. I know that the "clean-ness" of Twilight was one of its best qualities, but that quality is lost on The Host. It seems very silly to discuss... erm... the limits shall we say, of a relationship, when the world as we know it has come to an end. I did not understand the reasons for devoting dialogue to the topic. It would have been just fine to leave such considerations to the reader's imagination.
The second flaw that I will discuss wasn't really as bad... but there was a slightly chafing feel of déjà vu about some of it. I suppose I can't expect it to be that different from Twilight, being by the same author, but some of Edward's more gentlemanly qualities seemed lost in a place where the number of known surviving and conscious humans can be counted using the book club's collevtive hands. Also, the word "chagrin" is used rather a lot. Sometimes several times in the same passage. I didn't want to use the word "irritating" to describe my first complaint in this paragraph, but it is certainly irritating to read "chagrin" as many times as it is used in The Host, especially because the secondary protagonist is, if you will pardon my language, extremely badass. Just as I think that it is ridiculous that Sebastian, in some fanworks, feels pain when separated in any way from Ciel (these lovely characters come from Black Butler), I also think it ridiculous that Melanie and anyone occupying her body and being influenced by her thoughts should feel such heavy amounts of chagrin.
Another issue was that Melanie never completely takes over her body again while Wanderer is occupying it. It seemed that she might gain enough strength to do so, and it would have been nice to see the effects, but it never did happen. In my opinion, this was a wasted opportunity.
The last problem was probably magnified, in part, by my own preferences, but I think that everyone will agree that the differences in age between Melanie, Wanderer's new host, Jared, and Ian, were unneccessarily large. I mean really? NINE YEARS? WHY?!!!
But these are minor complaints. I still thought that The Host was something that everyone should read, and that it would probably be good required school reading, too. It asks important questions about compassion with a story that will all but prevent you from doing your homework to finish it (actually, scratch that. It did keep me from doing homework.) (But ha ha! If it were required reading, it would be homework! *clever face*). It performed the near-impossible feat of restoring my faith in humankind- well, almost. When you realize the amounts of altruism in the book's characters, the spell is broken, and you become skeptical again. But it makes you look around you and reconsider your opinions on people.
I found that a movie for The Host is in the works, which brings me back to the reason for the title of this post. If you read the book looking for the epic romance advertised in the front flap, you won't find it. The Host is about so much more than that. And that is why I hope that if they ever make a movie out of it, they will not try to lower it to cheap romance status. I doubt that moviemakers can resist the temptation, but, hey, I can hope, right? If people can show kindness after most of humankind has been all but wiped out, can't they make a good adaptation of a book, for once?
Yeah, sure they can.
Currently reading A Curse Dark as Gold.
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