Comments on: 2009 Delete Key Awards Grand Prize Winner — Stephenie Meyer’s ‘The Host’

By: timotaka

timotaka — Sat, 26 Jun 2010 18:45:34 +0000

I found this place by chance. I started reading The Host to get some feel of Meyer’s writing, just to educate myself. Within the first 25 pages I came cross this gem:

“My mind gave me the words I needed, and the tone that would convey what I couldn’t say without using many words.
‘Have I been placed in a damaged host in order to gain the information you need, Seeker?’”

And that’s the end of the paragraph. So what was the tone of voice actually like? What was the intended nonverbal message? We’ll never know.

By: Matchbox Music Review – Wooden Houses « The Matchbox: Resourcing Christians in the Arts

Fri, 30 Oct 2009 14:00:04 +0000

[...] (I will never fully understand the success of Stephanie Meyer or Danielle Steele, and thankfully I’m not alone), just as there will always be ridiculously talented folks who play only for their families or [...]

By: Bella the Doormat – Another Reason to Say Goodnight to ‘Twilight’? « One-Minute Book Reviews

Wed, 16 Sep 2009 04:03:43 +0000

[...] that Stephenie Meyer writes at a fourth-grade reading level … and that’s in her adult novel, The Host? You’ve gotten your excuse from the authors of Beyond Heaving Bosoms: The Smart Bitches’ [...]

By: 1minutebookreviewswordpresscom

1minutebookreviewswordpresscom — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 05:45:39 +0000

“Five pages on plot that could have been summed up in five lines” — Right … and that’s only one of the problems with Meyer’s writing.

By: carmenv

carmenv — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 03:30:34 +0000

Stephenie.

By: carmenv

carmenv — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 03:27:27 +0000

I have just slogged through the fourth and final (let’s hope!) Twilight series book. I wanted to know what happened next, but it was hard to spend five pages on plot that could have been summed up in five lines. I have analyzed some of my own published writing using Word statistics–I’m only slightly ahead of Stephanie. But will I have to waste quite so much paper to become a bestseller? Thank you for warning me away from The Host.

By: 1minutebookreviewswordpresscom

1minutebookreviewswordpresscom — Thu, 26 Mar 2009 02:59:58 +0000

Thanks, Malcolm. But I have a feeling you don’t give too many five-star reviews to books filled with lines like, “It’s a voluntary choice .”
Jan

By: knightofswords

knightofswords — Thu, 26 Mar 2009 02:09:56 +0000

I live in fear that I will write a lengthy 5-star review on Amazon of a book you will ultimately announce as a delete key award grand prize winner.

Well hell, there was no chance of that happening this year. Nice choice.

Malcolm

By: Good writing vs. bad writing « Christchurch City Libraries Blog

Good writing vs. bad writing « Christchurch City Libraries Blog — Wed, 18 Mar 2009 02:26:45 +0000

[...] for Mr Leary it’s Stephenie Meyer who gets the gong this year. Specifically for her novel The Host. There are a couple of reasons given for it being designated [...]

By: 1minutebookreviewswordpresscom

1minutebookreviewswordpresscom — Tue, 17 Mar 2009 14:59:01 +0000

Yes, I did hear of his comment (though by the time I did, I had already reviewed the book and had put Meyer high on the list of potential finalists).

One of the interesting things about King’s comment is that King is normally one of the most generous authors in America to his fellow writers. He does much more to help them than many others do — not just by providing blurbs for books but in many other ways. So when he criticizes a fellow novelists, it means much more than it would if the remark came from someone who is less charitable.

By: Jillian

Jillian — Tue, 17 Mar 2009 07:12:31 +0000

I can not agree more with this winner. I’m assuming you have heard of this comment from Stephen King. But in case you haven’t, this is a quote from him from an interview from a magazine. “When asked about how his work may have influenced both Meyer and J.K. Rowling, King said the following: “Both Rowling and Meyer, they’re speaking directly to young people. … The real difference is that Jo Rowling is a terrific writer and Stephenie Meyer can’t write worth a darn. She’s not very good.”

By: 1minutebookreviewswordpresscom

1minutebookreviewswordpresscom — Tue, 17 Mar 2009 05:26:27 +0000

Every year when I hand out the Delete Key Awards, I look for writing that is almost comically bad, because otherwise the posts might be too disheartening to read. Thanks so much for getting it .

By: Bissrok

Bissrok — Tue, 17 Mar 2009 04:42:03 +0000

Wow. And I thought I sucked at writing.

“He nuzzled his face against mine until he found my lips, then he kissed me, slow and gentle, the flow of molten rock swelling languidly in the dark at the center of the earth, until my shaking slowed.”

I think that needs to be on a motivational poster or something. You know, so other writers can look up from their keyboards, see it, and remember that their competition is really, really terrible. I think it would be inspiring. Or, if anything, it give them a good laugh.