Forks... An Affair to Remember

Have you ever been thoroughly charmed by a place you've never been to? There are so many places that have that effect on me, especially considering how much I've travelled the world through books and movies/tv series that I've read or watched throughout the years. However, none have captivated me as much as the small town of Forks. Naturally I thought it apt to start my journey with this enchanting little corner of the world.

According to Bella Swan... In the Olympic Peninsula of northwest Washington State, a small town named Forks exists under a near-constant cover of clouds. It rains on this inconsequential town more than any other place in the United States of America.

The city of Forks is located in Clallam County, in the state of Washington in the United States, with a population of 3,120 (based on a 2000 census). It got its name from the forks in the nearby Quillayute, Bogachiel, Calawah and Sol Duc rivers. Incidentally, for those unfamiliar with Bella Swan, she is the leading character in the very popular series of books set in the town of Forks by Stephenie Meyer. She falls in love with Edward Cullen, a vampire. Much to her delight, Edward loves her just as much.

Washington has been one of my favourite states in the US for years, since one of my favourite authors, Jayne Ann Krentz, writes extensively about her home state that I feel as though I know it personally. Yet I never knew about Forks.

Who would have guessed that a small city like Forks (by US standards anyway) could become such a popular destination and made prominent on the world map, by a book series?! Now a large percentage of Forks visitors are fans of Stephenie Meyer's Twilight series, which is set in the town. Tours are available of locations that resembled the places described in her books, although the movie were not actually filmed in Forks. Locations include the Cullen house (Miller Tree Inn), the house where Bella moves in, and the hospital where Dr Cullen is supposed to work. But I'm jumping ahead of myself here. Let me start from the beginning...

First Glance

Though the first book in the series, Twilight, was released in 2005, I had never heard of it, Bella Swan or Stephenie Meyer until December 2008. That was when I first noticed a particular poster almost everywhere I turned. I was quite the movie buff and a huge fan of romance whether in books or movies yet I had never heard of this movie. How could something seemingly so huge have escaped my radar? I didn't really recognise the two faces on the poster but the curiouser that I was, I checked it up on my trusted site for all things movies, IMDB.com. And there it was, Twilight. Hmm.. neither the tag line of "When you can live forever what do you live for?" nor the plot summary of "A teenage girl risks everything when she falls in love with a vampire." were particularly awe-inspiring. I considered waiting for it to come out on cable.

Then I scrolled down to the cast list. The first name gave me pause. He-llo! Kristen Stewart? All grown up? I know Kristen Stewart! I remembered the first movie I saw of hers, Panic Room, with Jodie Foster. She was a tiny little thing then but I was vastly impressed that the child character featured prominently in the plot of the movie. Despite having watched the movie ages ago, I was immediately reminded of her acting. She was outstanding! Though I had not really followed her career, I did not recall the movies she was involved in being exceedingly bad. So I thought, hmm.. can't be that bad if Kristen is involved.

Somehow my younger sister's radar was tuned on the same frequency as mine by then. She'd seen the posters and heard it was good. Still, I was reluctant in spending money on a teen movie. I hedged while continuously being inundated by its posters and seeing people (mostly teens) reading the book. The only reason I knew there was a book was because the cover had the same picture as the poster and that too was drawn to my attention by my sister's excited (but hushed) exclamation, "Sis! That girl is reading the Twilight book!" Of course I thought it was just a marketing effort to make a movie or series into a book, as had been done for Roswell and Buffy the Vampire Slayer.

Somehow I gave in and we decided to watch the movie. Of course plans with my sister were not always the best laid of plans. It was decided that we would watch it on a Saturday eve after spending time with my bro (who was in hospital at the time). We'd buy the tickets from a central branch of the cinema that's by our flat. I was reluctant. I hate rushing and uncertainties so suggested going on another day. Yet somehow I relented again (quite a trend where my sister is concerned). We had a bit of trouble getting to the branch - I'd forgotten about Saturday night traffic in the heart of town, duh! - but managed to get the tickets. It was for 11.20pm.

It was early yet at the time so my wonderful sister suggested yet another detour - visiting a water-works that opened till late and has an impressive fountain display. No prize for guessing if I went along with that plan. The timing would have worked had it not been for further congestion in another part of the island and going the wrong way due to road works (okay, I suppose I can't really blame her on that one!) so much so we were about 20 minutes late. When we finally found our seats, the kids were preparing to go on a field trip. If you are familiar with the movie, you know how I'd basically missed the crucial parts of it.

I was miffed out of my mind! If there was one thing I cannot abide, it is missing any part of a movie though mind you, I did not realise how much I'd missed at the time. The movie passed along well enough though with my mood, the headache I'd worked myself into and the grainy quality of the movie, I was not able to fully appreciate it. I did think it had an interesting plot where those I'd expected to be baddies weren't though truth be told, I've always had a soft spot for stories where the unassuming girl gets the guy so it got bonus points just for that plot. I especially enjoyed the baseball game and was very much disappointed that it was interrupted by the nomad vampires. By the end, I was impressed. It was not too bad and rather enjoyable actually, considering how I'd missed the start!

Hello, My Name is Edward Cullen

- A Reintroduction

So naturally my ever curious mind demanded that I *cough* find alternative viewing sources just to watch the first 20 minutes I'd missed - just so I'd understand the story better, of course. And wouldn't you know after a concerted effort and finally finding a viewable source, I ended up watching the whole movie each time. After the first time I watched the full movie, I thought, Whoa! This is some movie! I've got to find out more about this.

Aaah.. this must be how an angel looks when he is smiling

And that Edward Cullen and his family, wow oh wow! A whole family of benevolent vampires led by the patriarch, Dr Carlilsle Cullen, who is a medical doctor. What a novelty! If that was not noteworthy enough, they don't feed on humans but on animals, which gave them golden-coloured eyes compared to others of their kinds who have red eyes because they feed on humans - very different to Angel who fed on pig's blood yet had no bearing on his looks. They don't hide in tombs and their movements were not restricted by the daylight. They don't even burn in the sun nor have distorted faces when in a frenzied state of hunger. Truly amazing! They were polar opposites of the conventional vampire stories and I was thoroughly charmed!

The perfect family anyone would be proud to be a part of

Delving Deeper

I'm quite the geek and nerd so I spend quite a bit of time on the internet googling stuff that interest me at any particular moment but I soon realised that I was spending more time googling things related to Twilight - incidentally googling something gained a whole new perspective after it was used in the movie when Edward said, "I had an adrenaline rush. You can Google it." Oh my.... "Googling it" has never sounded more magical to me!

I discovered that there were actually books before the movie (four of them!) and the author, Stephenie Meyer, was so passionate about her books and characters, going so far as to share how she came about writing the book. It was from a dream where she saw a human girl and a boy that was not quite human conversing. How about that! What could be more romantic and whimsical than being driven to write something from a dream. I was reminded of a 60s movie I'd watched and loved, The Brothers Grimm, where the more whimsical of the pair of Grimm brothers often wrote what moved him. Did I also mention that Twilight was the first book Stephenie ever written? No? Indeed it was. She was a housewife prior to the release of Twilight.

I've never been keen to read books that have been made into movies, considering them comprehensive enough to understand without the benefit of reading the books. I was reluctant to read Twilight. Though there was some romance, it'd been ages since I'd read books which have been classed in the teen genre. And Egad! Twilight was about 600 pages long! I worried about not being engaged enough to stay with the story and didn't want the experience to mar my enjoyment of the movie, which I was truthfully admitting to having a great liking to at that point - I shan't embarrass myself and confess how many times I had watched it by then.

However, the more I googled Twilight, the more I came across conflicting reactions to the movie. It was always the same, there will be one group bashing it and another defending it with great ardour. I was shocked at the level of bashing though. Some were from women claiming it to be "the future downfall of America's teens" and predicting that there will be "some girls stupid enough to give up everything" for a boy. I thought, hang on, it's just a movie, what are they talking about? There are other movies way worse than this. Even if they didn't like it, the movie did not deserve such animosity. Interestingly enough, I noted that those who bashed it have never read the books while those who fervently defended it have done so. This got me even more curious about this book. I thought I'd give it a chance, at the most I'd put it down if I didn't like it.

I searched the local public libraries but they were all out and there was a waiting list of hundreds!! How radical was that?! I was not going to wait months to read this book. I may lose interest by then! So I considered the unthinkable and looked out for it in bookstores. What's so unthinkable about that, one might ask? Well, I've never found the idea of re-reading books particularly interesting, not when there are so many other books out there for me to explore so I usually rent them from a second-hand bookstore which I've patronised since I was a teen. So the implication that I was prepared to buy this book was HUGE!

Again, that proved to be a futile effort as all the reputable bookstores I went to from Borders to Popular to Times the Bookstore to MPH, all didn't have it. I was told that they were out. Wow! Out! I've never paid much attention to popular books before (the Harry Potter phenomenon slipped past me) so I didn't know the norms of having the books selling like hot cakes. And I didn't even realise that the books were well-known in Singapore. It must surely have been the movie causing the interest.

By this time, I had paid extensive visits to Stephenie Meyer's website and I knew that New Moon, the next book in the series, was a depressing affair where Edward goes missing for the bulk of the book and Stephenie had to tell people to reread the book to fully understand it. Even though I have yet to read Twilight, I was curious about this book and why it had such an effect on people. I was truly intrigued that during one of my frequent inquiries at a bookstore, when told that Twilight was out (naturally) but New Moon was available, I couldn't help but flip through the book just to see how big a part that Edward went away. Wow, almost three-thirds of it! That's heavy! It should have made me more reluctant to start the series yet somehow I got more curious. I had not interacted with other fans of the books at this stage (aside from reading comments of the defenders of the movie) but from what I read on Stephenie's site, I thought this is something that could be promising.

Journeying into Forks

As luck would have it, one of the libraries I was able to have access to, had the only copy of Twilight. I discovered this by chance and anxiously waited for the Library Assistant to return from her holidays. I was told that I was lucky since the book was returned just the day before the students went for holidays. Talk about kismet!

As I eagerly yet warily turned the first few pages, I braced myself in preparation of putting the book down after five minutes - yes I was that skeptical - yet I was pleasantly surprised that half an hour later, I was still engaged in the story.

Have you ever read a book after watching a movie? I assure you it is an amazing experience. I'm not sure whether it pertains only to this series since I've never done this before but whatever it was, the story practically jumped off the pages into my mind! My imagination have always been rather strong but I found it was greatly heightened when I read the book. I was imagining the setting, the characters' faces, their voices all so clearly and I knew it was the actors and the film's setting that I was envisioning. It was totally surreal. I could barely put down the book and as I neared the end (which I knew only because of the film), I found myself trying to slow down and savour the experience. All for naught though since I still finished the book in three days.

I closed the book with a little sense of desperation. I have to read the rest! I didn't care how depressing New Moon was, I didn't care if I have to buy all of them; I just knew that I have to continue reading Bella and Edward's story.

A chance conversation with a friend brought up the topic of Twilight. She was also an avid reader and she happened to have copies of all the books! OH.MY.GOD!!! How serendipitous! Of course I begged for her to let me read the books. Fortunately, she was not cruel enough to deny me.

I braced myself for the depressing New Moon but was pleasantly surprised that I was able to get through it. At no point was I inclined to put it down. And wow, new elements to the storyline! Quileute shapeshifting wolves! Whoa! And Bella's best friend, Jacob, is one of them! I thought to myself, man this Forks is like an enchanted forest! Vampires and now werewolves! What are the odds of it happening in a quiet little town like Forks! Usually such stories are set in the more popular New Orleans or New York City or the fictitious Sunnydale. Never a real place in quiet little towns like Forks! If that was not amazing enough, I was introduced to the Volturi, vampire royalty who resides in the real Italian city of Volterra.

My level of admiration for Stephenie Meyer continued to increase, just for the fact that she truly took time to research real places for a mythical story, even going so far as to include a tiny little town in Italy. By the by, her description of Volterra and the real place did not differ by much.

Next came Eclipse. Another amazing story. This time with the addition of an army of newborn vampires, created and led by Victoria, the nomad vampire who held a vendetta against Bella and Edward ever since Edward killed her mate, James. So what if he was trying to sadistically kill Bella. Victoria found no fault in that!

I found my beloved Cullens (aye, I was totally smitten by this point) and the Quileutes (whom I loved for their protection of Bella while the Cullens were away), working together (albeit reluctantly at the initial stage) in order to defeat the newborns and protect Bella and the town. How wonderful! There was a little matter of a love triangle as both Jacob and Edward both vied for Bella's affection. Strangely enough, even as I did not know how the story would end, I was not too worried. I refused to believe that Stephenie would separate Edward and Bella, not when her whole story started as a dream about them. No, not possible at all! And true enough, Bella accepted Edward's proposal at the end. Oh joy.. A wedding on the horizon! To be planned by Alice too. It promised to be an wedding to surpass all weddings!

I finally came to the last of the books, Breaking Dawn. It was the thickest of the four books and as eager as I was to continue the story, I felt a sense of trepidation since I knew I was nearing the end of my journey. Not surprisingly, it was all I expected and more! A wedding to touch the hardest of hearts; the perfect honeymoon in a scenic and private island (which incidentally was a gift from Carlisle Cullen to his wife, Esme, and aptly named Isle Esme), a pregnancy of impossible odds (who would have figured such an angle possible); Jacob (who had disappeared at the end of Eclipse only returning for Bella's wedding and almost coming to blows with Edward) breaking the bonds of Sam's alpha pack to embrace his own alpha birthright because he did not believe in killing the innocent Cullens who were protecting Bella and her unborn child. Incidentally, the scene where Jacob broke away from Sam was priceless! I was awed that Jacob felt that level of injustice on behalf of the family that he had resented for so long! Oh my word! It was totally heart-wrenching and I lapped it all up!

Jacob along with Seth and Leah later banded with the Cullens; followed by the miracle birth of the very special Renesmee and Jacob's imprinting of her (I did not see that one coming!) thus cementing the bond between the Cullens and Quileutes forever (YES!!!). There was a period of bliss until Alice's vision of the impending doom of the Volturi who was looking for any pretext to wipe out the Cullens since they were the strongest and biggest group of vampires aside from them; thus leaving the Cullens no alternative but to seek their friends' help to witness that Renesmee was not an immortal child but biological child of Edward and Bella. By friends, I mean other vampires - vegetarians and no-vegetarians. The Quileutes' allegiance to them was a given considering their bond. And last but not least there was confrontation between the Cullens, their allies and family of Quileute wolves, and the Volturi! I think my heart dropped to my feet then!

Ay yay yay yay yay!! So much tension! So much drama! So good! I loved it! I quickly realised that Breaking Dawn was my favourite! I truly loved Jacob's maturity and his growing into the potential that I saw leading up to Breaking Dawn. And of course it was the culmination of the perfect love story! Oh, did I mention that Bella was truly amazing as a vampire and that she was the one that truly saved the day? My oh my! Bella as a human was an amazing sight - the ineffectual mortal worrying about and trying to save her immortal and superhuman friends and family. But Bella as a vampire! What class! What grace! What strength! My love for her knew no bounds by then! She could do no wrong in my eyes and woe be to anyone who dared to put her down!

And how long did it take me to finish New Moon, Eclipse and Breaking Dawn? Would you believe slightly more than a week? And I had consciously told myself to slow down at several points too!

Like Minds And Returned Visits

I thought that would have been the end of my journey into the realm of Forks. I soon returned the books to my mate but at the same time, google didn't stop searching Twilight related matters for me. I went to site upon site to see if people are talking about the books. I was curious to see if others were as affected by the books as I was but none were interactive enough and were mostly of an explanatory nature. Then I came across Twilighters Anonymous (TA) which had a very active forum. Wow, people were really discussing the books and characters, as well as the movie and actors. Brilliant! Just the sort of place I'd want to visit. It wasn't long before I became an active member of the forum and contributed regularly to the discussions. I was amazed at how I could still vividly remember details of the books just after one read. I don't normally remember such things (not as vividly in any case) considering the pace I go through the books that I read.

One of my first friends from TA advised that I should read the books again since I would appreciate it more. Strangely the idea did not repulse me as I thought it would. Due to the constant discussions, I was eager to revisit with the Bella, the Cullens, Jacob and the Quileutes as well. There was the matter of not having my own copies though. I did not relish the thought of being on the lengthy waiting list of the public libraries. It was too long a wait!

Even then the books were out of stock and it took me about two months of almost practically daily visits to bookstores to finally get a set of my own. I even had the fortune of making the acquaintance of someone who worked in one of the bookstores and reserved Breaking Dawn for me. Lucky thing considering that when the stock came, ALL the books were reserved! She offered to send it to a branch that is closer to home but I couldn't risk it and made a special trip down to this out-of-the-way branch just to get it. The extent I went for my Forks tale! My sister teased me constantly and even I was surprised at the level of obsession I had for the series.

Oh, guess how many more times I revisited with my friends in Forks? About four times and counting. The number is surely modest compared to other fans of the series who have read them more than twenty times but for someone who is not prone to repetitive reading, I reckon that number is quite good actually! I am already itching for another visit but I'm forcing myself to read the four other books I have (which I need to return to the rental place this month anyway) before I can even dream of sneaking off to Forks. What can I say, my conscience is such a stickler for doing the right thing! But I'm not too worried for I know it won't be long before I am reunited with my beloved friends again.