Breaking Dawn

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Breaking Dawn is a novel that is a part of the extremely successful paranormal teen romance series titled the Twilight Saga that was written by author Stephenie Meyer. As the final installment of the four book series that concludes where Twilight, New Moon and Eclipse left off, Breaking Dawn was much anticipated by both booksellers and readers. 

Based on the phenomenal success of the first three books in the series, it was a sure bet that the fourth book was going to break records in sales upon its release. 

In preparation for the book’s release, 4,000 major bookstore locations in the US hosted midnight releases on August 2, 2008 to tens of thousands of devoted Twilight readers. 

As a result, within the first 24 hours, the book sold 1.3 million copies in the US, 100,000 copies in Canada, and 20,000 overseas in the UK. Published and distributed by the Hachette Book Group for the American author Meyer, the book set a record for the company as its highest grossing book ever in its first day of sales. 

The book came out as #1 on the reputable US newspaper USA Today’s bestselling list, and spent over a year in the number one position. In 2008 Breaking Dawn sold more than 6 million copies worldwide making it the highest grossing children’s book of the year. Breaking Dawn was awarded the British Book Award as “Children’s Book of the Year.” 

Reprints in 38 different languages have reached more than 50 countries. Just as with the first three books of the Twilight Saga, Breaking Dawn has been turned into a screen play with a two-part movie that will be out in theaters worldwide with part one having opened on November 18, 2011 and the second part scheduled for release on November 16, 2012.

The book is written in three sections, from the points of view of Bella and Jacob. The romantic interest of Breaking Dawn is between Bella and Edward. Bella is a human who has sacrificed her life as a human to join her love on the dark side, while Edward is a vampire who has chosen to feed on animals rather than humans. 

As the final chapter in the Twilight Saga, Breaking Dawn begins as Bella and Edward are married and on their honeymoon. Soon after their honeymoon begins, Bella discovers she is pregnant, something that is unexpected and undesired because of their differences in mortality. Breaking Dawn deals with this set of unnatural events and culminates the series of the Twilight Saga that is as much dedicated to the romantic interests of the characters than the fact that some of them are not human.

In part one of Breaking Dawn, the story is told from the point of view of Bella after she has discovered that she is indeed pregnant. Since she is unnaturally carrying a child who is a half vampire half human breed, her pregnancy causes her atypical stress and is dangerous for her body. Everyone wants Bella to abort the fetus, except for Bella herself, and therefore she decides to bring the infant to full term. As the only living person to be in her situation, no one is aware of what is going to happen to Bella. However it is obvious the child is not completely human as the pregnancy advances at a rapid rate instead of the ninth month course of a human baby.

For part two of Breaking Dawn, the narrator is Jacob who is a shape shifter rather than a vampire. However he is quite aware of the pregnancy of Bella. Jacob is part of a group of shape shifters who are determined to murder Bella in order to terminate the pregnancy, but Jacob decides to split from the group in order to save Bella. 

During this part of the book, Bella gives birth to the baby, which causes her body great distress and nearly kills her. After the birth, because of the damage from the labor, Edward discovers the only way to save Bella is to transform her into a vampire like himself. Jacob identifies with the baby, who is a girl named Renesmee, and determines that she is his soul mate, thus saving her life.

In the third and final part of the book, the point of view is back to Bella. She explains her new existence as a vampire and the joys of motherhood to the reader. Unfortunately, not everyone has such a positive reaction to Renesmee, and soon other vampires come to murder Renesmee. 

It is believed that Renesmee’s rare condition means she is born a vampire, thus noted as an immortal child, and therefore her life must be terminated immediately. As the story concludes, Bella, Edward and Renesmee travel around searching for other vampires to defend and protect their family. Finally they find Nahuel, who is a 150 year old hybrid similar to Renesmee. With the confidence of Nahuel that Renesmee is not destined to a fate of wild savagery, Edward, Bella and their young daughter end the story in a life of peace.

When Breaking Dawn was first released, many people were outraged, especially parents of young children who are fans, because of the graphic violence associated with the birth of Renesmee. Some readers protested that Meyer had a responsibility to her fans to produce an age appropriate book. Since the book is categorized as a children’s book, the subject material was seen as too mature for the target audience. 

Many people felt the labor-delivery segment was too intense and sexualized for young readers. And given the popularity of the novels and the young fan base, it was clear that the readers who had read the first three books of the Twilight Saga would purchase the fourth installment of the series. However, the book was one of the most anticipated the year it was released, and well received by fans of all ages, but particularly teen girls. Everyone wanted to find out what the fate of newly founded lovers Bella and Edward Cullen would be, and what would become of Jacob Black.