Monday, November 3, 2008

"The Host"

I was so enthralled with Stephenie Meyer's Twilight series that I decided to read her newest novel, The Host.

The Host was an intriguing story; and although it dragged in places, mainly in the beginning, it proved to be an in-depth look into the human psyche by exploring the many facets of relationships and ultimately human nature.

Like the Twilight series, this book too was out of the norm for me to read and enjoy. The Host is a science-fiction book about aliens that have come to Earth to make it a more peaceful environment by taking over human bodies. These peace-loving aliens, or souls rather, are implanted into the human body and from there push out the human who lives within, all the while keeping the memories of said human host.

The story revolves around one such alien - Wanderer - and her difficulty in adapting to her new human host. Wanderer not only keeps her host's memories but she also keeps her host's emotional attachments to the people within those memories; in fact, she is ultimately unable to flush out her host's thoughts and feelings and thus concludes that the two can live in harmony within this one body. So Wanderer sets off to find her host's family and is surprised that she finds a family of her own.

The flap of the book calls The Host a love story but it proves to be so much more than that. Meyer, through her creative story telling and captivating writing skills, is able to take a hard look at the internal struggles of our human make-up.

I am not normally a sci-fi fan by any stretch of the imagination; and although I did not enjoy The Host as much as Twilight, I would still recommend it.

7 comments:

Stacey Cannon said...

I was in the library with the boys today and I was going to look up some Stephenie Meyer books, but I could not for the life of me remember her name!!! I'll have to go back tomorrow and get some of her stuff!!!

BTW, I am diggin the new look :) You know I like to mix things up like that once in a GREAT while!!! hahahaha!!!

How long are y'all going to be in NYC for over the holidays? I think we are gonna be home from the 19th till the 30th...

Melinda said...

Thanks Stacey! I am working now on adding tabs to the top of the page too but that little project is turning out to be more time consuming than I had expected.

I would recommend starting off with the Twilight series...it is truly addictive. I have read all four books twice now - how pathetic is that?! : )

As for NY - we will be up there from the 21st to the 28th. Maybe we can steal you away from your parents that first night you are in town...I am sure they would love that : )

Stacey Cannon said...

That would be great! And I am totally wanting to start off with the Twilight series. I'm really curious to start it because I've heard such great things about it! :)

You know, isn't it amazing what time and a blog can do for a friendship? Last year we noticed each other in church and this year I'm gonna give you a big hug when I see ya! :) I'm so happy for that!

Okay, I'm off to start standing for hours in the line to vote. In the rain. Joy.

Liz Brack said...

I completely agree. I almost put the Host down and didn't finish it. By the end I was sorry it was over. Thankfully, I think I could see another story line being wove at the end of the book.
This was another book I tried to talk with my dh about becasue it was so thought provoking to me. He again thought I was crazy.

Melinda said...

That's so funny...Josh thinks I'm crazy too and what's sad is he probably would have really enjoyed this one - he likes sci-fi stuff!

Dawn said...

I read this one as well. I also gave a copy of it away for my 100th post on my blog.

It took me a bit to get into it. I'm am NOT a sci-fi fan at all. But, one thing that stephenie meyers is really good at are relationships. That's what makes her books so good to me. Plus, the fact that her writing is so good she doesn't need to include bad language!

Melinda said...

I couldn't agree more, Dawn!