“The Host”

September 15, 2008 at 6:59 pm | Posted in Fiction | 3 Comments

If you’ve been in a bookstore lately, you’ve most likely seen a display for Stephenie Meyer’s young adult Twilight series.  The Host is her first novel aimed at an adult audience.  When I saw it listed in the Significant Seven, I almost decided to skip it – I have a total lack of interest in vampire stuff, although I thought Interview with the Vampire was pretty entertaining.  Of course, The Host is not a vampire story but a body-snatching story, which helped.  Then my teenage friends told me about Twilight:  “You have to read it.  Omigod it is soooo goooood!”  (The only other book to receive this level of praise was Everything is Illuminated.  Louise Rennison rated a “reeaalllly good”).

With a recommendation like that, naturally I had to give it a chance.  I put my name down on the library hold list, somewhere in the three-digit range.  Imagine my surprise when I was able to pick it up off the walk-in shelf soon after!  Seeing that 180 people were waiting for this book, and only 18 for Stephen King’s forthcoming collection of short stories Just After Sunset, built some anticipation.

I was hooked by the third page.  The Host is a tightly paced psychological potboiler, with possibly the most bizarre love triangle(s) in all literature.  Not only is it a sci fi thriller destined to rank with the classics of the genre, but it also raises some fascinating questions.  It’s a really innovative take on an old story.  Now I understand what all the fuss is about.

While The Host is written for adults, I wouldn’t be uncomfortable letting my teenage posse read it.  I’d rate it a PG-13.  Evidently Stephenie Meyer has found her calling writing steamy, chaste love scenes.