Honestly, it wasn't as bad as i thought it would be. I enjoy the movies a lot, and i tried to read Breaking Dawn before those movies came out but i just got sick of all the dumb conversations and quit halfway through. This book wasn't as bad as that one seemed to be. 
 The writing isn't as weak as i thought it would be. I expected it to be on par with 50 Shades, but it turns out Stephenie Meyer is a better writer than E.L. James by a pretty good margin. The worst part about it was the constant bickering between Edward and Bella, and the way Edward's dizzyingly fluctuant facial expressions were invariably documented. This stuff is just not important or interesting. I don't particularly care that they bicker, but it would've been nice if the bickering was funny, and/or to see them act like a good team at least one time. Maybe that comes in later books. 
 And i was willing to defend Bella's intelligence and general worth up until the ending where she does something utterly stupid. She's all "i'm gonna go die now because the bad guy told me to" when she could've easily told her allies what was going on and devised some plan with them. I don't know. It was just dumb. 
 I really liked hearing the back story on Alice and Carlisle and the rest of the Cullen family, and getting at least a better idea of what Meyer had in mind for the bad guy, James. He should've been played by someone like Benedict Cumberbatch (of course) instead of Squinty "Blue Steel" McPonytail. There were other things that were actually less dorky than the movie, believe it or not. I still like the movie though. Both the book and the movie were entertaining. 
 By the way--either they did a shitty job of casting the vampires in the movie or zero super-attractive actors would deign to be in it. Because these people are supposed to be impossibly gorgeous, and they are definitely not depicted that way. Harumph. And, while i'm giving useless opinions about the movie vs. book differences, i was super surprised at the difference in the Bella/Jacob relationship between the two. I hugely prefer the way they depicted it in the movie. 
 I just really like this story. Unraveling the mysteries of the vampires, Bella's unflinching love for a monster, waiting to see if she'll be turned into a vampire herself... It has great elements. And i see nothing wrong with the fact that Bella is clumsy and vulnerable and depressed and foolishly in love. I was that girl once. Anyone who hates Bella hates me (and probably herself). I just didn't happen to live in a world with vampires.