The Host: Adult or young adult fiction?

In an interview with SheKnows.com, Stephenie Meyer was asked about sitting down to write a novel intended for an adult readership; she says, “Oh, no. I don’t think about that kind of thing at all. Actually I don’t make that call. I send the story to my agent. She got this and said ‘I think this might be more adult.’”

As you read The Host, called an adult novel by its publisher, are you feeling that this book is more adult or youngn adult, like Meyer’s Twilight series? If you already knew that Meyer’s previous books were considered young adult, did that influence your opinion about this book? If you’ve already read the Twilight series, did that influence your opinion about this book?

How much does a book’s label (adult or young adult) matter to you? For me, a good story is a good story, regardless of label (although I can certainly see why subject-wise, some books are most definitely adult fiction). What do you think?

Win a copy of The Host!

You can win a copy of this month’s Read with Me book discussion title. Updated: there are three chances to win: Lisa Damian is is giving away a copy of Stephenie Meyer’s The Host on her Damian Daily blog and also through Blogcritics. Enter to win by June 21. And NeedCoffee.com is also doing a book giveaway; the deadline there is June 22. Good luck!

The Host: Sympathy with the invaders?

I’m about nine chapters into Stephenie Meyer’s The Host. So far, Melanie Stryder’s been captured and offered to the alien Wanderer as a host body. Commonly called souls, the aliens piggyback along humans’ central nervous system, subduing the host’s mind and living as the host did (think Invasion of the Body Snatchers), except in this case, something’s gone wrong– Melanie’s decided she’s not going anywhere.

How much, if any, sympathy do you feel for Wanderer? She’s clearly gotten more than she bargained for in choosing such a challenging host (a rebel human). She’s being pursued by the Seeker, another of her kind (think intelligence spy-type) interested in plumbing the depths of Melanie’s mind in order to locate any other pockets of rebels Melanie may have associated with. Judging from the actions of the Seeker, Wanderer’s kind may not be as kind and gentle as she’s always been led to believe. Does this make Wanderer as much a victim as Melanie?

In an interview, Meyer says, “Melanie is the victim—she’s the one that we, as humans, should identify with….” At this point in the book, which character do you identify with more, Melanie or Wanderer?