Papa Razzi Boards Late on the Bandwagon

The Cullens

Move over Harry Potter, Edward Cullen’s come to town. Three years ago, when Twilight was first published, author Stephanie Meyer has been quoted claiming she had no idea about the cult phenomenon that it would produce. The trend has spread rapidly around the world as the fantastical love story unfolded, but only recently has it found firm footing within the walls of Wellesley’s Italian restaurant, Papa Razzi.

It’s a classic love story with a mythological twist. Bella Swan, a simple 17 year old girl leaves her home in Phoenix, Arizona to live with her father in Forks, Washington. Hoping to fade into the background of her new high school, she soon finds herself falling in love with Edward, a 110-year-old telepathic vegetarian vampire. The four book series chronicles the next couple of years of her life and the consequences, both good and bad, of having a vampire as a boyfriend.

With the movie released late last year, the books' popularity has increased and the crazy fanfare surrounding the series has finally caught the attention of the previously oblivious front of the house staff at Papa Razzi. Having just finished the series myself, I was embarrassed to admit to my co-workers the inescapable allure that it held for me.

One afternoon, fellow server Andrea Wieder dropped a tray down on the service bar and started skewering olives with a distant gaze. She noticed me staring at her and blushed.

“I’m stuck in a Twilight fog” she said.

It was all out in the open as our conversation was overheard by more closet Twilight fanatics. I was then able to understand the affects of being a fan.

“I yelled at my boyfriend today, ‘Why can’t you be more like Edward? Why can’t you be a vampire?!’” said Wieder.

Official Twilight Trailer

Other co-workers came out in the open to divulge their own twilight addictions.

“I find myself comparing my own boyfriend to Edward. I can’t help it" said 25 year old server, Melissa McEvoy. No one can. As Edward confesses to Bella, “You are exactly my brand of heroin,” so too this series finds the addict in all its fans.

Karen Voillette, a bar manager, held the book I lent her to her chest.

“I tried not to, really. But the more I read the more inexplicably obsessed I became," said Voillette.

I’ve tried to deny my obsession, but it’s been a futile attempt. I’m just as crazed as the teens these books are intended for. From the poster of Bella and Edward hanging in my room to the not-so-legal downloads of the movie and the soundtrack, I find my thirst for everything Twilight insatiable. But I’m not alone, thinking about the 22 pages of fanfiction I’m printing for a co-worker.

"And so the lion fell in love with the lamb..."

It started slowly for some, frustration necessitating a pause in the building excitement.

“I took a break halfway through the series because Bella’s just annoying. She doesn’t deserve Edward! But it sucked me back in eventually. There’s no escape once you start," said Wieder.

For others it began as a practicality.

“I bought the books for my trip to Ireland, hoping to kill some time on the plane. I was finished by the time I got home," said Sarah O'Halloran, a waitress.

For others it has yet to begin. My roommate and co-worker, Melissa Upham is adamantly refusing to join the cult phenomenon.

“I won’t read them" said Upham, “Not until my roommate stops re-reading them." She has seen the movie, though, and already owns the first two books. It’s only a matter of time until one boring day she begrudgingly picks up that first book and I don’t see her for a week while she reads.

Bella's Lullaby