Twilight: Teen Angst and Vampire Lore Go Campy April 4, 2009

So I finally watched Twilight, the movie, last night. I wasn’t one of the 30-something women who wore my “I ♥ Edward” t-shirt to opening night, and I didn’t throw a Twilight DVD release party, where everyone dressed up as their favorite character from the book. I’m not what you’d call a diehard fan of the series – I’m more of a casual reader who appreciated the epic and thrilling aspects of Bella and Edward’s saga, while still critiquing the series’ flaws and mediocre parts (see my reviews of all four books here).

I had heard mixed reviews of the movie, and that’s about how I feel after watching it. As a story of a misfit teenager who falls in love with a vampire, it works well. As for its attempt to be a suspenseful film that wows you with riveting action and clever special effects, it falls flat.

What I Liked:

• The Setting – The producers got this part right. The town of Forks, the high school, Charle’s house, the beach at La Push, and the lush forests all set the right tone of gloominess amidst Bella and Edward’s fiery romance. I especially liked the contrast of colors in the forest scenes, with the beautiful shades of green jumping off the screen. The use of near constant rain and the occasional ray of sunlight was also effective. Overall, the scenes were pretty to look at:

• The Chemistry – Despite all the pre-release debate about whether or not Robert Pattinson and Kristen Stewart were the right actors for the roles of Edward and Bella, they had great on-screen chemistry. Sure, it was a little creepy at times how they would just stare into each other’s eyes (particularly when they were laying in that mountain top field), but I much prefer their silent admiration of each other to what we got in the book, which was Bella’s constant gushing about how perfect and beautiful Edward is. Both actors did a nice job of conveying their mutual attraction, from the moment Bella first saw Edward in the cafeteria, to the tense science lab scenes, to their steamy kiss in Bella’s bedroom:

• Edward Cullen – I wasn’t crazy about Kristen Stewart as Bella, mainly because her acting felt very one-dimensional to me (same way I felt about her in Jumper – awful movie by the way). However, as I mentioned above, I felt like she and Pattinson had good on-screen chemistry. I was wary of seeing young, fresh-faced Cedric Diggory turn all dark and brooding vampire, but Pattinson did a nice job. I don’t consider him the most beautiful man in the world, or even close to it (something about his nose and eyes isn’t quite symmetrical enough to fit the classic idea of physical perfection, but I digress), but he exuded strength, restraint, and ferocity just beneath the surface of those furrowed brows, brooding thoughts, and dark eyes.

• The Baseball Game – I thought the impromptu game of vampire baseball was weird when I read it in the book, but since I knew it was coming in the movie, I actually enjoyed it. It did a nice job of showing how the Cullens have fun together and use their special abilities to their advantage, and it also set up the subsequent conflict. For a brief moment, Bella and Edward and his family were content, laid back, and really thinking that everything was going to work out.
• The High School Scenes – Just because I liked these scenes doesn’t mean I liked the actors (I found Mike, Jessica, and Eric very annoying, and Angela was only slightly better). I’ve always had a soft spot for teeny bopper flicks, and this movie had scenes that were reminiscent of that genre. We had the cafeteria moment when Bella got the “who’s who in school” lesson, with the focus on the mysterious Cullens. (You’ve gotta love the overabundance of slow motion camera work that always goes into these moments). And the science class scenes reminded me of the tv show Roswell, since it was during science lab that Liz Parker and alien Max Evans got to know one another. The best part of the high school segments were those in the parking lot. The awkward stares, the furtive glances, the suspicious looks – oh, and the whole out of control van incident that really kick-started Bella and Edward’s relationship.

What I Didn’t Like:

• Jacob Black – Um, since when do poor kids living on a reservation have shiny, flowing hair right out of a shampoo commercial and perfect pearly whites? I suppose the casting director was all about making the cast easy on the eyes, but I just wasn’t buying Taylor Lautner in this role. I expected Jacob, especially in this first installment of the series, to be scrawnier, a little less confident, etc. I can’t believe Lautner is only 17! Actually, a lot of the teens in this movie really are still in their teens, even though they look older. I guess that works well for the teen vampires, since it helps establish that they have been around for a long time. Anyway, I don’t have anything against Lautner as an actor. He was okay in his role on the short-lived My Own Worst Enemy. And maybe I will like him better in New Moon. Mostly I was too distracted by his perfect appearance to believe him in the role of love-sick Jacob.

• Carlilse – When Peter Facinelli first appeared on screen in this movie, when Bella was in the hospital, I couldn’t believe how comical he looked. The fake blond hair, the rosy cheeks, the painted lips, the turquoise shirt – he looked more like a Cirque du Soleil performer than an ancient, noble-hearted vampire. What was that?! Why couldn’t they cast someone with naturally blond hair, and kinder eyes, to play Carlilse, who was one of my favorite characters in the series? They turned him into a caricature. I’m used to seeing Facinelli play the creepy, arrogant type, so it was hard for me to accept him as a humble, wise father figure to a clan of “vegetarian” vampires. Such a shame. This is not the image of Carlilse I had in my mind:

• Rosalie – Another of the Cullens whose movie-version I didn’t like was Rosalie, played by Nikki Reed. Based on other photos I’ve seen, Reed seems to be a natural brunette, so maybe that was part of my problem, since something was off about her blond hair. Mostly, though, she just didn’t possess the breathtaking beauty that Rosalie is supposed to have. Not to say that Reed is unattractive, but her features have a certain harsh quality, and I expected Rosalie to be more graceful.

• The Trio of Bad Vampires – Certain aspects of the movie were cheesy, including the glittering effect of the sunlight on Edward’s skin, the flashback to the Quilheute tribe’s origins when Jacob was telling Bella about the legend of the pale ones, and pretty much anything having to do with Laurent, James, and Victoria – the three vampires who infringe upon the Cullens’ territory and start killing its inhabitants. Talk about campy. The way these three would zoom in and say silly one-liners, crouch like animals, and have a spontaneous wind and fog always blowing around them, was quite comical. Were we supposed to be afraid of them, because I certainly wasn’t. Rachelle Lefevre is too sweet, girl-next door looking for me to believe her as the fierce, vengeful Victoria. Plus, she looked ridiculous in all that fur. Edi Gathegi did a decent job as Laurent, but I also didn’t care for Cam Gigandet as James. He’s supposed to be a cunning, ruthless tracker, but instead he came across as a punk who was mostly talk.

• The Shoddy Camera Work – I’m referring specifically to the jerky camera movement during scenes in which characters were having conversations (as opposed to action-oriented sequences, which I was okay with). These scenes, mostly indoor ones, were very distracting. It was as if someone was filming with a hand held video camera, which was unnecessary and out of place in scenes where your focus should be on the characters’ dialogue rather than on the disorienting, shaking position of the camera. Sometimes it almost seemed like the cameraman was nodding off – not surprising really, since much of the dialogue was quite boring.
• The Soundtrack – This movie came across as flat to me. Part of that was due to a stale screenplay, and wooden acting, but it also didn’t help that many of the scenes lacked background music. I’m talking about instrumentals. There was plenty of pop music, which is typical of today’s teen movies, but I found those songs more distracting than involving. The most effective scenes, musically, were when Edward played Bella’s song on the piano, and when they danced to “Clair de Lune” in his bedroom (by the way, I wish my room looked like that!). That music was nice to listen to, and in both cases, the entire scene was understated, which acted to enhance the emotional impact. All the Guitar Hero-type, edgy music that played during the evil vampire trio’s scenes was just silly. I would have preferred more classical instruments, and less obnoxious, throwaway pop music.

• The Rushed Climax – One of my issues with the books has always been that the climaxes are less than stellar, and sometimes lackluster. That being said, the pivotal events in Twilight were enough to keep me turning pages until the end. Can’t say the same for the movie. If you blinked, you missed the crucial conflict. The gang is playing baseball. The wind blows Bella’s hair. Oops. James is bent on tracking her now. Suddenly, Bella is in Arizona, sneaking away from Alice and Jasper, and falling into James’ ballet studio trap. A few broken mirrors and a bonfire later, we’re waking up with Bella in the hospital, and all is once again right with the world. Maybe if the writers had spent less time having Charlie and Billy act ridiculous (“I’m down with the kids.” “Yeah, you’re the bomb”), or less time with Jessica bragging about her cleavage, they could have created more suspense and drama about the Cullens trying to protect Bella from James.
• The Beginning and the Ending – I’m not talking about the overall story here. I’m referring to the opening and closing scenes. Bella’s narration at the beginning was fine, as she explained why she was moving from Phoenix to Forks. However, why show us the deer running in slow motion, and then (presumably) Edward closing in on it? What is the symbolism they are going for there? Is that supposed to represent Bella and Edward, or Bella being tracked? I didn’t get it, and I didn’t like it. As for the ending, I didn’t mind Edward and Bella’s prom dance in the gazebo, but when it panned up to Victoria watching them from a window, and then zoomed out to show her walking (in slow motion, accompanied – of course – by some rockin’ guitar chords) down some stairs with a vengeful look in her eyes, I had to roll my eyes. She didn’t look like a spiteful vampire who had just lost her lover. She looked like a little girl playing dress up in her mom’s formal wear, who was about to go steal some jewelry out of mom’s dresser drawer. This final scene simply didn’t leave me with the impression of foreboding that I think the director was going for.

The Rest:

• So the points above are the things I liked or disliked about the movie, and everything that I didn’t mention falls somewhere in between.
• I am indifferent about the other Cullens in the movie. In this first installment they don’t have much development anyway. Esme (played by Elizabeth Reaser of Grey’s Anatomy fame), only had a few spoken lines, Emmett mostly jumped around a lot (Rosalie even called him her monkey man), Jasper just stared at everyone with a wide-eyed, empathetic look on his face (I thought that was rather decent casting since Jasper can affect people’s emotions and such – that actor has very large, emotive eyes!), and Alice had the right mix of small stature and spunky personality. We’ll see how well these actors fare in the New Moon movie.
• I already mentioned that I thought the interaction between Charlie and Billy was silly, and these two actors weren’t given much decent material to work with. Then again, those characters are rather dorky in the book, too, so maybe the writers were just being true to the source material.
• The plot was about as scattered as I expected: the random scenes of the evil vampire trio killing unsuspecting victims, the inane conversations Bella had with her “normal” friends at school, Edward’s awkward introduction of Bella to the family at their house, etc. Overall, though, the movie seemed to carry over the atmosphere and important plot points of the novel.
• The super-speed effects – I’ve heard people make fun of the vampires’ warp speed and their tendency to sparkle in sunlight. Edward’s sparkling diamond moment was pretty bad, but I didn’t mind all the speedy gonzales moments. It was pretty weird, though, when he started climbing all those trees with spider monkey Bella on his back:

Grade: C

This movie was just average – nothing special, but not completely awful. People who read the book will enjoy the movie. People who don’t know anything about the book will wonder what all the fuss is about after watching the movie. People who like vampire mythology will find some interesting food for thought in Twilight. And people who like to watch cheesy teen movies will find much to amuse themselves. It’s pretty to look at, but sometimes painful to listen to. So, not bad for a popcorn movie, but definitely not at all award worthy.

Breaking Dawn: A Tidy Little Package to End the Twilight Series December 15, 2008

Yes, I finally finished reading the Twilight series. I am the only person on the planet who it took longer than two weeks to read the four books in this vampire/teenager saga. It took me nearly five months! That says less about the entertainment value of the books, and more about my lack of time to read. Overall, I was satisfied by this final installment. I’ll try to collect my thoughts in an organized fashion, which may be hard to do since I have to think back over the 6 weeks that it took me to read Breaking Dawn. And read on at your own risk: discussion of spoilerish plot points ahead!

Summary:

Part One of the story begins as Bella and Edward are preparing for their wedding, and Jacob is running endlessly through the woods of Canada in his wolf form – his coping technique for losing Bella to Edward for good. There is a good amount of hoopla surrounding the wedding, and Jacob even makes an appearance to make peace with the new Mr. and Mrs. Cullen. Then things get a little odd, as Bella and Edward go on their honeymoon to a remote island beach house, where they destroy a feather bed and a few other items in the process of making their union complete. In the tradition of books about sexually active teens, it isn’t long before Bella is ravenously hungry, tired, and a little nauseous, the result of being impregnated by a vampire. Bella is more excited about bringing this child into the world than Edward, and Part One of Breaking Dawn ends with her secretly calling Rosalie for help when she realizes Edward intends to take her home and have Carlisle “get rid of” the baby.

Part Two is narrated by Jacob. It takes us through the splitting of the wolf pack, Jacob’s new status as Alpha, Bella’s difficult pregnancy, and Renesmee’s gory birth.

Part Three is once again narrated by Bella and begins with a detailed account of her transformation into a vampire, followed by her process of adjusting to her newfound abilities and heightened senses. The whole family also gets to know and love Renesmee more. Things take a downturn when Alice has a troubling vision of the Volturi coming to Forks with the intent to destroy the Cullen clan. Suddenly Alice and Jasper leave town, and the others are left there to build an army of witnesses, in hopes that they can convince the Volturi of their innocence. The remainder of the book plays out like a League of Supervamps, as the Cullens and their friends and acquaintances prepare for the impending battle. In the end, everything works out in their favor and they live happily ever after.

As a series targeted at young adults/teens, I’m not too surprised that it ended so nice and neat. I would much rather there have been some serious consequences for the gang to deal with after all the buildup to their confrontation with the Volturi. Instead, we got a “Um, we changed our mind. See ya” from the creepy, cloaked ancient ones, and a group hug and sigh of relief from Bella and her “always on the verge of, but never really in danger” family of werewolves, vampires, and half breeds.

My Analysis

• The Structure – I always enjoy a book that is split into parts, since it lends a greater air of closure and significance to events along the way. In this case, Bella’s pregnancy, and then Renesmee’s birth, were the pivotal plot points at the end of Book 1 and Book 2. In each case, we didn’t know where in the world things were headed. I must say, I enjoyed Jacob as narrator, especially because it gave me a break from Bella’s constant worrying about her life and future as a vampire, and incessant gushing about Edward’s beautiful face and perfect body. It was nice to have a different perspective on things. In looking at my summary of the book, it seems like not much happened in Book Two. I suppose its purpose was to create tension leading up to Bella’s transformation and the birth of the half human/half vampire child. It succeeded on both of those purposes, and it also showed the evolving relationship between the Cullens and the Pack. I enjoyed seeing Jacob and Edward’s relationship go from hostile to friendly to familial over the course of the book.
• The Big Ticket – Bella becoming a vampire was the moment we had all been waiting for and wondering about since the first time she and Edward discussed it in Twilight. I think Stephenie Meyer did an admirable job of conveying the excruciating pain of the transformation, as Bella slipped in and out of consciousness and had to use mental control to deal with the unbearable sensations. Meyer did stretch a bit, though, when it came to the metaphors and analogies for the pain (there are only so many ways to say “the fire blazed hotter”). But I must say, I was fascinated by Bella’s recounting of the experience.
• Bella as a Vampire – The book was a bit of a letdown in this department. Where was the period of adjustment? The uncontrollable blood lust? The time in solitary confinement so she wouldn’t kill Charlie or someone else she cared about? I guess Meyer decided that the book would be too long if she had to deal with all those pesky little things. So instead, we had Bella becoming a skilled hunter after one training session with Edward, and with only one little slip up when she smelled a human in the forest. Otherwise, she had a breezy adjustment to her eternal life as a vampire. In fact, other than her vampire abilities, her living conditions weren’t too different from when she was human. Her acquired vampire traits included heightened senses, a greater love and passion for Edward, a beautiful child, the ability to protect herself and others from harm, and super self control. Quite a convenient set of characteristics for a newborn, but it didn’t take away from my enjoyment of the book. It’s a good thing that vampires aren’t real, though, because this book would have teenage girls lining up to get bitten so they, too, could have a perfect, blissful ever after of endless lovemaking and general merriment.
• Jacob’s Happy Ending – I grew to like Jacob more and more as the series advanced, so I was happy that he wasn’t left wandering the forest, dejected by Bella. Instead, he imprinted on Renesmee, the child of his former supposed true love. That gets a little icky, but since the child ages so quickly and will stop aging when she reaches Jacob’s age, I suppose it’s all good. I missed the hints about Jacob imprinting on Nessie. I didn’t figure it out until way after I would have expected myself to. I was too hung up on the (incorrect) idea that Nessie had evil mind control powers like Jasmine on the tv show Angel. Thankfully I was wrong, since it would have been unsettling to see a child manipulate her family and set out on a path of destruction. I would have been happy with an ending that had Jacob and Renesmee being some of the only survivors of the confrontation with the Volturi. They could have left Forks and had a happy life in a new place. Strangely enough, I think Jacob would have been one of the most difficult characters to see die in the book. I’m glad he survived. He was a likable guy – surprising, after his annoying presence in Twilight and the first half of New Moon.
• The Return of Alice and Jasper – I figured Alice and Jasper had left for some reason other than to save themselves, especially when we found out they had gone to South America, where Bella had planned to go to do research about Renesmee. So, it was a satisfying moment when they made their triumphant appearance in the field, with proof that Nessie wasn’t a threat to the vampire way of life. How interesting, that there were others like her. Alice and Jasper were two of the most interesting Cullens, along with Carlilse and Edward, of course, so it was nice to welcome them back.
• The Anti-climatic Climax – I found the build up to the show down with the Volturi pretty riveting, but then there was a lot of talking, and the Volturi basically said “never mind” and headed back to Italy. When the book just ended all nice and neat, I just closed it and went, “huh.” There would have been a stronger, more lasting impression if there had been some madness and mayhem. There is more power in a story in which people have to lose something to gain something else. What if one of the Cullens, perhaps Carlilse, had sacrificed himself, to protect the rest of the family and their way of life. It would have been really sad, but the others’ survival would have meant more then. Some scenarios would have been taking it too far. For example, having Nessie die would have been too tragic. There would have been nothing for Bella, Edward, and Jacob to look forward to, and it would have meant total defeat at the hands of the Volturi. What if a battle had ensued, and the Cullens had won? That would still have been a happy ending, with vampires worldwide looking forward to a new existence free from the tyranny of this ancient group, but there would have been losses along the way. This would also have given Bella a true chance to shine as a warrior, truly showing her transformation from the clumsy, unconfident girl in Twilight, to the beautiful, coordinated, powerful woman in Breaking Dawn. She was still able to prove her worth as a defensive hero, using her shield to prevent the Volturi from gaining a pre-battle upper hand, but it lacked the punch that a full-fledged battle situation would have provided.
• Overall Assessment – So, yes, I had a few complaints about Breaking Dawn. Overall, though, I would say that I liked the book. It felt more “grown up” than the other three, so I found less juvenile stuff to be annoyed by. Instead of dealing with themes like high school crushes, gossip, college and career choices, etc., Breaking Dawn delved into issues like a mother’s love for her child, a family’s unwavering loyalty to each other, standing up for what is right, etc. As for the issue of the uber-happy ending, what more should we have expected from a series for young adults? Can you imagine the universal uproar if one of the beloved Cullens had been killed, or the last page had left things on a somber note? No wonder Meyer chose the easy path, the nicely packaged “happily ever after” ending for Edward, Bella, and everyone else. Well, except for poor, unintentionally traitorous Irina, who was obliterated by the Volturi.
• Ranking the Books – Thinking back on the entire series, here are the books in order from my favorite to least favorite: Eclipse, Breaking Dawn, Twilight, New Moon. So I guess the series ended on a high note for me. My main complaint about New Moon was that nothing happened. It, too, had an anticlimactic ending, with Bella’s trip to rescue Edward from the Volturi ending with another “nevermind” from that supposedly to be feared group. The difference in that book, though, was that nothing else really happened in the hundreds of pages before that, whereas in Breaking Dawn, there was plenty of action, excitement, intrigue, and suspense. Thanks for this interesting journey, Stephenie Meyer!

Related Posts:

• Twilight: It’s Not Just For Teens
• New Moon Is a Half Thrill
• Eclipse: A Love Triangle with Bite
  

Eclipse: A Love Triangle with Bite October 26, 2008

Well, a month has passed since I reviewed New Moon, the second book in the Twilight series. Once again, it took me far longer than most people to read the third installment, Eclipse. I am happy to report that I thoroughly enjoyed it! I will frame this review in terms of how this book was a vast improvement over the previous one.

Bella

• In both Twilight and New Moon, Bella was self centered and extremely annoying. She still had her moments in Eclipse, but mostly she started to grow up and act more mature.
• Most importantly, she finally developed a conscience. Despite having strong feelings for Jacob, she realized that she would always choose Edward over him, and so most of her actions were based on that truth.

Bella and Edward

• There was very little interaction between these two in New Moon, since Edward was off running around in the woods of North America trying to forget Bella while she was stoically going through the motions of high school while secretly pining away for him and being miserable.
• There were more than enough Bella/Edward scenes in Eclipse. We had nostalgic conversations about Edward’s past, serious discussions about things like marriage and becoming a vampire, and plenty of cuddling and kissing. It was nice to see them as a relatively normal couple, going through disagreements, standing by each other during tough times, and often finding that their thoughts and feelings mirrored one another’s.
• Thank goodness that Stephenie Meyer finally spared us the excessive praise that Bella as narrator previously lavished upon Edward. (I couldn’t believe how perfect he was, etc.)

Bella and Jacob

• At times, Jacob’s aggressive tactics for wooing (is that a word anyone uses anymore – probably not, but you know what I mean) Bella were annoying and overbearing, but I guess that was the point. Jacob is the young, fiery werewolf to Edward’s experienced, play-it-cool vampire.
• Jacob has come a long way from the annoying kid in Book 1. I count him as one of my favorite characters in the series. You can’t help but feel bad for the guy: unrequited love, a life of servitude to his tribe, the need to tie a change of clothes to his ankle (for the inevitable next time that he changes forms and shreds his other clothes to pieces), etc.

The Cullens

• We still don’t know a whole lot about them, but I do like that each of their “how I became a vampire” stories is being revealed over time. Each one is interesting, unique, and sad, making me more sympathetic to them (as opposed to seeing them simply as a one-dimensional character).

The Pack

• It was a small but surprising twist to learn that the pack had grown, when more wolves than expected showed up at the meeting with the Cullens.
• I like the way the pack can hear each others’ thoughts, and how they use that ability as a tool during hunts and battles.

The Cullens and the Pack

• The joining of these two rival sides and sworn enemies made for an exciting climax to the book!
• It was intriguing and somewhat horrifying to finally witness what the wolves and the vampires were capable of, in terms of violence, strength, and speed.
• I wonder if we will hear anymore about the consequences of Bella witnessing Edward’s brutal slaying of his opponents. It’s not every day you see your boyfriend decapitate someone by “lightly brushing his lips against their neck.” It seems like that would require more than a simple “I’m fine” as a response.

The Big Reveal

• I must admit, I was kept guessing about who was behind the planned attack on Bella. I wasn’t sure who was training the newborns, and how that was connected to confrontations the gang had had in the past. I was happy with who the big bad enemy was, and with how it was revealed. There was plenty of tension and excitement to be had, which is much more than can be said about New Moon, which garnered no more than a “huh” from me.

What’s Next

• I foresee some eye rolling on my part during the wedding festivities in Breaking Dawn, but I am highly curious to learn if and when Bella will be changed, and even more so, how it will change her.
• What will become of Jacob? I will be very sad if we never learn more about him than what we were given in the epilogue of Eclipse.
• I am still troubled by the idea of Bella having to leave everything she has ever known behind (namely Charlie and Renee), when she gives up her human life. But, I suppose she loves Edward more than either of them, so the choice to be with him forever at the expense of her parent-child relationships must be a fair trade-off for her.

Bottom Line: Eclipse has been my favorite book of the series so far. I have very few complaints. My main complaint is actually unrelated to the plot. Did anyone else notice the ridiculous number of typos in the book? The book must have been rushed through editing to get it published sooner – either that or they need to hire some new proofreaders. I found this very annoying. I can’t remember ever reading a book with so many glaring simple errors (“that” instead of “than,” “the” instead of “they,” etc.).

But anyway, I’d give the book an A. Good romance. Good adventure. Good suspense. Good twists. I am glad that I pressed on through the murk and mire of New Moon so that I could enjoy Eclipse.

Related Posts

• New Moon is a Half Thrill
• Twilight: It’s Not Just for Teens

New Moon is a Half Thrill September 26, 2008

It’s been over a month since I finished reading Stephenie Moon’s Twilight, and you may be surprised to learn that it has taken me that long to make my way through the second book in the series, New Moon. (Most people devour these books in a matter of days, not weeks.) I was rather enthusiastic about the first book, but I can’t say the same for the second. Was it entertaining? Yes, mostly. Was it as intriguing as the first? Not really. As thrilling? Not even close.

The Characters

• Bella – Oh, Bella, how we love to hate you and your self-centered ways. Seriously, does anyone like her? She simply isn’t a likable person. She doesn’t appreciate all the people in her life who care about her (Charlie, Renee, Angela, Mike, Jacob). She only has room in her heart to love one person – Edward. So far, she sounds like many other teenage girls, but Bella’s self-absorbed mentality is driven into the ground in this book. I almost decided to quit reading the series, when I was about 100 pages into New Moon. I didn’t know if I could handle any more of Bella’s whining, miserable moping, and shameless self pity. I also grew weary of the repetitive plot of the first half of the book: Bella pretends to be normal, but she has a hole in her heart, so she hangs out with Jacob all the time to numb the pain. And hang out she did. Everyday the same thing. Things didn’t get interesting until we learned Jacob’s secret. Two other characteristics of Bella really bother me: her extreme clumsiness (which always conveniently instigates lots of drama) and her complete cluelessness (she can’t grasp that Edward really loves her, despite all the obvious signs). I think the author needs to do more to make Bella likable, because I’m not seeing a lot of reasons that Edward, the most perfect guy in the world, would fall so hard for her.
• Jacob – Jacob was slightly annoying in the first book; he was a scrawny teenager with a hopeless crush on Bella. My opinion of him remained unchanged in New Moon until around the time that he “got sick,” went into exile (from Bella) for a couple of weeks, and emerged an older-looking, huskier guy. Putting some meat on his bones and some hair on his chest (well, on his entire body in this case) seemed to have the effect of giving him a backbone. I much preferred this new and improved Jacob, even though he made Bella miserable. Actually, I felt bad for Jacob, having to deal with his transformation and adjust his life accordingly, but these developments made his character so much more interesting, and that’s all that kept me reading through the middle part of the book. Random note: for some reason I pictured Jacob looking like Jared Padalecki (from Supernatural and Gilmore Girls). I don’t know why. Maybe because their names sound similar, or because Padalecki was scrawny in Gilmore Girls and is much bulkier now on Supernatural.
• Alice – Alice was really the only one of the Cullen family that had much face time in New Moon, until Edward’s reappearance. The other members of this vampire clan had little more than cameos. How will they handle that in the movie version? Anyway, back to Alice. She was certainly a breath of fresh air when she arrived! She brought some life back into Bella, and she was the catalyst that jump started the plot into its final climactic segment.
• Edward – I lament the huge absence in this book of our favorite vampire as much as anyone. But it was sad to see him on the edge of despair when he did appear. At least we didn’t have to see his side of the misery during his and Bella’s separation. But, by the end of the novel we had our wry, beautiful boy back, albeit with an extra dose of lovesick sappiness. Really? He wants to marry Bella?
• The Adults – In this book more than the first, the grown ups acted like grown ups, looking out for the best interests of their kids. Billy tried to shield Jacob from the pain and awkwardness of being around Bella after his life changing transformation. Charlie tried to protect Bella from Edward after watching how his departure affected her. On the other hand, the author hasn’t painted Bella’s mom, Renee, as a very responsible person. She barely spoke to Bella during the course of this book. It makes her seem like an immature person, that while her daughter was going through traumatic boyfriend troubles, she was busy gallivanting around with her baseball-playing husband. Hmmm, I wonder where Bella gets her one track mind.
• Everyone Else – I was glad that we didn’t see much of the school crowd this time around. They are all pretty one dimensional, so Bella’s one night out with Jessica, and her night at the movies with Mike and Jacob, were plenty of the high school social scene for me. The one extended scene involving Sam, his fiance, and the other guys in “the pack” was interesting enough to make me hope for more about them in the next book.

The Plot, a.k.a. “Not Much to See Here” – When I rehashed the plot in my mind, I realized that not much happened in this book. It boils down to this (WARNING – BLATANT SPOILERS AHEAD):

• Edward and the Cullens leave Forks because Bella gets a paper cut.
• Bella is devastated and shuts down for months (I did like the technique of the months passing as the reader turned the pages – October. November. December. January. – that spared us more of Bella’s lamenting)
• She finally resurfaces and attaches herself to Jacob as a coping technique, shamelessly abusing his romantic interest in her to fill her time and feel wanted.
• Jacob suddenly distances himself from her, and it soon becomes evident that he is a werewolf.
• The pack of werewolves, and Bella, learn that red-haired vampire Victoria is trying to sneak into Forks to kill Bella as revenge for Edward killing her mate, James. (if I had to hear one more reference to Victoria’s flame red hair in the distance…)
• Bella’s response to knowing a vampire is after her again is to go out to the beach alone, and to jump off of a cliff.
• Alice has a vision of Bella’s cliff dive, mistakes it for a suicide attempt, and after a series of unfortunate events, Edward hears the (untrue) news that Bella is dead.
• Alice and Bella race to Italy to save Edward from the Volteri by proving to him that Bella is still alive before he steps out into the sunlight and blows the cover of the 1,000 year old vampires.
• Alice and Bella get to Edward just in time, and after a brief conference with the Volteri, they all fly home to worry about turning Bella into a vampire another day.
• After much conversation and cuddling, Edward finally convinces Bella that he will love her forever and will never leave her again.
• Jacob brings Bella’s red motorcycle to Charlie’s house in an attempt to get Bella grounded (she already was) so she can’t see Edward, but his plan fails, and after some tense moments in the forest behind Charlie’s house, he runs off, leaving Bella with Edward, and believing that he can never be friends with her as long as she is hanging out with bloodsuckers, much less if she becomes one of them.
• The End

So, that was the plot in a nutshell. There were several different things that happened, but none of them were particularly exciting, and were a far cry from the exciting cross country hunt of Twilight, which saw Bella in imminent danger and the Cullens playing various roles in coming to her rescue. The first book was also more interesting in that we were introduced to Meyer’s new spin on vampire lore. She tried to do the same in New Moon with werewolves, and while it was interesting, it wasn’t as fascinating as the vampire mythology she created.

What’s Next? – There were several loose ends left at the end of New Moon:

• The Cullens have to decide if they will turn Bella into a vampire, as they promised the Volteri, or if they will risk the consequences of failing to do so.
• Bella will have to come to terms with losing Jacob’s friendship over her vampire love, or she’ll have to get really clever to figure out a way to rekindle their relationship.
• The werewolves and the Cullens will both have to keep an eye out for Victoria, who no doubt will resurface from that water where her flame red hair was bobbing up and down while Bella was nearly drowning cliff side.
• Bella will have to decide what her next steps will be, now that she’s on the cusp of adulthood. Will she go to college? Will she marry Edward? Or will she just become a vampire and worry about the rest for eternity?

Despite all my complaining, I do still enjoy the books, so I look forward to the final two installments. My two ongoing issues with the books are 1) Bella, and 2) The way that Stephenie Meyer write’s Bella’s narration, decisions, and motivations. There is still time for the tide to turn, though, so we’ll see.

Related Post

• Twilight: It’s Not Just for Teens