New Moon (The Twilight Saga)
by Stephenie Meyer
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Book Reviews of New Moon (The Twilight Saga)
Book Review: Not Giving New Moon To Nieces
Summary: 1 Stars
I've been reading a lot lately so sharing more reviews with you. I know I'm going to get blasted for my opinion of New Moon by Stephenie Meyer, but I just have to be honest.
When I first heard of Stephanie Meyers' Twilight series, I wasn't much interested. Teen vampire love story. Uh huh. But everyone talked about it so much that when a copy of Twilight turned up on a shelf at my local thrift store, I thought, "Why not?" What was I losing for $0.45? Interview With A Vampire by Anne Rice spoiled me. What a rich re-visioning of the vampire myth! So well told, beautifully written. And Louis! Ah who can forget Louis? Even Rice's later vampire novels could not compete with the place Interview has in my affections, although I found LeStat entertaining enough. How would Twilight compare?
Teen girl, something of misfit, falls in love with mysterious boy who just happens to be a vampire. As I read, I kept wondering why so many people were raving about the character, Bella. I didn't find her at all appealing. In part that could be due to her low self-confidence and habit of always putting herself down. But for me, the bigger issue was that she didn't seem to be about anything. I couldn't have told you what her values were or what she wanted out of life except for her obvious desire to be liked by the mysterious Edward whose handsome appearance is always foremost in her mind and her descriptions of him. The characters had the potential to be interesting but just weren't developed well enough for me to care about them. And Twilight was less a vampire story than a twist on Romeo and Juliet. As far as action and plot development, let's just say it was like watching a film in slow motion.
Now why, since I obviously wasn't impressed with Twilight, would I pick up the second installment, New Moon? I had no plans of buying it. Then I had a doctor's appointment scheduled and went searching for something to take along to read. Turned out I'd actually managed to get to the bottom of all the various waiting-to-be-read stacks around the house. I found one book I hadn't read but it was non-fiction of the sort requiring concentration; definitely not brain candy and I find brain candy is best for waiting rooms. Since I had to stop at the pharmacy on my way to the doctor, I checked the books on the their shelves. Nothing appealed to me and I was going to walk out but the thought of sitting in that waiting room for what might be a long while caused me to take a last look. I saw New Moon and snatched it up with a sigh. At least it wasn't heavy reading.
I don't know whether I was simply used to Bella or whether she was actually less annoying the second time around but I disliked her less. Except - and this is a big one for me - the girl was beyond hopelessly in love with Edward. Bella had lost all sense of herself as a person without Edward's presence. I hate that the young girls for whom this series is a favorite are reading this love story and perhaps learning how to obliterate themselves, how to vanish into the shadow of some male they choose as all important. Over and over again Bella and, yes, Edward, too was ready to give up everything if s/he couldn't be with the other. Is this really what we want our daughters to be learning? I think of friends who entered relationships that faltered and fell apart. What happens afterward? Those with a healthy sense of self pull their lives back together and go on, often to better things. Those who negated much of their self to mollify their partner usually fall apart when the one they thought of as "everything" no longer has use for them. The one left behind often is in a position of having, in essence, to establish a new self image.
Aside from the unhealthy lesson I see there, what else can I say about New Moon? Although the characters don't develop much more I did feel there was some improvement. There was more of a sense of the Cullens being a family with believable family loyalties based on interest in and concern for one another rather than just a connection as vampires. I liked the way Meyers wove in the legend of the werewolves. However, I found myself laughing out loud as I envisioned the "exploding" that took place as the Indians lads transformed to werewolves. This made me picture the old Incredible Hulk cartoons. The Volturi were an interesting touch - the veneer of civility over the horror one expects in a vampire story; now there was a vampire story to be told there. And there was, relatively speaking, more action than in Twilight.
All in all, perhaps satisfying brain candy for the pre-teen, teen set. However, my nieces won't be receiving copies from me.
Book Review: Embarrassingly Bad
Summary: 1 Stars
This is bad.
Most teenagers are guilty of being caught up in one stupid fad or another, but the increasingly disturbing Twilight series is more than stupid; it's frightening.
I knew the plot (what little there is) of this LOOOONG book before I read it, but even I read on with mounting horror (and increasing boredom).
Stephenie Meyer studied literature at university. We get it. But there is no need whatsoever to bring in literary comparisons and try to turn your characters into representations of Shakespeare's. Apart from anything else, she fails miserably at it.
Bella, Edward and Jacob are not Juliet, Romeo and Paris, but Meyer tries desperately to make them so. However, where Romeo and Juliet is a play about how hatred and outside forces can destroy something pure, New Moon is just an embarrassing display of teen melodrama.
Bella was always a whiny, insipid little wench; always needing a man to literally prop her up. In New Moon she takes this to a frightening new level. Bella simply cannot go anywhere without either being carried or being supported by a man. Hell, even in the car there's always a guy with his arm around her while he's driving (and how's that for road safety?!). She actually clings to whatever man is near her, and when there's no man she's sitting on the lap of, and clinging to, Alice, her female friend.
We are supposed to see Bella as Juliet. She's not. Bella's misery is embarrassing.
She goes walking at night in dangerous places, trying to attract men who previously tried to rape her. She rides - and repeatedly crashes - a motorcycle she does not know how to operate. She jumps off a cliff.
All so she can hallucinate her ex-boyfriend's voice.
She wakes up screaming - EVERY NIGHT. She does things that put her in the hospital every week.
Why? Because her boyfriend left her six months earlier.
This is not a broken heart; this is the world's most stupid girl being as melodramatic as it is possible to be. And anybody who's hallucinating a boyfriend should be medicated.
Stephenie Meyer is not a good writer, or even a trained writer, and she brags about it. If only she could get her ego under control and try and learn something about how to create a good book, then we might be getting somewhere. The thesaurus abuse does not come off as smart, just out of place and irritating. There is NEVER a good reason to use lots of fancy words just because you can.
And by halfway through I was actually laughing at loud at the overuse of the same few phrases. "His eyes tightened." (How in the world do eyes `tighten'?!) "His russet skin." "The hole in my chest." "My safe harbour."
Over and over again.
Meyer describes everything down to the smallest and most painful detail. We know exactly what Bella cooked for her father at every meal, and we know about every test and assignment she had to do for school. She frequently breaks off in the middle of a conversation for a four page ramble about her feelings, but then when the action actually comes along it is covered in just one or two paragraphs.
Meyer herself has admitted that when she started out writing she had no idea how long a manuscript should be. She found out when her first book was published and was bigger than a phone book. But then instead of giving future manuscripts a good and much-needed edit, she continued to ramble on and on. By the time anything actually happens in New Moon most - good - books would already have been finished.
And why are Stephenie Meyer's female (ONLY female) characters always cooking?!
The stereotyping just goes on and on; all of it inspired by Meyer's own biases. If you're a blonde woman, you MUST be evil. If you're a woman of any sort, cooking for any man near you is the ultimate life achievement (plus Bella seems to be cleaning the bathroom every second chapter). If you're anything less than a superhero, you're a waste of time. If you're male, you must be in love with Meyer's self-insert - otherwise known as Bella. I suppose it is quite amusing that Meyer wrote herself in as the starring character, seeing as said character is the nastiest and worst role model I have ever come across.
Stephenie Meyer is a Mormon, and it helps to keep that in mind when trying to come to terms with the frightening religious and antifeminist themes throughout the book.
Avoid at all costs.
Book Review: Same Old Drivel, Brand New Cover
Summary: 1 Stars
If you thought that "Twilight", the first book in Stephenie Meyer's self-fulfilling wet dream was bad, wait until you get your hands on "New Moon". Bella is so ridiculously insipid. She is possibly the worst protagonist I have ever read about in literature. What makes this even worse is that the story is told through her point of view, subjecting you to her whiny, Emo crap every two paragraphs.
To be frank and short, it's Bella's eighteenth birthday. Oh joy. Bella laments about how she'll be eighteen years old, and will be older than the eternally seventeen year old Edward. You know, Bella, most people are happy to be eighteen, Then again, not many teenagers are as vapid, idiotic, and uninteresting as Bella. The Cullens hold a birthday party for her, against her wishes, because she wants to be a whiny little trollop. Bella gets a paper cut opening a present, making Jasper, the Cullen who it's been admittedly hard for him to control his blood lust, go insane, and try to eat her. Edward "mediates" the situation by knocking Bella into a table with a glass bowl on it, that shatters, and cuts up her arm even more. Gee, thanks, Edward. I always wanted to spend my special day in the hospital, getting stitches. This is the best present a girl could ever have.
Edward decides that the previous even is enough to cause a rift. He brings Bella to a forest, where he subsequently breaks up with her, and leaves her. Insensitive jerk. After reading that passage, I'd much rather be broken up with by text message. I always thought that was the absolute worst. Thanks, Edward, for proving me wrong. Bella curls up in the middle of the forest, because her sparkly lover has left her, therefore, her life no longer has any meaning.
So, that's it right? Wrong. Bella goes on through the rest of the book, moping about how there's a hole in her heart. Sure, you feel like that after a while, maybe two weeks or so, after a high school break up. But, no. Little miss drama queen clams up and dies within herself for MONTHS. People are trying to console her, but no. She shuns them all, as she has been since the first book.
Then, she starts hanging out with Jacob Black, who we find out is the worst excuse of a werewolf ever. Instead of changing at the full moon, as most lycans do, when Jacob and his pack members get angry, they explode into some kind of wolf, that really didn't look like a wolf in the movie, more like a mangy dog, but that's neither here nor there.
Here is where I will get into the topic of Leah Clearwater. Leah Clearwater was dating the current alpha, Sam. However, Sam imprinted on her cousin, Emily. Imprinting is when a Meyerwolf "falls in love" with a person, with the express intent of reproduction. Female Meyerwolves (Leah) cannot imprint, nor can they procreate. Oh, but the male Meyerwolves can. But, I won't get into the sexist aspects of this book. Emily rejects Sam at first, and he SLASHES HER FACE in defiance! Nothing says "I love you" like medical bills and extensive plastic surgery to piece my face back together.
Emily then begins to date Sam, and ends up engaged to him. Being a Meyerwolf, Leah can hear her pack mates thoughts. Therefore, she can hear when Sam is thinking of Emily, and, rightfully so, she gets pissed. The other pack members call her a "bitter harpy". At the same time, however, they all comfort Bella like nothing is wrong. Let's weigh a checklist between these two women.
Leah is a werewolf. Bella is a mortal. Okay.
Leah can never have children, because of her lycanthropy (same with Rosalie, but only with vampirism). Bella dies having a half vampire baby, because she's the main character. She then becomes a vampire, becoming what she wanted, and having the child she wanted, while Leah nor Rosalie have a child.
Leah loses her mate to her cousin, and now must be subjected to her ex's thoughts of Emily. However, she gets over this, and lives her life. Edward breaks up with Bella, and she becomes suicidal, acting like the world just ended.
The good part was...there was no Edward.
I hoped for the sake of the story that Edward never came back. Then, I heard that there were two more books and that he comes back in the end of this one. Needless to say, I was miffed.
In short, New Moon is the same old mindless drivel from Twilight, just a different cover.
Book Review: The story was with Jacob, not Bella
Summary: 3 Stars
I honestly felt that this book had more depth to it than the first book. There was alot of character development going on...almost too much. Because while the characters became more real (by getting to really know them), the plotline didn't really seem to move. At first I thought, "okay, I guess I can get used to Jacob being the focus". And as the book went on I really expected Bella & Jake to hook up. But as the book continued, I realized the string-pulling wasn't going to end. Jake was just going to keep warming up to Bella, and she was just going to keep leading him on. The story went nowhere until the very last portion of the book.
It was a constant struggle. The book was hugely about Jacob, but it was written from Bellas POV, so any plotline that could have developed via Jacob was unable to be adequately portrayed from Bella's POV. Jacob was growing attached to Bella, he was learning of his own fate, dealing with shape-shifting, no mental privacy from the pack, and so on. But all of that, which could have made for an interesting read if told from Jacobs POV, was overshadowed by Bella. All we got to hear was her constant whining. Eventually it just got old. I got tired of her stringing Jacob along, I got tired of her constant depression, I grew tired of the daredevil antics; it was a neverending cycle. All I wanted was for the plotline to move forward in an interesting way.
However, I can say that (like Twilight) the last portion of the book was very good. And while I understand that her depression & plight was necessary in order to paint the end scenario in the proper light, there was no need to drag her depressive nature & antics out through the whole book. It should have been; Edward leaves, we see that she has a major nervous breakdown, and then switch to Jacob's POV for the rest. At that point we know she's hurting significantly, and we can see her dependency on Jacob through his POV, while at the same time giving his plotline the main focus to keep the book interesting. The ending still would have had the same impact had the book went that direction, rather than keeping the primary focus on Bella.
In the end, this book was a more maturely written, but the characters didn't mature. The characters actually seemed to regress somewhat. Everyone was using each other for their own gains. Bella used Jake to make herself feel better. Jake took advantage of Bella's situation by trying to be the rebound guy & use that as a permenant "in". Charlie used both Jake & Bella; constantly pushing them together to keep Edward out of the picture. Sam & Billy were both constantly pushing Bella away once Jake started "maturing". The whole book would have worked out well & actually had some direction if it had switched to Jake's POV near the beginning, and then waited until the end to switch back to Bella (where she actually had a plotline again).
I enjoyed the book because it went really in depth with descriptions and came off as less of an adult novel. However, the way Bella acted, and the length that it went on for, was just really grating on my nerves. She just didn't have enough of a story in this book to warrant leaving the vast majority of the book dedicated to her constant whining and Jacob puppetry. She did have just enough interesting events to keep me reading, and just when I was about to give up on it picking back up, she'd have another small moment of interest just in time. In addition to that, Jacob's story made me enjoy the book, even if I didn't get to see it from his POV. However, that didn't make it any better, or me any more satisfied with the book. I did enjoy it despite her cyclic behavior, but there were definitely better ways to have written the book. When you've reached a seemingly dead end with a character, don't continue beating a dead horse...consider it dead & move on to a different character. The other character's POV can breathe new life back into the story, at which point you can come back to the "dead" character later on when they won't seem so dead anymore.
The end of the book did really make me interested in buying the third book, really hoping that I'd get to see more drama, ending with a little "changing" on Bella's part...and then hoping that book 4 would finish off the series by detailing her new life & discovering her new self.
Book Review: Technically 2 1/2 stars for 1/2 of the book, zero for the rest
Summary: 3 Stars
I'm writing this review before writing a review of "Twilight" because I just can't bring myself to revisit it. Too painful. I may never get around to it. Also: ***WARNING: SPOILERS AHEAD***
I didn't have much expectation for this second book in the series. In fact, I would never have read it had my 17-year old cousin not said "it's not as good as 'Twilight'...Edward's hardly in it". Well that got my interest peaked because, unlike my cousin and the teen majority, I loathe Edward. (Nic, I still respect you! ;D ) He is the charming sociopath I'm always trying to talk my friends out of dating or marrying (to little success). But that means I still have to deal with Bella. Never before have I disliked a protagonist/main character/narrator so much. Characters do need flaws but when they're missing anything resembling self-respect, it makes it hard to relate. Even when I was seventeen, deeply confused and depressed, I had more backbone than Bella has.
Yet I still slogged through because my favorite character in the series was featured here: Jacob. So Meyer IS capable of writing a well-rounded, flawed, likable character! His biggest flaw is chasing after Bella even though he seems to have more common sense than that. But at least his love for her is built on friendship as well as puppy love and hormones. I read somewhere that Meyer said Bella and Edward's relationship is supposed to be one of "true love" and "two halves equaling one" (I'm paraphrasing). But I only see that in Bella and Jacob's relationship. No disturbing obsession or borderline personality disorders (even with Jacob being a werewolf!). I enjoyed the good half of the novel after Bella finally snaps out of her stupor over Edward and starts having fun like a normal teenager with Jacob. In fact, it's the first and only time I see her acting like a normal teenager. She even starts to earn a little bit of my respect as she pursues Jacob when he seems to fall into the wrong crowd and no longer speaks to her. However, this bit of respect is dampened in how she continue to sexually tease him and string him along.
The motorcycles and the thrill-seeking part of Bella is actually one of the few things about her I understand. When coming out of a period of mourning and numbness, you do want to do crazy things just to feel again. However the cliff-diving scene was just over the top and ridiculous. I get it, it's a catalyst for the rest of the story, but come on! I can only suspend my beliefs so far. And from here on, the story veers back to the vampires and I started to lose interest. By the time Bella and Alice head of to Italy, I was skim reading to quickly get to the end.
I have always loved a good purple-prose vampire or gothic novel, though there are few of them. I don't think I've found a werewolf novel I've ever liked (too much focus on finding a "true mate" - something Meyer seems to touch on later, unfortunately). I'm not trying to read novels like this with my Literary Top Hat on; I'm trying to enjoy it for what it is. But I find it extremely disquieting that Meyer has so successfully sold such a reprehensible heroine and truly disturbed hero to a target audience of peer-pressure adled teens. I have confidence that girls like my cousin who read this are of sound mind and background that they don't take it so seriously. Still, if you are a parent whose teen is reading this series, I recommend reading it along with them and discussing it. You might be able to get a bead on where your teen in coming from by getting their perspective on these books. (This could be the best thing to come out of this series.)
The Beatle mania-type fandom that this series has inspired does worry me that many teenage girls will become young women who sell themselves short in order to find their Edward. Ladies, from a been-there-done-that perspective, I consider you extremely lucky if you ever find a Jacob.