New Moon (The Twilight Saga)
by Stephenie Meyer
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Book Reviews of New Moon (The Twilight Saga)
Book Review: Bella becomes pathetic and depressing
Summary: 2 Stars
The overall story of this book was not bad. It at least gets two stars for having potential. Edward leaves, Victoria is out to seek revenge, we get introduced to the werewolves, and then there is a confrontation with the volturi. I thought the werewolves and the volturi were very interesting. I am excited to see what becomes of the them in the sequals. I thought the concept of Bella being abandoned by Edward while having a vampire stalking her and having to turn to the werewolves was also a good plot. The problem was, there was not enough focus on these plots. They were good ideas, but too much time was spent on other things that were not very interesting and were actually kind of annoying. Too much of the plot focused on Bella's depression, her relationship with Jacob, and building motorcyles.
The one thing that really bothered me throughout this book was Bella, and it kind of makes me question where her character is going. The reason I gave this book two stars was because most of it focused on Bella's mundane thoughts about losing Edward and having an empty life. It was downright depressing and dull at times. Some of the other plots, like the werewolevs and the volturi were good, but overall there was too much focus on Bella's depression. Her character absolutely drove me nuts in this book. When I read Twilight, I read it knowing that there were sequals, so I could deal with her weak character because I thought it was a set up for future character growth. However, I saw no character growth in Bella in this book. In Twilight, I thought she came across as somewhat needy, clingy, and obsessive over Edward, but like I said before, I could deal with it because I thought the author was just setting her up to grow as a character in the sequals.
A huge portion of this book focused on how empty and pathetic Bella became without Edward. She basically died and became a zombie, and it was horrible to have to read about her psychotic auditory hallucinations and the pain she was constantly in. So much time is spent on Bella trying to get herself into trouble so she could hear Edward, and that just bothered me. I wish Bella would have showed some character growth and maybe would have started to build a new life. But no. She just keeps hanging onto Edward, even though she doesn't think he is ever coming back. Pathetic.
It was also clearly obvious that she was only using Jacob to take her mind off of Edward. This is why her relationship with Jacob annoyed me. Where is the author going with this? It's very obvious that Jacob has romantic interest in Bella, but she does not feel the same and obviously never will (Edward came back, so I know there is no way Bella is going to give him up). So what was the point of building it up and putting so much focus on them? And she also became almost needy and obsessive over Jacob too! How pathetic is she? Does she always need someone to cling to in order to feel like a whole person and feel happy? There was no need for Bella to become so pathetic in this book. This is just my opinion, but I like to read about characters who develop and make progress. Bella is just as clingy and needy as she was in Twilight. I hope this changes in the future novels, because I almost could not stand to listen to her whining anymore. By the end of the book, I was relieved that Edward came back just so I didn't have to hear Bella talk about the pain anymore. Blah.
Please, Bella, grow up and get a life outside of Edward Cullen and Jacob Black. Get some hobbies for yourself, and stop constantly thinking about them. I realize that Meyer may not have intended to make Bella a role model of any kind, but I will not be able to listen to her point of view anymore if her thoughts are going to be so whiny and obsessive. It's just not the kind of character, or story, I am intersted in or can relate to.
Book Review: Bella is a spine-less, pathetic excuse for a main character
Summary: 1 Stars
This book is really infuriating.
The perfect, sweet smelling, brooding Edward Cullen decides the best thing to do would be to leave Bella so that she can start a less dangerous life without him in it. Bella's reaction to Edward leaving is utterly moronic. First of all, she HAS to know Edward adores her and loves her, but being the whiny and irritating character that she is, she tells herself that he must not care for her at all. She is supposed to be intelligent, but she never considers the real reason Edward left her - for her own benefit, so he could not hurt her any more. Of course, she jumps to conclusions and assumes Edward has no feelings for her whatsoever, which was really annoying to read. Second, after he leaves, she wanders the forest after dark until she collapses into the dirt, with no sense of time or direction. This. Is. Ridiculous.
No matter HOW much you love someone, no matter how obsessed you are with them, there is NO reason to curl up on the floor in the middle of the woods and go into shock. There is no reason why Bella should have to be saved by a rescue team and scare her father to death because someone broke up with her. I understand the devastation - cry all you want, scream all you want, etc - but to completely shut down like that is a little much. As the months go by, Bella is described as being "zombie-like". That is not Edward's fault. That is Bella being nothing but WEAK. Where is your spine? Where is any sense of confidence, any sense of self importance? She does not go out with her friends. She doesn't listen to music. She doesn't read. She is a shell of a person. I don't care how upset you are. Put on a front for other people and TRY and have as good of a time as you can despite being incredibly depressed. It's possible. Staying inside all the time in isolation is NOT going to make you feel better, at all. The "hole" in her chest analogy was really funny to me. I couldn't believe Bella actually had to LITERALLY wrap her arms around her chest to "hold herself together" - are you serious?
We are introduced further to poor Jacob Black, whom Bella does not seem to regard as an actual person. Jacob is used from beginning to end in this entire series. Bella starts hanging out with Jake as an escape from her tormented thoughts about Edward - which would have been fine, if she wasn't only hanging out with Jake to further allow herself to hallucinate about Edward. The "reckless" things Bella does - throw herself off a cliff, ride motorcycles, talk to potential rapists, etc - to conjure Edward's "velvet" voice were laughable. But the worst was that Jacob had no idea. He had no idea Bella was only riding bikes with him to think of Edward, no idea that Bella was even still thinking about him (until the end). She had NO regard for Jacob's feelings at all. She even has the nerve to invite Jacob to go with her to find her and Edward's special meadow in the woods. He has no clue what it signifies - how horrible if he ever found out! He is clearly in love with her, and yet she dismisses him immediately when Edward comes back into the picture. It's unfair to everyone involved.
The build-up in this book was even worse than the previous. I can think of hundreds of things more terrifying than the Volturi. They did not intimidate me or frighten me at all. I never felt as if any of the characters were ever in real danger. The way they simply shrugged off the entire issue at the end and basically postponed the punishment made me lose any feeling that they were to be feared. If you're the most powerful and ancient vampires and someone breaks one of your rules, it's expected that you do SOMETHING about it, rather than saying "Okay, do you pinky promise you'll change Bella into a vampire? In that case, we'll see you in book four!"
Book Review: Worth Experiencing
Summary: 4 Stars
I will begin the review with my criticisms and follow up with what I perceive are the strengths in Full Moon.
Stephenie Meyer is far too redundant and at times unrealistic. Her descriptions of Edward's physical beauty and affection toward Bella are repetitive to the point of inspiring a sense of torturous disenchantment with her writing style. We know Edward is beautiful. We get it. How many times can Edward kiss Bella on the lips the same way? How many times can Bella experience heart palpitations when she looks into Edward's eyes, even after she's become totally accustomed to him? How many times, for Pete's sake, can someone grab Bella's face with both hands in a desperate plea to be persuasive or affectionate? The depth of character relationships suffers as a result.
There is a sense of wishing the characters were more emotionally mature, particularly given their academic giftedness and obvious intelligence. Edward is a childish bully, given his considerable age. Bella's character is unforgivably and unnecessarily bratty and shallow. The depth of her developing relationship with Edward leaves much to be desired because Meyers keeps the reader hostage with immature romance, which is ultimately dull.
By the end of the book, I was left wondering how Edward could possibly put up with her. It is somewhat difficult to empathize with Bella or even relate to her as she grows increasingly melodramatic and self-centered, all the while remaining gallingly weak and passive throughout. Maybe that is realistic teenage girl behavior, if the exaggerated damsel in distress mentality is still all the rage, but it is downright boring in a book. After she turns 18 years old, her father continues to ground her as though she is a child, despite the fact that she cooks the meals, does the laundry, has a job, and plans to pay her way through college. Chief Swan is an overprotective, useless lump with authority. It doesn't really add up.
I suppose it is a matter of preference but I did not much care for the way Meyer employed the Romeo and Juliet theme. It was too predictable and unoriginal.
Regardless, I have to admit I blazed through this 500+ page book in less than two days. For those who appreciate the vampire/werewolf thing, this book gets right to the heart of that mythical conflict in a deliciously satisfying way. Though Meyers writing style is fairly weak, there is no doubt that I was hooked and that I enjoyed the book, overall. One of Meyers strengths is her descriptive skill when she's not being too repetitive. She has the ability to paint the fictional world. Additionally, the middle of the book may have sagged without the presence of the Cullens but Meyer's skill at integrating Jacob and the werewolves, combined with Bella's psychologically and emotionally rich and believable bout of severe depression, pulled it off. During Bella's depression, Meyer's digs into her mind and pulls out a gem nearly reminiscent of the likes of Stephen King. Well, that's a stretch. After all, who can compare to King? The point is that Meyers was onto something there but she pretty much lost a grip of it throughout the rest of the book. A final point: The trip to Italy and the interaction with the vampires there was so potentially rich and fascinating that it is unfortunate that it was (for the most part) resolved so fast.
One of the great strengths in Meyer's arsenal is her ability to weave a romantic, seductive, and electrifying story without any sex in it. I give her definite kudos for the sense that lovemaking occurs in acts like handholding, eye gazing, light kissing, touching, and embraces. It is truly extraordinary and a breath of fresh air in today's boring oversexed story culture.
Book Review: This Reader's On The Fence...
Summary: 3 Stars
"New Moon", the follow-up to Book 1 of the Twilight saga (Twilight), is the continuing story of Bella Swan and her vampire boyfriend Edward Cullen and it contains romance and intrigue aplenty where the first left off. When Edward abruptly leaves Forks after Bella's 18th birthday despite declaring his undying love, Bella is an emotional zombie for several months afterward. She finds solace in her close friendship with Jacob Black and begins spending all her time with him rebuilding a pair of motorcycles as well as trying to distract herself from the pain of Edward's absence. Jacob is persistent in his romantic overtures but Bella repudiates his advances more than once, her final and decisive rebuff creating a nasty love triangle that nearly costs her their precious friendship. Meanwhile, a moderately interesting side story is taking place (and it all becomes fairly predictable as one reads on) that ultimately compromises everyone's relationships and serves as the catalyst for another climactic ending.
For fans of Meyer, "New Moon" will titillate with its melancholic air, sexual tension and consistent suspense. Surprisingly, it can also frustrate, the further development of Bella's character revealing a severely idealistic and somewhat superficial teenage girl who is obnoxiously consumed by her so-called love for Edward that when real love stares her in the face, she turns the other cheek. I can hardly imagine a girl/woman who would be satisfied with eternal damnation rather than marriage, children and a husband/boyfriend who could actually CONSUMMATE the relationship, but Bella's hardly your normal teenager. I commend Meyer for her bravery in writing a female protagonist that is at times highly unlikeable; most writers do want their readers to care about their characters but Bella's self-destructive behavior and self-absorbed motivations can sometimes exasperate even the most passive reader. Also up for criticism is Meyer's repeated use of facial descriptions/body language - still lots of eye-rolling and a lot of frowning and shuddering as well. Then there's the over-the-top character of Aro, a Volturi who for his odd enthusiasm, wistful sighs and exclamations of "wonderful!" comes off as curiously effeminate (see also: flamer - urbandictionary.com).
There are rays of light here and there in Meyer's writing, such as this commendable description of Jacob:
"Jacob was simply a perpetually happy person, and he carried that happiness with him like an aura, sharing it with whoever was near him. Like an earthbound sun, whenever someone was within his gravitational pull, Jacob warmed them. It was natural, a part of who he was. No wonder I was so eager to see him." (pg. 145)
Once again, Meyer includes an excerpt from the next book (Eclipse), a teaser designed to encourage a reader's continual devouring of the series. As a suspense writer, Meyer shows promise but if she wants to appeal to a more mature crowd, her language, subject matter and characters are in dire need of sophistication and introspection. It's easy to get lost for a little while in the fantasy but when a reader gets tired of all the improbabilities of the story and yearns to read something that is plausible and/or relatable, Meyer cannot deliver.
Bottom line: If you're a fan of Book 1, then you're bound to love all its counterparts and will probably find yourself racing through to the end of Book 4 (Breaking Dawn). Meyer's "marshmallow fluff" fiction (as one Amazon.com reviewer so succintly put) is addicting for those who want a highly fantasized escape and they need look no further than the "Twilight" saga.
Book Review: Emo woe squared
Summary: 1 Stars
It is official -- Stephanie Meyer is the oldest emo teenage girl on the face of this planet.
How else could she have written a book like "New Moon," the second sparkle-vampire romance in her bestselling Twilight series? Unfortunately this is no deep and intense romance -- it's basically a big oozing lump of teenage melodrama and horrendously purple prose. And the resolutely obnoxious heroine Bella Swan doesn't help with her endless moaning.
Bella's whether-you-like-it-or-not birthday party is wrecked when she cuts herself and prompts Jasper into a feeding frenzy, and the Cullens realize that she's just too tasty to be safe. So they leave town permanently. Cue emo music, for Bella's life is empty and worthless without Edward.
No, seriously -- it's empty. We have blank pages with month names on them, presumably to show that life is utterly empty and pointless when Eddie boy is absent -- "that I wasn't the heroine anymore, that my story was over."
But when she deliberately tries to put herself in danger, she hears Edward commanding her to stop. So she buys a motorcycle and starts immersing herself in extreme sports, hoping to hear him over and over again -- and she also gets to know local hunk Jacob Black, who has a supernatural secret of his own. But her near-suicidal antics have disastrous results for Edward, who believes her to be dead... and takes drastic action.
For the record, being seventeen-plus and/or breaking up with your True Luv are a fate worse than death. Teen Romance = True Luv. Catatonia and suicide are valid responses to being dumped. And life is an endless vile morass of nihilistic doom without a Sparkling Undead Coverboy to validate your existance and keep life from being ordinary.
At least, that is what "New Moon" would have you believe, since Stephanie Meyer smothers it in enough teenage melodrama and endless whiny angst to choke a blue whale. Thankfully her purple prose has been toned down -- presumably due to the absence of the "godlike" Edward -- but unfortunately page upon page of whining and suicidal despair is not a good substitute.
The entire story is pretty much devoted to the ever-passive Bella moping and whining as the sound of the world's smallest violin plays. Meyer attaches hilariously melodramatic significance to such scenes as Bella trying to get raped and murdered by a random bunch of guys, or having a recurring emo nightmare about being -- oh gasp of horror -- alone. You'd think being single was a death sentence.
Belatedly, Meyer realizes that post-breakup angst is not enough to carry even this thin plot. So she quickly spins up a bunch of Bad Evil Restrictive Vampires (with a not-so-subtle anti-Catholic bent), and Edward attempting suicide by the most hilarious method possible -- public sparkling. Such scenes almost mock themselves.
And Bella's endless woe-is-me-for-I-am-a-plain-mortal angst doesn't make her more vulnerable and likable -- it just eats up pages. And while Meyer tries desperately to show Bella's obsession as being True and Eternal Love, it never seems like more than a teenage girl's overwrought crush. And in a feeble attempt at a love triangle, Meyer makes Bella flirt callously with Jacob Black -- a sweet, nice, friendly guy who deserves way better.
"New Moon" is a prolonged, near-plotless slog of teenage melodrama, and it's nothing short of amazing that a grown woman could write such a book. Only for those who enjoy a fine whine.