Telling (Pg. 145-158)

 I began this project with an open mind. I realized that the detractors of this series were usually disgruntled nerd types who tend to hate anything popular by its virtue of being popular. It's like Yogi Bera once said, "the place is so popular no one goes there anymore." So throughout these posts I have made strides to point out the sections where the writing is well done rather than just focus on the purely negative as so many others have done. The problem is that in doing this, we hit a section where the characters are unlikable and the writing is bad. One without the other isn't a good thing, but both together? Not a good sign. Furthermore, given that this is the second book in the series you expect improvement. However in order to do that we would need a drastically different main character.

Bella and Jake are working on the bikes, which means that it's time for some pointless monologuing from Bella about why she isn't completely miserable. It could be that, I don't know, she's out amongst the people instead of something magical but no, "It was Jacob himself. Jacob was simply a perpetually happy person and he carried that happiness with him like an aura, sharing it with whoever was within his gravitational pull."

First off, is it an aura or a gravitational pull? One radiates while the other pulls in; it's a mixed simile and doesn't work at all. Secondly, those perpetually happy people? They usually make depressed people miserable. Maybe though he is an exception, although I somehow doubt it. Thirdly, and finally, we haven't seen an instance of Jacob being a perpetually happy person. He seems in good spirits around Bella but that's because he has a crush on her. Other than that he's kind of a typical 16 year old.

Charlie shows up and there's an impromptu party at the Black's house. They eat spaghetti out sprawled throughout the house because the kitchen is too small for all eight or nine people that are there. She actually gives the impression that some of them are outside through the open doors, but this is January so that doesn't make much sense. Charlie eyes Bella and Jacob throughout the dinner. Which makes sense given that he's her father, but Bella has of course some snide comments about him doing it. Again, the relationship she has to her father is extremely odd. What's even more odd is the relationship that Bella has with every other woman that appears in the story. The first thing that Bella notices about any female is how attractive they are. Leah, a girl we've just met who is a senior (but we aren't told where), is described as having beautiful bronze skin. Every other woman in the story, if they are noticed at all, is introduced as being an object of desire or at least envy. Remember that in the last book, Bella could never shut the hell up about how gorgeous Edward's sisters were. If a woman warrants a description in this book she's always an object of desire. I've Cinemax movies that are less objectifying.

Once home we have a curious case of violating the "show don't tell" rule of writing. Bella checks her email and receives word from her mother, "She wrote about her day, a new book club that filled the time slot...a second honeymoon trip to Disney World." It's a case of unnecessary information. Nothing in the email is of any importance, only to remind us that she has a mother. Then we get to the rule violation as Bella thinks about the email she has just read two paragraphs earlier, "I really must have worried her."

Bella calls herself a bad daughter. I'll agree with that, but only in reference to Charlie. Meyer has told us that Bella's mother is upset with Bella. She should have shown us it, with the actual text of the email, but in this case it would have been useless anyway. Since nothing in that email even remotely hints at Renee being upset with Bella, Meyer instead just tells is that this is the case. It makes absolutely no sense for this to either happen or for it to be told to us. In fact if Renee was entirely dropped from the story would it be any different? Maybe she's never there because she's not hot.

The next day is Monday. Which is important because we are back to school. After another awkward exchange with Charlie she's at school lamenting how no one notices her. Which is total bullshit as we explained in during the last novel Bella wants to be unpopular because she wants to be popular. It's the long way around, people will view her as the loner and thus she will be special. Her eyes will be permanently fixed in an upward sarcastic fashion while she talks about foreign "films" and smokes cloves in three years. She's way beyond unreliable narrator because she's inconsistent. All of the times where she's enjoyed the freedom and the privilege of being a Cullen now all she wants is anonymity? Bullshit, because the first thing she does is wonder if everyone has been talking about her.

The larger issue is that she hasn't been gone. She's been in school, at work, at home. We're supposed to be under the impression that this is her first day back after the break up, but it clearly isn't. Perhaps psychologically it might be, but that's a complete stretch. Her claim is that she wants to, "fade into the wet concrete of the sidewalk like an oversized chameleon."

It's another simile butcher but this time it only fails for two reasons: the first is that the word "oversized" is superfluous. If she wanted to hide it would be better for her to hide like a regular sized chameleon, because they are smaller thus easier to miss. If she really wanted to hide she wouldn't be starting conversations with people like she does at lunch with Jessica. The second reason the simile fails is because unless that concrete is blue and she wants to be cold it makes no sense. Chameleons don't change color to hide, they don't have to, they are green and live in trees. The color change is merely a stimulus response to temperature. Do some research instead of going off everything that you've been told and you'll be a better writer.

The not wanting to be noticed Bella strikes up a conversation with Jessica, "she looked at me with suspicious eyes. Could she still be angry? Or was she just too impatient to deal with a crazy person?" Jessica responds with a one word answer and then later asks two of the other women at the table how their weekend went giving us this observation by Bella, "Jessica asked, not sounding as if she cared about the answe. I'd bet this was just an opener so she could tell her own stories."

I never picked this up before, but it has to do with Bella's relationship with Jessica, and thus Jessica's relationship with the author. To be honest I have to throw credit where it's due (someone else has decided to torture themselves with these books too), and this person "Kate" made it perfectly clear why something is always off about Jessica. It's not her, it's the author. I think someone like Jessica, a pretty blonde, made life hell for our author because she wants us to hate Jessica, but we are never given any reason for not liking her. She's a gossip, sure, but she's also a 17/18 year old girl so that's not really worthy of despising. Also she's the center of her social circle so it makes sense that she would be a gossip, but other than that Bella just hates her and then through her eyes we are supposed to hate her as well. However nothing Jessica does has ever been unjustified to Bella. At first Jessica was a little jealous because of Mike which makes sense. Then she was made to see Bella abandon the only friends she had at Forks HS to sit with the Cullens, but that makes sense as well. Now, she's giving Bella one word answers and ignoring her, and you know what? That makes sense as well given the events of Friday night. We are supposed to hate Jessica but i have no idea why. Either she's a stand in for someone the author doesn't like, or we are supposed to not like her because she isn't attached to a man, which seems to be the only virtue worth having in this world.

Finally we get a third mutilating, "the figure of speech cold shoulder seemed to have some literal truth to it. I could feel the the warm air blowing off the vents, but I was still too cold." What in the living fuck am I supposed to do with that? Cold shoulder is what you give someone you are ignoring or angry with. Like Jessica is doing to Bella right now, justifiably. It has nothing, at all, to do with the temperature in the air. Now if the cold air was metaphorically coming off of Jessica and Bella got a chill from her cold reaction, that would make sense. Then, however, we would be in a different book. A shitty book, but at least one that understands what exactly a cliche is. At this point I think I want to take a week off and watch the first movie.

Finally we get Angela, at the end of lunch, thanking Bella for standing up for her. Which we not only never learn why she did it but we also never learn when it happened because it wasn't during this lunch period. Telling not showing seems to be the theme of this series. We also learn that the reason that Bella doesn't hang out with Angela is because she's too smart, she probably isn't pretty enough either.

Too hip to be happy pt. II ( Pg. 134-147)

We've stumbled on to another one of the dangerous ideas that this book series propagates. The first being that control freak sociopaths make good boyfriends, and the second regards depression. I've discussed it several times during the last book that Bella is obviously clinically depressed. Not just a sad sack, but DSM-IV depressed. It's one of the actual appealing things about her character, because at least in this our author is pretty accurate. The repeated feelings of worthlessness, the idolization of anyone that even seems better, and the complete attachment to her boyfriend (who again isn't worth it by a long shot) to the point where she ignores her self; all play into a categorization of someone who is suffering from depression. While such a clinical diagnosis is ought of my expertise, I'm basically comparing her to people that I have known who were diagnosed with depression by a psychologist. It's a little cheap, I admit that, but without shelling out the money for the DSM-IV and at least four years of college, it's about as close as we are going to get.

Yet the depressed Bella that we have come to know and despise also carries with it a strange trope that exists in almost all cases where a form of fictional media deals with a person suffering from certain psychological ailments. First things first though, let's get through the plot until we get there.

Jacob is stripping the bikes apart, which is stereotypical of any gear head. Take it apart to see what's wrong with it, of course, they could...I don't know, try to start the bikes just to see if they work. As they are doing so Jacob is basically carrying the conversation. The first thing he does is describe his sophomore year.

This was confusing to me. Not the sophomore part, we know that because in the last book Charlie yelled at him for driving before he had his license. It's just that I'm not sure where he goes to school. It can't be at Bella's Forks HS, because then she would have had prior knowledge of all of this. Is it a reservation school? I know that such things do exist, but it would be nice here if Meyer would fill us in on at least where he goes. Especially when Jacob's two friends show up for a pop in.

"Quil and Embry--this is my friend Bella.' Quil and Embry, I still didn't know which was which, exchanged a look"

I know the look, it's a guy thing and it surprises me that Meyer is aware of it. It's the he's-with-a-girl-so-let's-give-him-shit look. It's a nice scene that's incredibly realistic, and it would be nice if Quil and Embry don't suffer the Tolkien problem of being introduced just to be dropped. More importantly Bella leaves with the three still in the garage only this time, "I was laughing, actually laughing and there wasn't even anyone watching."

Jacob and his friends forced her to not purposely remember how miserable she's supposed to be. At home it's the usual weird relationship between Bella and her father. He's notably curious about her spending time with Jacob, although not in a suspicious way just a concerned father way. Along with a way of hoping this breaks her out of the funk she's been in. The next morning, it's Sunday. Which is important because it is very rare that we get any notion of time in this story. Although truth be told, this book is a lot better than the last one...so far.

Sunday means no homework, and Bella wants to take a run over to Jacob's to work on the motorcycles. Her dad is going to watch the game. It's kind of lazy writing to have Charlie keep doing this. So far any time Bella needs to be away from her father he's watching the game., "I wasn't sure if the game was just an excuse for kicking me out, but he looked excited enough now." 

"The game" falls under the Cain/Hackman theorum; at any given time there's one on as long as you aren't picky about what it is. The thing about this "game" is that since it's Sunday we can't be sure what it is. Too late in the year for football, too early in the year for baseball. All that's left is Hockey and Basketball, and hockey we were told was last night. What could be so exciting that Charlie is ecstatic that Bella is out of the house? It doesn't matter apparently, the big four may not be on, but if you are willing to settle for Thai slap boxing or watching ESPN "the ocho" cover Scrabble you can find some sort of competition. This time the excuse does two things, it gets Bella away from Charlie but it also gets Old Man Black away from Jacob. This way the motorcycle rebuilt can take place in secrecy.

Bella's is happy now, I suppose is what really matters. But this leads us to the original point of the post. The trope regarding mental illness is that it's all in the person's head. Well, duh, I mean that it's not anything serious but rather just a matter of perception if the afflicted person could just get over it, get out in the world, they would realize that being miserable is a choice that doesn't have to be made. For reference see "The Dream Team," "Rainman," "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest," the episodes of House where he was committed, there's many more but those would be the most popular.

This is a dangerous stereotype to continue. Bella's problem is that she is a self-destructive person with no sense of self-worth. Then her boyfriend dumped her, now she's one or two bad decisions away from a suicide attempt which she's pretty much doing anyway with the motorcycles. Now, though, she's happy and laughing because she is around people who don't view her as being worthless, instead actually respect her. Which would be a good lesson for a depressed to learn, except that Bella isn't doing it right. She is happy because Jacob is happy, not for any reason that she can come up with on her own. Which is too bad because she ought to be, she found people that care about her and make her feel good. Yet she still holds on to that stupid promise she made to Edward, "I still wanted to cheat."

She wants to be miserable because the pain reminds her of Edward. It's the only thing and its disappearing. That's why she goes to bed anxious, she's afraid of losing that last connection. Maybe what I said earlier was wrong regarding her: maybe she is choosing to be depressed, but no matter because it is still a dangerous stereotype to continue.

Summa Contra Motorcyclus (Pg. 127-134)

Borrowing from Aquinas for that title.

She's out in the rain in front of a house where she sees some motorcycles for sale. This is apparently fate, because Charlie hates motorcycles and somehow this is her way to get back at Edward for breaking his promise that it would be like he never existed. Now, I know that previous sentence has two completely unrelated ideas in it, but literally this is her reasoning for wanting the motorcycles. Charlie hates them, they're dangerous, and Edward broke his promise, so she'll break her promise about not doing anything dangerous.

A kid from school opens the door, recognizing her for some reason and she inquires about the bikes. It turns out they are not for sale, they are free to whoever wants them, but they need work. For some reason haggling is involved regarding whether or not she'll take them. Which I don't understand at all, if the junkman comes around my neighborhood and he wants to take some scrap metal; I'm not going to get into it with him about where the best place to go would be. This is what happens, apparently there is one mechanic in Forks but he's expensive and everyone knows this. Yet somehow he still operates, even though the entire town would rather drive to Port Angeles to get their car worked on. What it sounds like is that this kid, the high school kid, is trying to kiss up to the hot senior. That's at least in the realm of plausibility, but if the family is really trying to ditch the bikes then the less talk about it the better.

Bella, now in possession of two motorcycles, needs a way to get them fixed, "inspiration hit like a bolt of lightening, not unreasonable considering the storm."

The "like a bolt of lightening" part I understand, it's a bit cliche, but I get the meaning. All of the sudden the idea exploded in her mind, but then she explains the simile? Why? It's completely reasonable to say that inspiration hit like lightening, because people say that all of the time and everyone understands the meaning of the phrase.* What does the storm have to do with anything? Does she mean that literally lightening hit her? The weather is a complete non-issue for the simile to work. If she had said instead, "the idea exploded like a volcano" would she have to justify it with, "which is pretty reasonable considering what happened in Iceland recently?" Sorry Stephanie, but that's bad writing.

What is the idea then? Jacob. She knows someone that works on cars, and he'll pretty much do anything for her, so just like I assume how she got the job at Mike's store she heads off to the reservation but first she calls her dad to tell her what's going on. Her dad, the Sheriff, wonders why she is calling and what's wrong to which Bella asks, "Can't I call you at work without there being an emergency?"

No, Bella, you can't. Other people can, but not you. Mainly for the reason that every morning she wakes up screaming.

She gets permission and then runs to the Black's house to see Jacob, "You grew again!' I accused in amazement."

"Accused"? I suppose that's technically right but it just seems so wrong. The two sneak around to the barn to unload the bikes. Jacob looks them over and remarks that they will need work. Bella offers him one of the bikes in exchange for fixing the both of them-a pretty good deal actually. Jacob agrees to this, because he won't take money. I actually get the impression that his desire to work on the motorcycles is to for its own sake trumping his desire to do shit for Bella. He's enthusiastic about the project and best of all because of his old man's wheel chair they can be worked in secrecy.

Bella here, actually lightens up. She feels better about herself around Jacob, and I'm not reading anything into it either. She flat out says it a couple of times. It's probably because by doing this, she's actually moving on. Holding on the Edward promise was just her way of staying with him, but once she freed herself from his control her mood considerably lightened. In actuality she's finally come to the conclusion that she told us that she was at by the very end of the last chapter. This time she isn't lying, because she's stating facts not trying to convince anyone.

As a point of fact though things get strange. Jacob remarks that one of the Motorcycles is a Harley Davidson Spirit. Harleys are like Macs (the computers) a good deal of the cost is based around the label on it. They are two companies that basically epitmoize form over function. Not to say they don't function well, but that for the same price you would pay for a Harley or an i"Whatever" you could but at least two of the other things. All that aside, the thing with the Harley is that it is going to be expensive to fix, Jake tells Bella that the parts cost money but she doesn't care. She can use her college fund to pay for the parts.

I think that this is the way Meyer is writing Bella's suicide, without calling it that. I did a quick check on the internet and most of the parts cost about fifty books each, the entire bike is available on EBay for around 3550. I suppose that my only question regarding her desire to cull her future in favor of the motorcycles is: why doesn't she just use the money she makes from her job? It's not like she's in a hurry.

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*Just like "irregardless" sigh.

Disconnect ( pg. 119-127)

"Last night had been particularly bad," Bella remarks from the inside of her truck as she pulled over because crying while driving is dangerous. Despite the fact that you can't actually do it (thanks Nina), you can cry will stopped in a car but not while driving. Your body has this thing called the not-wanting-to-die prerogative that prioritizes certain actions. Driving is more important than crying. Her comment is odd because if "last night" was the night when she went to the movies with Jessica, it wasn't bad at all. She ends the previous chapter by saying that the pain had not lessened but that she had grown stronger. How is that "particularly bad?"

Bella has been having a nightmare where she is lost in the woods. The accompanying description of the forest is well done, as I repeatedly said during the last book, Meyer can lay out a scene very well. Bella is troubled by the nightmares because it's always the same and she always wakes up screaming. So what does she do to take her mind off the forest? She drives around in her truck through the forest lined roads while telling us, "I didn't want to remember the forest."

It leads us to an issue that we've had with this character in the entire story so far: she says one thing, but then does another. There is a literary device called "the unreliable narrator" in which a story is told in this way. To be the unreliable narrator, the voice we read has to contradict the events we witness or at least the facts of the story. Think of Akira Kurosawa's Rashoman or Captain Nemo's autobiography in The Mysterious Island, the point of view is being told as being true but it's the recollections of a character that do not reflect the facts of the situation which make them false. The point is that whether done deliberately (with knowledge of the mistakes, hence a lie) or accidentally (thinking the recollections are honest) it drives the story. It takes cleverness to use it correctly. The thing about Bella Swan is that while we can't trust her, we can't call her an unreliable narrator. The difference is that the things that happen which contradict her narration are done for the sake of plot. The plot drives her into either saying or doing the wrong thing. She tells us she doesn't want to be in the forest while driving through it, why? Because she needs to be on the road so that the next thing happens.

There's an interesting dissection of Edward's promise to Bella as she waits in the place that she doesn't want to be. Edward told her that, "it would be like I never existed," and while her feelings rebel against that idea she begins to realize that he lied, or is an oath breaker. What I like about it is that finally she sees something wrong in him. It's small but it's something. She realizes that he can't erase her memory, he can't undo the past, which allows her to think that she "would be able to look back on those few short months that would always be the best of my life."

I won't even knock her for that sentiment. I remember my first girlfriend, Rose, who was of no real significance in my life. I didn't particularly care about her that much but at the time I thought I did. Simply because she was the first and I hadn't developed the callous yet. I thought ours would be the best relationship every possible for me after she dumped me...AT THE TIME. It always feels like forever in the present, but it's not. She continues reflecting about the best time of her life and comes to the conclusion that the whole relationship was, "more than I asked for, more than I deserved."

My friend, Cassie, was saying that the biggest appeal of this book was that Meyer writes depressed very well. I'll admit to both having some sympathy for the main character due to experiences I have had and the experiences of close friends, but I wonder at Cassie's opinion here. I'm not sure Bella is supposed to be depressed or if she accidentally falls into that character trait because of the writer. What Bella is saying sure sounds like a depressed person, but thus far every time she's opined similarly it's purpose has been to glorify how good and desirable Edward is.

For some reason she gets out of her car, after deciding that if Edward couldn't keep his time-travel promise she won't keep her safe living promise either. It's important to note that she gets out of her car first, then remarks, "Sometimes kismet happens. Coincidence? Or was it meant to be?" upon seeing two motorcycles with a 'for sale, as is' sign above them.

The first thing she says is stupid. Of course kismet happens, it has to or else they wouldn't call it "kismet." Kismet literally means fate or destiny, the kind of thing that can't be avoided. The motorcycles are just what she needs to live recklessly, so it ought to be fate. Yet, Bella talks herself right out of that conclusion, despite the fact that it was exactly what she needed at the time. The only type of fate that I believe in is this kind of fate, fictional. This is one time in which I actually grimaced when someone talked themselves out of believing in it, but again it's that disconnection.

Anti-Climactic (Pg. 101-119)

Two weeks ago I was ranting about how cheap it was that we skip ahead in the book four months right after the break up. For a reader such as I, one who really doesn't care that much about the book but more about the writer at this point, I knew that I was missing something. Especially during that first month, it would have been a real challenge to portray how Bella reacted to this break up. That being said, this week's section makes me want criticize the author for not skipping enough. I realize know that this first couple weeks of January are completely pointless. It's just a turning point where Bella is getting her head out of the sand for awhile.

It's important to note that she's not doing this because she wants to, but only to get her father off her back. I said it last week, and this week Bella confirms it herself, "It was probably true. She was at least the first person I thought of when I wanted to avoid Charlie."

Jessica is skeptical, and more accurately she is reluctant. Not without good reason either. I don't know how women put up with this kind of behavior but men don't tolerate the kind of bullshit that Bella has pulled on Mike and Jessica. They were her friends, they used to hang out, and then she got the boyfriend. Once that happened, the rest of the world no longer existed. As we saw at the end of the first novel, she couldn't even tell Mike she was unavailable Edward did that for her. Now, she wants friendship back? Or at least that is what it should seem like to Jessica. A guy in Bella's situation would be out of luck. Eventually his old friends would come back around but the very first time they were asked? All Bella has done is shown Jessica that she doesn't rate that high at all, if Edward came back she would be out on her ass again.

Jessica picks Bella up, seriously. After being ignored in favor of cooler people for almost a year now, Bella finally lowers herself to asking Jessica to a movie but only on the condition that Jessica drive? Jessica agrees, but from the tone of her lines it seems like it's more out of pity than anything else. I suppose that makes sense.

What doesn't make sense is the next five to six pages. It's not bad writing, it's confusing, or illogical, it just simply is. It's the story of how they went to the movies. Bella walks out a couple of times, because it reminds her of Edward, but even those scenes aren't really exposing anything. It just happens. I wonder if Meyer could have won here but to be honest I don't think she could have. If she skipped this whole part I would be complaining that she skipped it but in seeing what she has written I would have liked to wonder what she jumped over. I suppose the best solution would have been to condense the entire section into a paragraph or two.

The important part of the story is what happens after the movie when they want something to eat. Let's get this right, the movie is a complete non-issue. It matters nothing to the story or the plot only to shoe horn them into Port Angeles so that they can have a confrontation outside a bar called "One-Eyed Pete's."

Outside of the bar are four men. Jessica walks straight ahead not trying to draw attention to herself, it's a look you put on your face when walking down a city side walk populated by people who "need jumper cables" or "35 cents to get to the next town, my brother was in a car accident you see.*" Jessica is wary because she's 17 (or 18) and walking by four men. It's been established that she's attractive, aside from the vampires probably the most attractive woman at the school, so she doesn't want to get hooted at. The other thing is that outside of a bar, four men hanging out, are probably just having a smoke.

Bella thinks she knows them. We remember of course the four men that were "harassing" her that both Edward and Bella wanted to kill. Bella truly was frightened that day. The situation sticks out because it was legitimately a tense scene, but she wants to go over and say hi. She begins to do so, to Jessica's objections. There are several pages of her fighting with herself until she hears Edward's voice, "Bella, stop this right now!"

It's a memory, she realizes this to her credit. The thing about the four men? Well it turns out they weren't so bad after all, "Can I help you with something? You look lost."

It's not the horror of Jessica that Bella approached the four guys hanging outside of a bar, but the mysterious disembodied voice that warns her away from...nothing. The guys offer to buy her a drink, but Bella declines. She's too young she says. Which is true, but she can hang out outside of the bar right? I used to sneak my underage friends into the patios of bars all the time, it's a little different from this though I'll admit, but we might want to give credit to Bella for at least saying hi.

Or we would if she didn't express such disappointment that the four men were not the same ones from the previous year, "These were not the dangerous** men that I remembered. They were probably just nice guys. Safe. I lost interest." If it was them what was her plan? To tell them that her ex-boyfriend wanted to kill them for something I'm sure they don't remember from last year?

It would be nice to get some sort of explanation out of Bella for her actions, if just for Jessica's sake. She's angry at Bella, "You are so odd, Bella Swan. I feel like I don't know who you are."

My question for her is, "did you ever know who she was?" That aside, another real flaw in Bella's character is shown here: that of narcissism. She really doesn't seem to understand or care that Jessica is upset with her. Bella never really gives it a second thought, except to wonder at how much Jessica might be angry at her. It's important because it's just like a politician's apology for cheating on their spouse or whatever they did, it's not about them feeling sorry for their actions, it's about them feeling sorry if they have offended someone. Bella isn't sad that her completely out of the blue actions may have offended Jessica, she's worried that Jessica is mad at her for some reason.

It doesn't matter really, because I've written more about it than she has. She just goes to sleep waiting for tomorrow. The whole chapter was a big nothing.


 

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*In both cases they just want money and not for the stated purpose.

**I still contest the "dangerous" portion from the last book. Ultimately they were just a couple of guys hollaring at a pretty girl that walked by. Sure Edward read their thoughts and said they wanted to do things to her, but the separation between what a person wants to do and what they are going to do is vast. I don't care what Immanuel Kant says about it.