We're back...unfortunately.
Recapping from last week's summary: Bella, Alice, and Edward are walking out of the castle de vampire in the town of Volterra. Well not really, they're walking out of the inner sanctum and back in to the real world where the building they were in transforms from the gray rock of a dungeon and into an ornate Renaissance mansion (or bank, or church, it's never really explained what kind of building this is supposed to be). No matter what it is they have to wait in the lobby until the sun goes down. The receptionist is there which elicits some awkwardness for some reason. It's kind of strange to me that there isn't a special room that they can wait in, but given the fact that reflected light seems to have no effect on the sparkling I guess it really doesn't matter. I don't know, but after a few hours it just seems like they would have been better off in the dungeon, for reasons that will be clear in a few pages.
How is Bella? We'll she's hysterical. Although it's unclear why she is so. One might say that she's freaking out for having escaped so close her own death, but...that doesn't work given her history in this novel and the last. Sure she was freaked out when she thought the wolves were going to eat her in the woods, but one good night sleep (that she had no trouble getting) and it was all in the past. She also approached the existence of werewolves with the stoic demeanor of the average person finding a five dollar bill in a jacket. Now, she's hysterical? Bella, please. Nope, the only reason she's like this is so that Edward can hold and comfort her. Is there a term for a condition wherein a person gets weaker around another?
How bad is she? Well she keeps hearing a rumbling noise that she can't pinpoint, "The ripping sound was the sobs coming from my chest."
Unless a small insect-like creature is going to burst through her rib cage I don't see how this is realistic. I have a three year old daughter and even at her utmost hysterics (because we won't play Mario Kart) she has never made a "ripping sound" when sobbing. I get that Myer wants us to believe how dangerous the situation was, but I just can't buy it. It's utterly inconsistent with her character thus far, but more importantly it's utterly inconsistent with the very idea of the character even though that idea is never communicated through the writing. I mean, it is but it isn't. We now how Bella perceives herself, but that perception is not reflective of the reality of her.
After being calmed down with some chaste kisses on the forehead Bella notices the human receptionist. The existence of the woman confuses her because apparently humans hanging around with vampires is wrong despite the fact that she is literally doing the same thing right now in the lobby. Bella wants to know if the receptionist is aware of what was going on downstairs, Edward answers that she does, but she's hoping that after a couple of years of working for them she will be turned. Pretty obvious if you ask me. Bella doesn't think so:
"How can she want that?' I whispered more to myself than really looking for an answer."
Really Bella!? Because every time the subject comes up you are practically on your knees asking for it. What should be holding her back? She knows their entire world, which, comparatively is more than you know. All Bella knows is the vampire life a bunch of vegan hipsters live in Washington. This receptionist though knows the entire hierarchy, all of the laws, who is in charge, and more importantly how they eat. Bella is rattled about the dining, but she forgets what Gianna, the receptionist, knows; the one's downstairs eating up a group of sex crazed tourists: they're the normal vampires.
Alice said it herself last book, the vampires are over evolved predators. They have specific bodily functions designed to capture and kill their prey--the attractiveness, the teeth, the speed, the strength, etc. If we buy into the myriad extra powers they have they are purposely designed to capture and kill humans. The Cullens are just the vegans of the vampire world--strange, annoying, pretentious, smug--the reason human beings have canine teeth is to rip meat. Now if the vegan wants to deny their nature and not eat meat, that's their choice--but they have to recognize that it isn't the normal choice. Just like a vampire who won't eat humans.
Bella still being worried about the future looks to Alice for guidance, Alice replies that she will see Jasper in 24 hours. Bella is relieved, "Lucky Alice, she could trust her future."
Actually no she can't considering that she's been wrong on important occasions. More importantly is that this is one of those lines that sounds clever when first read but upon repeated readings gets worse and worse, like "it is what it is." Yeah that sounded good when I first heard it back in 1995 in "Things to Do in Denver When You're Dead" but now when someone says it to me it takes all the self restraint in the world for me not scream back, "OF COURSE IT IS! WHAT ELSE THE FUCK COULD IT BE!?*"
Gianna tells them that sun has set and they can leave now. For this Alice shoots her a dark look (get it?), but I don't understand why. It would be like yelling at the jail guard who is checking you out of prison having your death sentence commuted. Sure you may not like the person but what happened to civility?
Then there is the escape from Volterra. I say escape, as the chapter is titled "Flight," but it's misnamed. Getting to Volterra was a matter of urgency, getting from...is not. For instance, Alice steals a car. Why? Can't she just rent one? Or can they take a bus, or anything other than drawing attention to themselves. Why didn't the Volturri give them a vehicle? They travel from Volterra to Florence, and then hop a plane from Florence to Rome, and then from Rome back to the states.
There's an extra step in there: why didn't they just fly out from Florence to the US? Sure, neither airport in Firenze is an international but since they flew in from the US and landed in Florence we've already decided that geography isn't that important. How did they get tickets? They were in such a hurry that they had to steal the car, but they couldn't have stolen a plane. My favorite part is that in order to make the international flight, they have to go through customs, but they arrive at the airport in a stolen car? I hope, just hope, they paid in cash as well.
The transition from Italy to the US, is over. The Cullen family is waiting for them at the airport and Rosalie has to apologize to Bella. Why? Who cares. She's not an important character thus far, and the only reason we have for not liking her is that again, we've been told to not like her because she doesn't like Bella. I'm over it.
There's a weird conversation between Edward and Esme, in which Edward refers to her as "mom." I bring it up because I wonder if we are supposed to forget that Esme really isn't Edward's mom, but rather the girl Carlisle tried to set Edward up with but it didn't work out so Carlisle got her as a consolation prize. It was a nice touch in the last book that made Esme not Edward's actual mother, but we must have consistency. They are just pretending to be a standard family but they aren't that really.
Edward brings Bella home to Charlie, where he is not greeted with handcuffs or a hail of gunfire. Remember as far as Charlie knows his daughter just up and disappeared. She never called, she didn't leave a note. She asked Jake to do so but he took off before Alice and Bella did, so that didn't work out. Charlie is entirely justified in being angry, the only fault he has is that he's not angry enough. he should be tossing Edward on the ground restraining himself only with thoughts of his pledge to uphold the law. Still, if my daughter was kidnapped and dragged to Italy (this would be a legitimate thought in his head) to meet her exboyfriend and a week later they returned with her unconscious, he'd find out what the barrel of my Glock tasted like. The better move would have been to have Carlisle drop her off and explain things, not the incendiary move they decide upon. These vampires never really think things through.
___________________________
*Although being a Philosophy Grad Student, phrases like that actually come up in class (Metaphysics mostly) that don't mean the same platitude. Sometimes it's hard to distinguish.
Recapping from last week's summary: Bella, Alice, and Edward are walking out of the castle de vampire in the town of Volterra. Well not really, they're walking out of the inner sanctum and back in to the real world where the building they were in transforms from the gray rock of a dungeon and into an ornate Renaissance mansion (or bank, or church, it's never really explained what kind of building this is supposed to be). No matter what it is they have to wait in the lobby until the sun goes down. The receptionist is there which elicits some awkwardness for some reason. It's kind of strange to me that there isn't a special room that they can wait in, but given the fact that reflected light seems to have no effect on the sparkling I guess it really doesn't matter. I don't know, but after a few hours it just seems like they would have been better off in the dungeon, for reasons that will be clear in a few pages.
How is Bella? We'll she's hysterical. Although it's unclear why she is so. One might say that she's freaking out for having escaped so close her own death, but...that doesn't work given her history in this novel and the last. Sure she was freaked out when she thought the wolves were going to eat her in the woods, but one good night sleep (that she had no trouble getting) and it was all in the past. She also approached the existence of werewolves with the stoic demeanor of the average person finding a five dollar bill in a jacket. Now, she's hysterical? Bella, please. Nope, the only reason she's like this is so that Edward can hold and comfort her. Is there a term for a condition wherein a person gets weaker around another?
How bad is she? Well she keeps hearing a rumbling noise that she can't pinpoint, "The ripping sound was the sobs coming from my chest."
Unless a small insect-like creature is going to burst through her rib cage I don't see how this is realistic. I have a three year old daughter and even at her utmost hysterics (because we won't play Mario Kart) she has never made a "ripping sound" when sobbing. I get that Myer wants us to believe how dangerous the situation was, but I just can't buy it. It's utterly inconsistent with her character thus far, but more importantly it's utterly inconsistent with the very idea of the character even though that idea is never communicated through the writing. I mean, it is but it isn't. We now how Bella perceives herself, but that perception is not reflective of the reality of her.
After being calmed down with some chaste kisses on the forehead Bella notices the human receptionist. The existence of the woman confuses her because apparently humans hanging around with vampires is wrong despite the fact that she is literally doing the same thing right now in the lobby. Bella wants to know if the receptionist is aware of what was going on downstairs, Edward answers that she does, but she's hoping that after a couple of years of working for them she will be turned. Pretty obvious if you ask me. Bella doesn't think so:
"How can she want that?' I whispered more to myself than really looking for an answer."
Really Bella!? Because every time the subject comes up you are practically on your knees asking for it. What should be holding her back? She knows their entire world, which, comparatively is more than you know. All Bella knows is the vampire life a bunch of vegan hipsters live in Washington. This receptionist though knows the entire hierarchy, all of the laws, who is in charge, and more importantly how they eat. Bella is rattled about the dining, but she forgets what Gianna, the receptionist, knows; the one's downstairs eating up a group of sex crazed tourists: they're the normal vampires.
Alice said it herself last book, the vampires are over evolved predators. They have specific bodily functions designed to capture and kill their prey--the attractiveness, the teeth, the speed, the strength, etc. If we buy into the myriad extra powers they have they are purposely designed to capture and kill humans. The Cullens are just the vegans of the vampire world--strange, annoying, pretentious, smug--the reason human beings have canine teeth is to rip meat. Now if the vegan wants to deny their nature and not eat meat, that's their choice--but they have to recognize that it isn't the normal choice. Just like a vampire who won't eat humans.
Bella still being worried about the future looks to Alice for guidance, Alice replies that she will see Jasper in 24 hours. Bella is relieved, "Lucky Alice, she could trust her future."
Actually no she can't considering that she's been wrong on important occasions. More importantly is that this is one of those lines that sounds clever when first read but upon repeated readings gets worse and worse, like "it is what it is." Yeah that sounded good when I first heard it back in 1995 in "Things to Do in Denver When You're Dead" but now when someone says it to me it takes all the self restraint in the world for me not scream back, "OF COURSE IT IS! WHAT ELSE THE FUCK COULD IT BE!?*"
Gianna tells them that sun has set and they can leave now. For this Alice shoots her a dark look (get it?), but I don't understand why. It would be like yelling at the jail guard who is checking you out of prison having your death sentence commuted. Sure you may not like the person but what happened to civility?
Then there is the escape from Volterra. I say escape, as the chapter is titled "Flight," but it's misnamed. Getting to Volterra was a matter of urgency, getting from...is not. For instance, Alice steals a car. Why? Can't she just rent one? Or can they take a bus, or anything other than drawing attention to themselves. Why didn't the Volturri give them a vehicle? They travel from Volterra to Florence, and then hop a plane from Florence to Rome, and then from Rome back to the states.
There's an extra step in there: why didn't they just fly out from Florence to the US? Sure, neither airport in Firenze is an international but since they flew in from the US and landed in Florence we've already decided that geography isn't that important. How did they get tickets? They were in such a hurry that they had to steal the car, but they couldn't have stolen a plane. My favorite part is that in order to make the international flight, they have to go through customs, but they arrive at the airport in a stolen car? I hope, just hope, they paid in cash as well.
The transition from Italy to the US, is over. The Cullen family is waiting for them at the airport and Rosalie has to apologize to Bella. Why? Who cares. She's not an important character thus far, and the only reason we have for not liking her is that again, we've been told to not like her because she doesn't like Bella. I'm over it.
There's a weird conversation between Edward and Esme, in which Edward refers to her as "mom." I bring it up because I wonder if we are supposed to forget that Esme really isn't Edward's mom, but rather the girl Carlisle tried to set Edward up with but it didn't work out so Carlisle got her as a consolation prize. It was a nice touch in the last book that made Esme not Edward's actual mother, but we must have consistency. They are just pretending to be a standard family but they aren't that really.
Edward brings Bella home to Charlie, where he is not greeted with handcuffs or a hail of gunfire. Remember as far as Charlie knows his daughter just up and disappeared. She never called, she didn't leave a note. She asked Jake to do so but he took off before Alice and Bella did, so that didn't work out. Charlie is entirely justified in being angry, the only fault he has is that he's not angry enough. he should be tossing Edward on the ground restraining himself only with thoughts of his pledge to uphold the law. Still, if my daughter was kidnapped and dragged to Italy (this would be a legitimate thought in his head) to meet her exboyfriend and a week later they returned with her unconscious, he'd find out what the barrel of my Glock tasted like. The better move would have been to have Carlisle drop her off and explain things, not the incendiary move they decide upon. These vampires never really think things through.
___________________________
*Although being a Philosophy Grad Student, phrases like that actually come up in class (Metaphysics mostly) that don't mean the same platitude. Sometimes it's hard to distinguish.
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