stoplight
so eclipse was a lot harder to get through than new moon. not nearly as good of a book, despite the fact that stephenie meyer seemed to attempt to rectify the problems that existed in the earlier books. eclipse not only had a story arch, a climax that was built up to throughout the whole book, but also had an attempt at a multilayered plot. its no deathly hallows or anything, but its an attempt. its sort of like watching a little kid figure out how to use legos, or more specifically, how to use legos to build a proper foundation for a much bigger structure. you just want to smile and pat them on the head. things fit together in a kind of obvious, nonchalant way, and the climax was actually pretty exciting and brought a great sense of closure. the ending was even appropriate, and fit tonally with the book (if the book could be said to have a tone at all).
but, despite all that, i really didn't like it. the constant self-flagellation was nauseating, i mean, is it a mormon thing or something? alright, fine, we get it, everyone in this story hates themselves for really stupid nonsensical reasons that don't fit with their previous characterizations, i don't need to be reminded every two seconds. it was bad enough when it was just coming from bella, but then it was edward and jacob as well (i'm just glad that we don't get to hear the werewolves thoughts as well, my guess is they're even worse). and rosalie's diatribe about how horrible and shallow she was as a human being made me want to reach into the book and smack her, though thankfully that section was redeemed when she very casually discussed how she murdered her ex-fiance and his friends. there needs to be a little bit of decent vampire behavior going on, or the cullens are nothing but a stone-cold brady bunch. btw, what happened to rosalie? she seemed to disappear halfway through the book. but anyway, it seems that too many people told stephenie meyer she writes good dialogue, because the conversations extended far too long. i think meyer lets her characters get away from her too much, the keep talking and running around points for pages and pages. woman, its called editing, please use it. and bella got a lot dumber - or rather, she became one of those convenient characters that are smart when she needs to be and dumb when she needs to be in order to make an implausible plot work. i did like the little snippets of background on the other characters we got - rosalie, like i mentioned, and jasper too. jasper is a character i can get behind, i just hope that meyer keeps things to a minimum with him, because i know if she pays any more attention to him she'll ruin him.
so now i feel kind of weird about moving on to breaking dawn. i'm rather annoyed that its so damn long, because i want to be able to just devour it as quickly as possible. i already know what's going to happen, because i read a plot summary of it a while back, and that's not what's bothering me about it. unlike most of the fans, i don't think what happens in that book is so strange (ok, vampire-child without explanation is an annoying plot point, but its not like meyer was the first one to do it). i'm just hoping that the crap that annoyed me in eclipse doesn't carry over, though i'm pretty sure it will. but reading crappy books does have sort of create a funny effect in me, making me want to write something that is actually good. well, creativity often comes as a result of pain, and so i will be flinching as i open up breaking dawn. but that definitely won't be today.
but, despite all that, i really didn't like it. the constant self-flagellation was nauseating, i mean, is it a mormon thing or something? alright, fine, we get it, everyone in this story hates themselves for really stupid nonsensical reasons that don't fit with their previous characterizations, i don't need to be reminded every two seconds. it was bad enough when it was just coming from bella, but then it was edward and jacob as well (i'm just glad that we don't get to hear the werewolves thoughts as well, my guess is they're even worse). and rosalie's diatribe about how horrible and shallow she was as a human being made me want to reach into the book and smack her, though thankfully that section was redeemed when she very casually discussed how she murdered her ex-fiance and his friends. there needs to be a little bit of decent vampire behavior going on, or the cullens are nothing but a stone-cold brady bunch. btw, what happened to rosalie? she seemed to disappear halfway through the book. but anyway, it seems that too many people told stephenie meyer she writes good dialogue, because the conversations extended far too long. i think meyer lets her characters get away from her too much, the keep talking and running around points for pages and pages. woman, its called editing, please use it. and bella got a lot dumber - or rather, she became one of those convenient characters that are smart when she needs to be and dumb when she needs to be in order to make an implausible plot work. i did like the little snippets of background on the other characters we got - rosalie, like i mentioned, and jasper too. jasper is a character i can get behind, i just hope that meyer keeps things to a minimum with him, because i know if she pays any more attention to him she'll ruin him.
so now i feel kind of weird about moving on to breaking dawn. i'm rather annoyed that its so damn long, because i want to be able to just devour it as quickly as possible. i already know what's going to happen, because i read a plot summary of it a while back, and that's not what's bothering me about it. unlike most of the fans, i don't think what happens in that book is so strange (ok, vampire-child without explanation is an annoying plot point, but its not like meyer was the first one to do it). i'm just hoping that the crap that annoyed me in eclipse doesn't carry over, though i'm pretty sure it will. but reading crappy books does have sort of create a funny effect in me, making me want to write something that is actually good. well, creativity often comes as a result of pain, and so i will be flinching as i open up breaking dawn. but that definitely won't be today.