Reading Twilight So You Don't Have To: Chapter Twenty-Two
I should mention that I am completely, utterly blown away by today's testimony in Perry v. Schwarzenegger, so I'm probably way too distracted to do this justice, but I have no time tomorrow, so I'm gonna give it a go anyway.
Chapter Twenty-One
Chapter Twenty-Two: Hide-and-Seek
Okay, Bella's going off alone to trade herself for her kidnapped mother. Check. Now she has to pass the time until they leave for the airport (where she plans to ditch Alice and Jasper) without them guessing her cunning plan. Fortunately, she is distracted by Alice having what looks like a grand mal seizure. Jasper is there, even though Bella had just noted that he hadn't returned from I forget what errand he was on at the end of the last chapter. Okay, wait, I see, the door is closing behind him. He used vampire speed to get into the room when he saw Alice. Alice says "Bella," obviously meaning she saw a vision re: Bella, but then pretends it's nothing, which Bella knows it's not. So it's looking like Bella knows that Alice knows that Bella...
Whatever.
On the way to the airport, Bella asks Alice about her visions, whether the show a definite future or one that's changeable. I think her answer is actually interesting:
"Some things are more certain than others... like the weather. People are harder. I only see the course they're on while they're on it. Once they change their minds--make a new decision, no matter how small--the whole future shifts."
I like this way of reconciling the ability to see the future with the concept of free will. It's less poetic (but also less murky) than Yoda's "Always in motion, the future is."
So it's clear to Bella that Alice saw her in the "mirror room" with James because Bella has now decided to go there. Which means they'll be watching her more closely, making her getaway more difficult.
We get a few pages of them at the airport (and now I'm kinda getting tired of Stephanie Meyers showing off her knowledge of Phoenix with her description of Terminal Four of Sky Harbor--we get it, Stephanie, you're from Phoenix), mixed with the knowledge that Edward was on one of those flights coming in and she was supposed to be seeing him soon, but wouldn't be. Oh, the angst!!!!11
::yawn::
Finally, Bella makes her move. Claiming to want to get some food, she asks Jasper (NOT Alice) to go with her. When out of Alice's sight, she makes a stop at the ladies' room. Which has two exits.
Okay, clever. I'll give her that one. (And I'll give Stephanie Meyer the bathroom one, too. I'm also overly familiar with Phoenix Sky Harbor Terminal Four, and the bathrooms do have two exits.)
Somehow, she manages to elude both the vampire smell-trackiness and super-speediness (this is straining my suspension of disbelief) and get into a shuttle to the Hyatt, as it was the only ground transportation readily available. At the Hyatt, she takes a cab to her mother's house in Scottsdale. (Hey! Bella's mom lives near my mom!)
She spends the ride fantasizing that she'd actually stayed at the airport, met Edward's plane, and he'd whisked her away someplace. And it's really, really boring.
Oh, and here's a gem:
It wouldn't matter how long we had to hide. To be trapped in a hotel room with him would be a kind of heaven. So many questions I still had for him...
Wait. Questions? She really isn't fantasizing being alone with her beloved in a hotel room and asking him questions, is she?
So many questions I still had for him. I could talk to him forever, never sleeping, never leaving his side.
Talking. Riiiiiiiiiiight.
Mercifully, the cab ride ends, she goes into her mother's house, gets the phone number Tracker James left for her, and calls him so he can direct her to the ballet studio, even though she already knows that's where he is. (And so do Alice and company... my observation, btw. Never seems to occur to Bella.)
She runs to the ballet studio, and it's all dream-like, the kind of dream where you're trying to run from something but can't get away. It's supposed to be suspenseful, I think, but mostly I'm just impatient to get on with it already. And then, in the midst of the heat and sun...
More fiercely than I would have dreamed I was capable of, I wished for the green, protective forests of Forks... of home.
Again, I know this is supposed to be a huge moment. After all her griping and complaining about Forks, now it's home. Only... after all her frickin' griping and complaining, I can't bring myself to care.
She arrives at the studio, hears her mother's frightened voice calling her... only to find out that it's a home video of a time when clumsy Bella almost fell off a pier. So... Tracker James never had Mom. He'd used the tape to trick her.
Okay, that was clever, too.
Bella's not mad, just glad her mom is safe and was never in danger (or at least not immediate danger.)
Then, Tracker James starts monologuing, and I'm bored again. And it really is a trite, patented Evil Villain monologue. "See how clever my plan is!" ::rolls eyes::
Oooh, another twist. The last human who escaped Tracker James was also guarded by a vampire, who took her from an asylum where she was being treated for seeing visions. Only, to protect her, that vamp turned her...
Alice.
Okay, that was kind of interesting, too. Is that three in an otherwise trite, boring chapter?
And Tracker James is going to videotape killing Bella to leave for Edward, 'cause otherwise what fun is it, ending the hunt so easily?
So, he's videotaping, she finally tries to run away, he breaks her leg, tosses her into a mirror, she's bleeding and is gets woozy when she sees blood, so she starts drifting away, and that's where it ends.
And again, I'm yawning.
Chapter Twenty-Three
Quick Links:
Why I'm doing this | Preface & 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 16.2 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | Epilogue |
Discussion Questions
Chapter Twenty-One
Chapter Twenty-Two: Hide-and-Seek
Okay, Bella's going off alone to trade herself for her kidnapped mother. Check. Now she has to pass the time until they leave for the airport (where she plans to ditch Alice and Jasper) without them guessing her cunning plan. Fortunately, she is distracted by Alice having what looks like a grand mal seizure. Jasper is there, even though Bella had just noted that he hadn't returned from I forget what errand he was on at the end of the last chapter. Okay, wait, I see, the door is closing behind him. He used vampire speed to get into the room when he saw Alice. Alice says "Bella," obviously meaning she saw a vision re: Bella, but then pretends it's nothing, which Bella knows it's not. So it's looking like Bella knows that Alice knows that Bella...
Whatever.
On the way to the airport, Bella asks Alice about her visions, whether the show a definite future or one that's changeable. I think her answer is actually interesting:
"Some things are more certain than others... like the weather. People are harder. I only see the course they're on while they're on it. Once they change their minds--make a new decision, no matter how small--the whole future shifts."
I like this way of reconciling the ability to see the future with the concept of free will. It's less poetic (but also less murky) than Yoda's "Always in motion, the future is."
So it's clear to Bella that Alice saw her in the "mirror room" with James because Bella has now decided to go there. Which means they'll be watching her more closely, making her getaway more difficult.
We get a few pages of them at the airport (and now I'm kinda getting tired of Stephanie Meyers showing off her knowledge of Phoenix with her description of Terminal Four of Sky Harbor--we get it, Stephanie, you're from Phoenix), mixed with the knowledge that Edward was on one of those flights coming in and she was supposed to be seeing him soon, but wouldn't be. Oh, the angst!!!!11
::yawn::
Finally, Bella makes her move. Claiming to want to get some food, she asks Jasper (NOT Alice) to go with her. When out of Alice's sight, she makes a stop at the ladies' room. Which has two exits.
Okay, clever. I'll give her that one. (And I'll give Stephanie Meyer the bathroom one, too. I'm also overly familiar with Phoenix Sky Harbor Terminal Four, and the bathrooms do have two exits.)
Somehow, she manages to elude both the vampire smell-trackiness and super-speediness (this is straining my suspension of disbelief) and get into a shuttle to the Hyatt, as it was the only ground transportation readily available. At the Hyatt, she takes a cab to her mother's house in Scottsdale. (Hey! Bella's mom lives near my mom!)
She spends the ride fantasizing that she'd actually stayed at the airport, met Edward's plane, and he'd whisked her away someplace. And it's really, really boring.
Oh, and here's a gem:
It wouldn't matter how long we had to hide. To be trapped in a hotel room with him would be a kind of heaven. So many questions I still had for him...
Wait. Questions? She really isn't fantasizing being alone with her beloved in a hotel room and asking him questions, is she?
So many questions I still had for him. I could talk to him forever, never sleeping, never leaving his side.
Talking. Riiiiiiiiiiight.
Mercifully, the cab ride ends, she goes into her mother's house, gets the phone number Tracker James left for her, and calls him so he can direct her to the ballet studio, even though she already knows that's where he is. (And so do Alice and company... my observation, btw. Never seems to occur to Bella.)
She runs to the ballet studio, and it's all dream-like, the kind of dream where you're trying to run from something but can't get away. It's supposed to be suspenseful, I think, but mostly I'm just impatient to get on with it already. And then, in the midst of the heat and sun...
More fiercely than I would have dreamed I was capable of, I wished for the green, protective forests of Forks... of home.
Again, I know this is supposed to be a huge moment. After all her griping and complaining about Forks, now it's home. Only... after all her frickin' griping and complaining, I can't bring myself to care.
She arrives at the studio, hears her mother's frightened voice calling her... only to find out that it's a home video of a time when clumsy Bella almost fell off a pier. So... Tracker James never had Mom. He'd used the tape to trick her.
Okay, that was clever, too.
Bella's not mad, just glad her mom is safe and was never in danger (or at least not immediate danger.)
Then, Tracker James starts monologuing, and I'm bored again. And it really is a trite, patented Evil Villain monologue. "See how clever my plan is!" ::rolls eyes::
Oooh, another twist. The last human who escaped Tracker James was also guarded by a vampire, who took her from an asylum where she was being treated for seeing visions. Only, to protect her, that vamp turned her...
Alice.
Okay, that was kind of interesting, too. Is that three in an otherwise trite, boring chapter?
And Tracker James is going to videotape killing Bella to leave for Edward, 'cause otherwise what fun is it, ending the hunt so easily?
So, he's videotaping, she finally tries to run away, he breaks her leg, tosses her into a mirror, she's bleeding and is gets woozy when she sees blood, so she starts drifting away, and that's where it ends.
And again, I'm yawning.
Chapter Twenty-Three
Quick Links:
Why I'm doing this | Preface & 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 16.2 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | Epilogue |
Discussion Questions