BD Review -- part 3a
yes, I know... you're thinking to yourself -- she's still at this? good grief!
I'll promise to have some good recs after i'm done with my cheesy review/notes... it's the least I can do, right?
Book Three. Bella. Take 1.
Bella reminds us that books require a table of contents. ;)
So, starting at chapter 19...
- Preface
- Burning
- New
- First Hunt
- Promised
- Memories
- Surprise
- Favor
- Shiny
Preface
Because this is my second read-through -- I know exactly where this scenario takes place. It fits with the format of the series, and is, quite literally, one of the most frightening parts of this book. But most importantly -- Yay -- Bella's finally a vamp!
Burning
Focusing on her last hours as human, and after knowing what happens to her physically at the end of book 2, I almost wonder-- Is she really this strong that she's holding in her pain like this? I couldn't do this. Her memories of the birth are both chilling and beautiful -- and for those that have experienced this, there is no further truth than the moment the child is born, all that pain and trauma is eclipsed in the awe and wonderment of the baby. But her body's weakness takes over, the baby is whisked away, and we just have her thoughts to tide us over her pain.
Best line: I held the blackness of nonexistence at bay by inches.
I love the snippets of conversations she hears -- from Edward worrying if he did something wrong and Carlisle assuring him that Bella was going to be fine... some further mysterious amusing conversation, where we realize with clarity later that they are discussing the imprinting... Alice commenting that Bella was going to be dazzling...
you can tell that Bella is changing -- in a mental capacity as well. She started counting Edward's breaths/seconds noting at one point that she is up to 21,917.5 seconds. She can hear the baseball game downstairs. Her heart is racing it's final beats...
New
It would be cool to be a vamp -- clear, sharp, defined eye-sight, super-hearing, super-speed, and the fact that she made Edward say "Ow."
I also think that it's amusing that she seems to have brought her "horny bride" desires as well...
Seductress Bella: "You've been holding out on me."
The point of these next few chapters is that she is not a typical newborn -- the typical newborn that Carlisle, Jasper and Edward have been preparing her for. Insatiable thirst for blood, blood and more blood. But no -- she's debating on how to tell Carlisle that morphine was possibly worse because of the paralyzing effect, but not with Edward around.
I get struck by the fact that when Edward speaks of Renesmee, it's with that proud father tone. Never would have thought that coming... Hell, never even SAW the whole pregnancy thing coming but that was a few posts ago...
Alice brings along a mirror to show Bella her new 'do, and I think this is very important -- especially to many of those people who just couldn't shake the fact that this part of the book seems off -- it's because Bella is different. She is not the Bella that we identified with back in Twilight -- sure most of her is the same, but now we are in the story of vamp-Bella.
First Hunt
It's been decided to hunt first, then visit Renesmee. (Um, thank you, I just finished a Stephen King novel, and I wasn't ready for a repeat.)
It's another first for Bella-- being graceful. For a girl whose entire human existence was one clumsy accident after another (hmm, especially after she met Edward...) this is pretty amusing to read. Especially, as graceful as she is, she rips her dress right away.
Sarcastic Bella (didn't die thank goodness): Tightly fitted ice-blue silk? What did she [Alice] think I would need it for? Was there a cocktail party later?
We are also treated to some slightly campy superhuman feats like leaping across lazy rivers and swinging from tree to tree...
Also note that Bella has inherited a sense of direction -- in Eclipse, Edward had to point her north. Here, she just knows. I admit it -- I'm human, and I can't stand other humans that can do this.
Bella has also inherited an uncanny ability to avoid hunting humans. (made several fanfic authors explode to the fact that they predicted this.)
Well, score one for Bella -- her first big game was a mountain lion, and I think Edward was a little more than turned on watching her then he'd like to admit (such a gentleman he is).
Hunting advice for vegetarian vamps in South Dakota: West River deer will taste like pinecones. Stick to East River meals.
Promised
Renesmee, Bella is realizing, is a special child. Edward fills her in on the past 2 days worth -- Renesmee has Bella's brown eyes, sleeps through the night, and communicates quite effectively.
hmmmm.
Awww, ever the gentleman, Edward gives her his shirt - in a really good distraction from her questions about Jacob. She really is a mess thanks to that mountain lion brunch. That poor dress.
Upon coming home, Bella is confronted with a test of her control from Jacob before she can see Renesmee.
Wishful Edward: "Maybe i'm hoping she'll get irritated and rip your head off."
Did I mention that Renesmee is also growing immensely fast? Well, considering her in-utero time was just nearly a month, and since birth she looks weeks/ months old now. Remember, she's only just 2 days old. As for her "communicates quite effectively" trait, she has the ability to share her visual memories by touch. How incredible must that be?
And just as Jacob succumbs to his instincts to be protective of Renesmee, it finally dawns on Bella what mysterious hidden tidbit they've been keeping from her.
Several good lines of Bella's come from this scene:
- "You stupid mutt! How could you? My baby!"
- "I've held her all of one time, and already you think you have some moronic wolfy claim to her?"
- "How dare you imprint on my baby?"
It's hilarious that Edward's just marveling at the scene before him.
What's really amusing is that Bella can, to most extent, control her rage over the imprinting but it takes something much more trivial to lose her hold.
"Nessie."
Sorry, Bella, but that's what you get when you name a child something unusual. (i oughta know)
Best, best line: "You nicknamed my daughter after the Loch Ness Monster?"
Memories
We open to apology mode -- Good ol' seth took the brunt of Bella's rage on Jacob, but luckily he'll heal, and he's being a very good wolf about it. We also learn that Renesmee's not venomous and bites Jacob frequently. So I guess we can now label Jacob as not only a much-abused nanny with at least 10 years of monk-i-tude (if Edward and Bella have anything to say about it regardless of how quickly Renesmee ages) ahead of him, but now he's officially the chew-toy.
Edward eggs: "It's just because he tastes better than the rest of us."
The whole charlie dilemma is agonizing. To tell, or not to tell... Apparently at a Barnes and Noble release party, my girlfriend (who is not into twilight, btw) informed me that tons of girls were wearing Team Edward or Team Jacob shirts. She also said there were also shirts that said something like "Time to tell Charlie." I scoffed at that because at the time I assumed it was to tell charlie they were getting married. Now, I don't need reminders that my assumptions need help -- ie. vamp/human pregnancy... But anyways. I get it now.
This reminds me of another Anne Rice book series -- the Lives of the Mayfair Witches, some of whom are able breed Taltos which are born fully grown humans that are able to walk, talk, and everything. But to me the Taltos are much more feared then precious little Renesmee, who is now subjected to frequent measuring sessions to document her growth -- whereas she could be a full mature adult in a few years' time.
She's also such a good baby, it's almost -- no, it IS unrealistic. But then again, so was the vamp pregnancy. (I'm actually over it, just really poking fun at myself for totally not catching on...)
The fact that Bella's been absolutely amazing in her self control of the lust for human blood appears to be her vamp-gift.
There's a really touching moment between Bella and Renesmee -- the baby is telling Bella about everything little detail she's missed -- it's like the child has a built-in personal penseive, but we should probably consider it the opposite of Edward's gift of mind-reading. It's cute that Carlisle is trying to feed Renesmee baby formula (yeah, don't blame the poor babe), and honestly, what wouldn't you give to have Edward sing to you? If this makes it in a movie, I'd love to see this scene.
The chapter ends with Alice squealing "Happy Birthday" and I do need to keep reminding myself that it has only been one month since the wedding. Time is going way too slow for this book, because it seems like months, plural, at least. They flew home 17 days after the wedding. About a week and a half later she gives birth. That, folks, is a really quick pregnancy (shuddering at the thought of the stretch marks, luckily vamp-venom would have healed those) Gah - I'm still looking at nearly 2 more months here!
Surprise
Even though Bella's technically a vamp and has stopped aging, the Cullen's are still celebrating her birthday. The one thing that I never really understood Bella on was her adversity to gifts, but perhaps it's because she was intimidated at how rich the cullen's are? It could be a mere "I don't want to be bought" aspect, which I'd totally respect, but anyways -- it's just one of the little quirks she has -- and she apparently hasn't let go of this one...
It's probably a good thing that Edward relents to share his gift tomorrow because 1) The other boys in the family will appreciate it much more than she will and 2) i don't think we'll ever see it anyways...
The Cullen's have given her (and Edward) a house.
Correction by Edward: "I think the world house implies more legroom."
I would really love to see what this cottage looks like -- I can only imagine perhaps a cross between a Thomas Kinkade painting (ugh, how cliche) and a David Winter figurine (you should click around and see if one of these match your imagination).
*snort* -- even Edward's using the nickname. ha ha.
Stubborn Bella: My baby, the sea serpent. Maybe there was no help for it.
No, Bella. There isn't. Just forget about the fact that everyone but you will call her "Ness" and concentrate on some yummy vamp-sex. Speaking of which, just make the rest of us use our imaginations with concepts like never needing to sleep or use the bathroom...
Best Line: Emmett would have you believe that I'm such a know-it-all because of the mind reading, but the truth is that I've just had a lot of free time.
*snort* 80-100 years worth...
Favor
Oh, yeah. we have a kid we should be looking after. A child, who at 3 days old is sitting up on her own.
Emmett is hilarious. We have Jacob for the blonde jokes, and Emmett for the crude sex comments.
Apparently Jacob had something else in mind though -- Charlie. Good God. Damn dog. Phased in front of Charlie. Ugh.
Jeez Jacob: You didn't used to be so melodramatic. Is that a vampire thing?
I love how Edward looks Renesmee seriously in the eyes and gives her the "mustn't bite" lecture. Reminds me of Bewitched when Samantha is trying to teach Tabitha "mustn't twitch."
Yeah, and Edward? Even though Bella's no longer human, you are still dazzling her in ways that she cannot reveal...
So, the meeting with Charlie kinda wigged me out. Even though I'm in my second read through of this book, since my possession one week ago, it's just inconceivable that they can even attempt to have Charlie understand -- even parts of the "public" story.
Shiny
So, the remainder of Charlie's visit went ok. Didn't really need the middle name reveal though. (Albus Severus, anyone?) But now Charlie's the happy grandpa. Yay for us all. And Bella didn't hurt him. Whoo hoo!
Emmett eggs: I'm not even sure she's really a vampire, let alone a newborn. She's too tame.
Wish I could arm-wrestle like a vamp. Kudos to Bella for putting Emmett in his place. But I am going to miss the sex allusions...
Bella going off with her new muscles was a bit campy, but amusing.
part 2 of book 3 coming soon.