Meyer, Stephenie: Eclipse
Eclipse (2007)
Written by: Stephenie Meyer
Genre: YA/Paranormal Romance
Pages: 629 (Hardcover)
Series: Book Three of Four
Be afraid. Be very, very afraid. Because of my self-imposed reading procedure, I have to follow a list, and the problem with following said list is that sometimes, I'm going to come upon a book in a series where I haven't read the book that comes before. In this case, the next book on the list was Breaking Dawn, but because I haven't read Eclipse, I had to read that first. That means you're going to get Breaking Dawn in February, because it's next on the 2008 list (right now I'm reading a 2009 title, and then I'm reading a challenge book with digitalclone, and THEN I'll read Breaking Dawn). The bad news is, if you can't stand Stephenie Meyer or are tired of all the Twilight hype, you're going to be stuck with these reviews. The good news is, once I'm done with Breaking Dawn, that's all the Meyer on my shelf, so nothing more unless she releases something new!
But there's another reason you should be very, very afraid: I took notes. My hardback copy of Eclipse is littered with post-its covered in my scribbles. Be afraid. Be very, very afraid.
The premise: ganked from the author's website: As Seattle is ravaged by a string of mysterious killings and a malicious vampire continues her quest for revenge, Bella once again finds herself surrounded by danger. In the midst of it all, she is forced to choose between her love for Edward and her friendship with Jacob-knowing that her decision has the potential to ignite the ageless struggle between vampire and werewolf. With her graduation quickly approaching, Bella has one more decision to make: life or death. But which is which?
Review style: spoilers, spoilers, and more spoilers. And be prepared for nitpicks, because I took lots of notes and made lots of commentary while reading. Expect negativity. If such things bother/worry you, skip to the "My Rating" section at the bottom of the review, and where I'll talk about what I like and why I keep reading. :)
What I think I'm going to do for this book is go in order of my notes, which I made while reading. So bear with me, but I'll try to keep this all very coherent. :)
One thing I've noticed with this series is that Meyer has what I consider to be a bad habit of giving us a prologue that's set during the climax of the book. I don't know if this is meant to hook the reader or simply give the reader the danger up front, because in truth, aside from that sneak peek to the climax, it takes a while for us to get any action in these books, you know? Whatever the reasons, the prologues annoy me. I'm the kind of person who hates it when tv shows start an episode with something epic and then the next scene is X-number of hours earlier. So yes, I'm tired of these prologues.
Something I've become sensitive to, but something I've always been aware of, is how Edward and Bella's relationship could easily be analyzed as an abusive relationship. Let's face it, in book one, he stands in her room and watches her sleep. That's not romantic, that's stalkerish, so the scene we get where Bella tries to visit Jacob and finds she can't start her truck because Edward's taken out an important piece of equipment? Not cool. One of the classic signs of an abuser (be it of the physical, sexual, or mental kind) is that they alienate their victim from the people the victim cares about. In this case, Edward is refusing to let Bella see Jacob. Yes, he backs off from this mentality (anyone who's taken a sociology course focusing on women & violence will recognize the "honeymoon phase" here) because after all, Edward must be perfect, but it still grated on me. Also grating is the fact that when Bella DOES assert her independence and goes to see Jacob, she dreads going up to her room afterward because she knows Edward will be waiting. She fears him. Not because he's a vampire and might eat her, but because she disobeyed him and is afraid of how he'll treat her as a result. Sure, any normal relationship has its share of one partner screwing up and being afraid to tell the other, but this transcends it in my mind, because if one is TRULY AFRAID to face one's partner after they fuck up? Something isn't right in that relationship. In this case, it's Edward's obvious jealousy and his need to control Bella (which is constantly described as the need to keep her safe). It gets very tiresome, very fast, but isn't that the way Meyer wrote Bella? To keep her a damsel in distress simply because she's human and therefore weak? Add to that the fact that Bella's a klutz, and you've REALLY got a girl who can't look after herself, don't you?
I also find it hysterical that Edward is so dependent on his gift of mind-reading, and that it's his inability to see Bella's mind that brings out his insecurities and makes him crazy. I kind of want to smack him and remind him that before he was a vampire, he had to live like the rest of us, without knowing anyone's mind, just like he can't know Bella's. It's frustrating, but again, his need to control her is all accepted because he's trying to keep her safe. Of course, maybe Edward can't help it. After all, vampires don't sleep, do they? No wonder he's so intense all the time. He needs a break (and his brain needs to rest)!
Seriously, what's up with that trope? I don't think Meyer is the only one who keeps her vampires from sleeping, but whether she is or not, that can't be healthy for one's mind, living or undead.
One thing I do like is already knowing the basic plot of Breaking Dawn, because it allows me to see certain things that Meyer is clearly paving the way for. Imprinting is one of them: obviously, Jacob won't imprint on Bella, and it's clear that he could imprint on ANYONE, including an infant, and it's something he won't have any control over. If he did have control over it, he would've imprinted on Bella ASAP.
One thing that does concern me though, in regards to imprinting versus how he feels for Bella: it bugs me that he so steadfastly ignores the possibility that even if Bella chose him, he might end up leaving her one day whether he wants to or not. Edward brings this up, but never once does Jacob really seem to consider it while he's trying to win Bella over. Okay, sure, he's a stubborn teenager who's only really looking after his own needs and he's got reason to believe he may be immune from this imprinting, but still. Frustrating.
The whole notion of imprinting also made me wonder if it'd ever happened between members of the same sex? Obviously, I don't think the thought crossed Meyers's mind, but what's to stop it from happening? I want to read that story! But in all seriousness (though I am being serious), what exactly is the purpose of imprinting, short of fulfilling the wish of having a soulmate exist in the real world? How does imprinting help or enhance one's ability as a werewolf? Frankly, I think Meyer introduced it to have a handy reason why Jacob and Bella could never be together, because if the imprinting weren't a factor, then god forbid, Jacob and Bella might have to deal with this like real people! Which they kind of do, at the end, but the promise/threat of imprinting is always there, isn't it? Distracting from what they might have, even if Bella could choose Jacob over Edward?
But I am glad that Edward sets aside his fear and decides to work with Jacob. I'm glad he accepts Bella's friendship with him, because I think he would've had a harder time "keeping" her otherwise. After all, what's more appealing than something you want but can't have? By allowing Bella to spend time with Jacob and figure out her feelings, he's letting nature take its course. If he'd forbidden it, Bella feelings could've spiraled out of control and he could've lost her. He, like Jacob, is certainly playing a game, and Bella is the prize (which is, let's be honest, a little disconcerting for my inner feminist).
One of the things I really liked in the first book was the awkward relationship Bella had with her dad. I even liked that she cooked for him, because that's a sweet thing to do when you know your dad's hopeless in the kitchen. However, we learn that she does laundry too? I bet she cleans the house as well! Look, I know it's common that kids help out with chores, but sheesh, it's not like Charlie's an invalid. It'd be nice if Bella took a gulp of modernism and asked him to help out around the house, since it's--yanno--HIS HOUSE. Just because she's a girl doesn't mean she should do EVERYTHING that involves housework.
I also find it ironic that Bella is so dead-set against becoming the girl "who gets married right out of high school like some small-town hick who got knocked up by her boyfriend" (275). Considering the fact she DOES give into marriage and what comes from their honeymoon . . . well, it IS ironic. I've read Meyer's defense of Breaking Dawn where she stresses that there's nothing wrong with wanting to be married with a child out of high school, if that's what a girl wants. However, Bella clearly DOES NOT WANT THAT in this book, and yet, Meyer tells her readers that somehow, Bella changes her mind (she might in Breaking Dawn, and you can bet I'll be keeping an eye out for that).
Bella's need to protect the ones she loves--a trait she's always carried--gets to be a little ridiculous in this book. She fears for Edward, and the entire Cullen family; she fears for Jacob and the wolf pack. But she is the WEAKEST PERSON in the entire book, and yet she doesn't get it. Sure, it's noble to protect the ones you love, but at this point, when you should know you're the weakest link, it's a little stupid to keep trying. I wouldn't mind if Meyer had given Bella some kind of strength, something that could truly make a difference but no: she's weak because she's human, and I kind of hate that ridiculous excuse, especially since Bella keeps wanting to protect people who are more powerful than her. And she's selfish in how she goes about it, tricking Edward to staying with her, you know? Hell, she's selfish in how she goes about to protect Jacob, and all she does is exacerbate the situation (of course, Jacob did force her into it).
Though, she does figure out Victora's plan, so I'll give her that as a positive. But that said, Edward's rather condescending to her as he's thinking it through on page 389. "You're very perceptive today. It's impressive."
Okay, so maybe that won't be read as condescending by EVERYONE, but seriously? Come on! It's condescending!!!
Now, I'm going to wade into some really, really, REALLY muddy waters here, waters that muddied by people's own personal opinions on sex and marriage. I'm going to try and be objective here, so bear with me:
For starters, I kind of like the twist at first: it's Edward who wants to save sex for marriage and Bella's the one who just wants it right now. Both characters are products of their times, so Edward trying to protect Bella's (and his own) virtue makes perfect sense. That's how he was raised? And in contrast, Bella's a product of a time where one's sexuality can be a lot more confusing, depending upon the manner in which one is raised. But the main point is that sex exists in teens, and Bella's eighteen, and we live in a time where it's her body and her right to do decide when to give it up and who to give it up too. So the fact that Edward is trying to protect her, in this case, is really kind of funny.
And I've heard that if the books have anything positive in them for teens, it's the message preaching abstinence until marriage. And I've had to step back from my own personal soapbox and really consider this, because on the surface, it is a good thing, right?
Look, I don't have kids, but here's a few problems I have with Meyers's presentation:
1) Edward won't have sex with Bella until she marries him, but Bella has a STRONG AVERSION to marriage that actually makes sense in light of how she grew up. But, because she wants to experience sex as a human being, she says to hell with her aversion and agrees to marry him. Why is this a problem? He's her soulmate, right? They're going to be together forever, right? Right, but this is fiction. The problem is that in real life, you don't know whether or not your high-school love is your soulmate, and if your hormones are driving your decisions, then you may get married sooner than is healthy for you. And before anyone jumps down my throat on this, I will say I've seen this happen in real life: guys and girls who are either so excited to have sex that they get married at the earliest opportunity, thinking they've found their soulmate, and guys and girls who are so TIRED OF WAITING that when they meet a partner who's seems suitable, they go ahead and get hitched. And in those cases I've witnessed, had they not been driven by the subconscious need for sex, they may have made better choices for themselves in terms of partners.
But even if you don't agree with my piece of logic, consider it boiled down: Bella's getting married FOR SEX. Not FOR LOVE, but FOR SEX. So in that light, what kind of message is Meyer really sending to teen girls? Forget your aversion to marriage if it means you can have sex with your soulmate? Should one not have an aversion to marriage, and if not, why not? Isn't the decision to marry someone just as big and important?
2) As much as Bella wants sex, she lets Edward make the decision for her. Now, I'd preach more against this, but in the end, Edward does relent, thinking she's getting married for the wrong reasons, and is willing to give her the sex she wants without getting married. Bella refuses. Okay, so maybe she's doing this for the right reasons after all, but her initial decision is driven by sex (or lack thereof) and the fact that Edward is making decisions about her body FOR HER. It'd be different if she were making the decision for herself, but she's not. Not at first anyway.
I guess I shouldn't be TOO bent out of shape with the message Meyer is so clearly preaching here, but I'm still bitter that it's the same message she preaches in The Host, because I really didn't think that particular message was appropriate in that particular book. Given the target audience for Twilight, I should be more forgiving, but for The Host? Not so much. Anyway. I'll shut up about this now.
Back to the marriage proposal, Bella sure is a brat about all of this. She's so anti-marriage, anti-ANYTHING that Edward has to give her that I want to smack her upside the head. There's graciousness, and then there's rudeness, and Bella is being flat out rude. I hate how she acts during the proposal scene, and it's not becoming (and it's sadder because the only reason she's agreeing to the marriage is for the sex. Surely Edward should've recognized that as the WRONG reason for getting married?). Bella also kills me because she's so dense, and she's been that way through-out the books. She doesn't see what's right in front of her, and in this book, she excuses an entire, very revealing conversation between Jacob and Edward as a dream! A dream!!! I know teenagers are supposed to be self-absorbed, but this is the opposite. The guys are sitting there talking about HER. Professing their love for HER. And she thinks it isn't happening? That it's a dream? Come on! At least by the end of the book she recognizes how selfish she's been, but that's a small comfort considering all the emotional damage she's done during the course of the book to both Jacob and Edward.
Lastly, let's talk about Jacob. For starters, I was interested in how we got his POV in the epilogue, something I know Meyer did to prepare for book four, but that's beside the point. I've already talked about the weirdness of imprinting and how I dislike the fact that Jacob doesn't acknowledge that his imprinting on someone else could really hurt Bella, but what about Jacob's pursuit of Bella otherwise? While reading New Moon, I was on Team Jacob. But while reading this book? I'm not on anyone's team. Sure, I'm supposed to root for Edward, but I really liked Jacob before he got all forceful. The forced kisses really didn't do anything for me; in fact, the only good moment between Bella and Jacob was the scene where he was a wolf and they were watching the Cullens practice taking out the newbie vampires.
The thing is, I really wish that instead of having Bella in denial the entire book, that she would've been aware of it by the end of New Moon so that THIS book would've been a true triangle: she would've had to sort out her feelings for both men the whole time instead of the last fifty or so pages. I would've loved more tender moments between her and Jacob instead of the forced ones we got instead, but again, I think Meyer may have been subconsciously trying to show the reader that Jacob was the wrong choice because he couldn't be tender and Edward could, you know?
And that's it for the nitpicks. I bet some of you are even wondering why I bother, yes? So read forward. :)
My Rating
Glad It Was Free: I'll be honest: I nitpicked this book more than the other two combined. I don't know if the sheen of guilty pleasure is wearing off or if maybe Meyer's work is actually declining somehow with each book, but I wasn't as enthralled with this one. That said, there were moments I liked. Flaws aside (and there are many of them), it is enjoyable to put yourself in Bella's shoes and imagine two gorgeous, immortal men falling at your very feet. And I do like the relationships Bella has with Edward, with Jacob (mostly), and with the Cullen family, particularly Alice. I also enjoyed the fact that we got some real backstory on Rosalie and Jasper, and that was fascinating stuff. I liked seeing Jasper's story in particular. I'll be reading onward to the final book in a few weeks, and god only knows how badly I'll nitpick that one, but for now, the series remains a guilty pleasure. I do wonder, now that I've seen the movie adaptation of Twilight a couple of times, if film isn't a better venue for these tales because you stay out of Bella's head and can focus on how the characters interact together, but that's me. Has anyone else found that they enjoy the movies more than they enjoy the books?
Cover Commentary: Not my favorite cover in the series. For the life of me, I'm not sure what the ribbon is supposed to symbolize, particularly since it's fraying. Is that supposed to represent Bella's fraying connection to humanity? Who knows, but it's a rather "meh" cover for me.
Next up: The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson