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Wow, I must say, I didn't think Meyers was going to be able to pull out of the nosedive that she'd set up during the last two chapters. But Chapter seven was, possibly, my favorite so far.
Okay, so that isn't saying much, but still.
Let's keep this short, shall we?
I really want to move on to reading the next chapter. (I'm impatient, for the first time since I read the first two chapters all in one block.) Not much happened, event-wise that is, in this chapter, but the slowdown really helped I think. Gave Bella a few 'minutes' to think about whats happened. So:
Bella
Bella spent this chapter spreading out the info-dump of last chapter. She goes out into the woods to do some thinking and she works on answering what happens next. It's an internal thing, but it's very well written, especially considering that most of us wouldn't just accept this sort of thing as truth right away. (When you do that it's generally a sign that you're kind of... you know... insane.) Like me, she needs time to digest large amounts of information, this is a trait that is useful and individualizing, which is a good sign.
One of my more recent issues with Bella was the fact that she's very under-characterized. I mean, does she have any hobbies? As far as I can see she's cooked, done homework, cleaned and gone out maybe twice since she got to Forks. She may have no social life now, but you don't see her ever mentioning anything else from her days in Phoenix either. No extra curricular activities, no friends, nothing. (Is this common in romance novels? So that whoever's reading can add on their own traits? I Don't know, I'm not a a frequenter of the genre.)
But in this chapter she's not only continued to not be annoying, but to gain more traits. We see she's not into metal music on the first page, later she shows impatience at a dial-up modem, so she's probably used to a faster internet connection. She mentions not having a good sense of direction when she goes on a walk to work stuff out. (Which I certainly do not relate to since I have nearly perfect relative direction sense of direction and I'm pretty good at picking out north.) She's indecisive. Or at least she hates making decisions. It's not a bad start, I have hope.
And, importantly, all these and many more are added in a pretty convincing and dramatized way. I'm rather happy with her right now.
*sigh* If only I had confidence that it'd last.
Mike
Yep, even Dog-boy has his chapter. Well, Bella finally clues him in that Jessica has a thing for him and he asks her out. (I think he took Bella's subtle get-away-you're-nice-but-I'm-not-interested clue) I'm sure the two side characters will fall in love, get married, and never have any plot relevance again. Oh well, they really have the potential to become interesting. (Well, they might if they weren't obviously meant to be flat characters. I think Jessica especially has some nice traits.)
Oh, and he doesn't understand what Misogynistic means either. Not exactly deep characterization, but he doesn't look quite as hopelessly one dimensional as before. He's still a bit of a Forksian Moron, but at least he isn't clueless.
Edward
...
Why did I even put this here? Edward doesn't appear in this chapter at all.
Hehe... habit I guess.
Actually, that's mentionable in itself. Edward doesn't appear at all. Bizarre.
Other Comments
(130) The chapter-naming worthy scene. This is a (more or less) stress dream, I think. It redisplays all the information dumped in the last chapter-- probably just for people like me who are pausing between them, not that many would. Bella has mixed feelings about this one though.
Edward is clearly portrayed as the villain of the dream, but she admits later that her cry when the dream Jacob attacks him to defend her (foreshadowing... oOoOOoo.) was mostly for Edward's sake. Talk about some conflict, huh?
(132) I appreciate the mention of the slight dizziness you get after standing up: I have low blood pressure, so it happens to me every time I stand pretty much, more severely than for most people too. (I almost passed out standing to say the pledge of allegiance in school. That'd have been embarrassing.)
(135) I find it very hard to believe that very few of the legends about vampires matched even one of the criteria Bella used when it included blood drinking, although the other stuff is, admittedly, more attributes of the popular vampire. (Strength and speed, immortal, pale, beauty, etc.)
But I mean, come on. At least most of the European folk lore has to include blood drinking to some degree.
(13 cool Bella considers various options of what to do next. (Under the assumption that Jacob was both accurate and not lying, which she decides to make for now.) Her brain shudders at the thought of ignoring Edward and avoiding him, which (he even admitted it) would be the smart thing to do.
She's not addicted to him. There are no signs of withdrawal symptoms here. Nothing to see... Move along. I said MOVE IT.
(139) The word Twilight was used for the first time since the start of the book. A momentous occasion. Hurray.
(140) She's complaining about the greenery again. I really like the descriptions of the forests around her house though, it's the sort of place I'd go to hang out. Yeah... I'm just a little weird that way. Tiny bit.
(145) First she's afraid he's there and then she's disappointed he isn't. This is starting to form a fairly predictable pattern.
(14 cool I sympathize with Bella in this particular instance. After all, she too is having problems with the abundance of people in fiction named Edward Elric. How will we ever get on with our lives.
Well, I seem to be doing just fine.
(151) Yay! We're finally getting out of Forks.... To some where besides Phoenix! biggrin
Yeah, that's all I got really.
See you all next time!
 Tesar Eshne · Sun Feb 17, 2008 @ 02:59pm · 5 Comments |
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