New Moon is the sequel to the bestselling book, Twilight, the beginning of the bestselling saga of Bella and Edward. I am thoroughly enjoying reading these books, although their popularity is a little overwhelming. This book is getting returned to the library today, to go on to fill one of the other 205 holds that still remain. This level of request for a series is unprecedented, even by Harry Potter, although I honestly have no evidence to back that assumption up. It is usually only the most recent book in a series that has hundreds of requests, yet each of the books in this series has at least 200. It could be the Twilight movie coming out soon I suppose . . . Some spoilers may follow, I feel compelled to give the warning, if you care.
New Moon was just as entertaining, suspenseful, and exciting as Twilight, although with a little bit less of the teenage drama. The devastatingly beautiful vampire Edward leaves Bella towards the beginning of the book, in an effort to protect Bella and give her the long, happy life that she does not want. Into his place steps Jacob, the boy from the reservation who is Bella's friend, who has all of a sudden grown into a very attractive young man. And he is also coming into his inheritance, in terms of the supernatural legacy of his family. So now Bella has to contend with both werewolves and vampires, in addition to teenage love and lust.
One thing about these books that I find fascinating is the fact that there is so much teenage love happening, but no sex. Edward is afraid that he will lose control and kill Bella if they get too physically close, and she and Jacob can never really figure out how they feel about each other anyway. Meyer does an excellent job of capturing all of that teenage angst that makes you want to pull your hair out. It is almost too much, but never quite so much that I have to stop reading. I find equally fascinating the obsession in the pop culture surrounding these novels, especially regarding Edward and Jacob as some sort of examples of perfect boyfriends. Either one could kill you if they lose control over themselves around humans for even one second, but oh aren't they wonderful? No, I'm sorry, I just don't get it. The books are fun to read, but maybe you have to be a teen to really understand.
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2 comments:
I agree, I definitely wouldn't consider Edward or Jacob examples of perfect boyfriends. I keep hearing this "Team Jacob," but I actually found that I didn't like him all that much. These books are fun to read, but I had to stop 1/2 way through Eclipse. I just couldn't take any more of the drama and romance!
Oh no! I've been afraid of that about reading Eclipse. I keep hearing about plot stuff in Breaking Dawn, and I'm wondering to myself "Does anything happen in Eclipse?"
You should read "Touched by a Vampire" on Salon.com this week - it's a great article.
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