NOTES/THOUGHTS/REACTIONS:
We begin by something that is dumb:
It had taken much less time than I'd thought-all the terror, the despair,
the
shattering of my heart. THe minutes were ticking by more slowly than
usual.
From Twilight, page 433
So...wait, what? It didn't take as long as you'd thought but then it seemed to go on forever? That makes no freaking sense. Much like this whole scenario but whatever. Also, overdramatic much? All she's doing is driving to the freaking airport. She hasn't even encountered the villian yet so she shouldn't be terrified, and I won't even get into how the heck her heart can be shattered when nothing has happened to shatter it. Unless I'm missing something. Which means that Meyer did a crappy job of explaining things in the first place.
But anyway, all this overdramatic talking turns out to just be Bella writing the letter and walking back outside. Where, oh look, Alice is having ANOTHER vision. Sure is having them pretty frequently all of a sudden. Bella immediately assumes that the guy is hurting her mother even though he said he had no interest in hurting her. Bella's mind really does tend to go to the worst possible scenario, doesn't it?
As Jasper goes...and does something, Bella asks Alice how her visions work. Apparently she can see weather easier then people because that's more certain...um...I'm sure every weather person on the planet would highly disagree with that statement but whatever. Apparently she can only see the course they're on, while they're on it. If they make a decision, that shifts it...or something. That makes no sense and I'm curious as to why she can't see Bella's decision then. We probably won't get the answer though, and it'll probably be something like: Bella's so smart she figured out a way around it, or she's just special that way.
Anyway, after that really confusing and nonsense explanation (further proving to me that this vision thing is crap) they leave for the airport. Insert descriptions here as Bella escapes using...another exit in the girls bathroom. Um...I must be confused you see, all the bathrooms I've been too in airports have one exit? But whatever, this must be a special case or I've been to the wrong airports, and anyway she does this not so clever ruse and manages to get away from Jasper and Alice who probably equal worse bodyguards ever.
Long description of Bella getting on a bus and then on a taxi, who complains about how long it is until Bella tosses eighty dollars at him. This must be a really cheap taxi because for me to take a taxi to work, which is ten miles away, is ten dollars, for my Mom to her work, which is fifteen, it's twenty. So yeah...something is not adding up there and I'm betting it's Meyer who has probably never taken a taxi in her life. This is especially apparent in the fact that the driver complains about how long it is. Most taxi drivers will say, "you got money? Okay!"
During the drive, she naturally thinks about...what else, Edward. Not the danger she's in, or coming up with a plan to get her and her mother to safety. She thinks about her boyfriend and his looks. Obsessed much, Bella?
So Bella gets to her house and oh look, Mom isn't there. Calls the bad guy and again does what he says without checking. I'm sorry, it never occured to her to CALL PHIL? Because you know, maybe he's concerned about where his wife is? If she had called him, she would have realized her mother was safe and all of this could have been avoided. Plus, wouldn't she be suspicious about the fact that there is no apparent struggle in the house? I swear Bella is the dumbest heroine ever. But we can't have our heroine be smart, because then how could Meyer write about Edward swooping in to save her? Again.
Anyway, insert vivid description of street as Bella walks to the studio. She gets there and what do you know? Turns out the villian used a video tape of her mother to lure Bella there. Which she would have known, had she called Phil and checked. Like I said, I nominate Bella for dumbest heroine ever.
But Bella doesn't think about how stupid she was. No. Our Mary Sue feels calm and here is where Meyer tries to make her out to be martyr like and seem selfless but to me it just makes her seem a) dumb, and b) kind of suicidal. Seriously, look at this sentence:
What did it matter now? Charlie and Mom would never be harmed, would never
have to fear. I felt almost giddy.
From Twilight, page 445
...I'm sorry, you should not be so accepting about your imminate death so quickly. I don't care HOW freaking selfless you susposedly are. I think we've all pretty much established that Bella is NOT selfless. This is why at this point, I'm wondering if Bella is a little suicidal. It would kind of explain all her stupid decisions to just stand there while danger is staring her in the face and rapidly approaching.
So while, Bella is basically just standing there, James...starts monologuing. No, I swear. He does the number one thing that is the downfall of every stupid villian in history (had Meyer seen the Incredibles, which I doubt she has, she would know monologuing villians are bad and corny). So we get a page and a half of James talking about how brilliant he is and how easy and stupid she was (that part I agree with) and in classic villianry, he wants to videotape her demise and leave it for Edward to watch.
Did Meyer have a Lifetime movie marathon or something before she wrote this? Because seriously, the cliche's in here make those look downright oscar worthy. As if this isn't bad enough, guess what? James knows Alice's backstory! Coincidence, no? A smarter writer would have left Alice's back story for her to find out in the next book, but no, Meyer has to kill all interest in minor characters right off the bat so we can focus on Mary Sue and Gary Stu.
Well...after that, it finally occurs to Bella to maybe try and escape (she doesn't do it while he's monologuing but while his attention is on her, again, stupidest heroine ever) and of course he catches her and actually causes her pain! Chapter ends with her losing conciousness and drifting.
WORD LIST: genteel
BOOK THAT IS BETTER: The True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle by Avi
WHY IT IS BETTER: Charlotte is an awesome heroine and ten times more intelligent then Bella Sue. She starts out as really naive and kind of dumb, but she grows throughout the book and gains intelligence and actually earns the crew's respect and ultimately the reader's respect. It's a really cool book about how a naive girl becomes an awesome sailor and even better person.
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