In Which I Tolerate Eclipse: Chapter 1 -- Ultimatum · 1:47pm Apr 23rd, 2018
Astronomy-nerd time. The titles of the books are obviously referring to elements of night. Presumably, one night. But a new moon happens when the moon is between the sun and the earth and very little of the light reflected from the moon reaches the earth. An eclipse (assuming it’s lunar, because solar eclipses don’t happen during the night; I shouldn’t have to clarify that, but with this series, you never know) is when the earth is between the sun and moon, blocking all light from the sun to the moon. Two to three weeks should pass between a new moon and a lunar eclipse.
…Maybe it was a sign. “Okay. You’ve read New Moon. Take a break before reading Eclipse. Take a long break.” Well, too bad. Here we go.
Clinginess Meter: 0
Seriously, what’s the point of these contextless prefaces? They add nothing to the book. There’s something about Edward preparing to fight someone and… that’s it. Blalgh. Skipped.
The book opens with Bella reading an angry letter from Jacob, telling her he doesn’t want to be friends with her if she’s Edward’s girlfriend. There’s lots of crossed-out words that make a lot of sense, like telling Bella she can’t have it both ways. It’s the most contact she’s had with Jacob in a while; since she’s grounded, she can’t go down to La Push and he’s been avoiding her phone calls. However, Bella’s interrupted by the sounds of Charlie making dinner; she bolts downstairs to save what she can of the food and notices he’s being grumpy, something he usually reserves for Edward.
The word boyfriend had me chewing on the inside of my cheek with a familiar tension while I stirred. It wasn’t the right word, not at all. I needed something more expressive of eternal commitment… But words like destiny and fate sounded hokey when you used them in casual conversation.
CM + 1
Between running off to Italy and the motorcycle, Bella’s been grounded and Edward’s only allowed in from 7 to 9:30 every day, which is ridiculously lenient. Supposedly, the fact that Bella accepts these rules and doesn’t simply move out entirely means she’s being mature and not hurting Charlie.
As Bella makes dinner, Charlie reads the paper and notes in disgust that Seattle’s murder rate is skyrocketing, with five unsolved murders in the past two weeks alone. A bit of silence, then Charlie talks to Bella directly. He says she’s been non-whiny (her? Not whiny? Yeah, right), so he’s lifting the grounding for good behavior. But he wants her to use her freedom judiciously, to spend time with someone other than Edward (or Alice, who has no visiting hour restrictions and comes and goes as she pleases).
“That’s true,” he said. “But you have other friends besides the Cullens, Bella. Or you used to.”
We stared at each other for a long moment.
“When was the last time you spoke to Angela Weber?” he threw at me.
“Friday at lunch,” I answered immediately.
[…]
“Outside of school?” Charlie asked, calling my attention back.
“I haven’t seen anyone outside of school, Dad. Grounded, remember? And Angela has a boyfriend, too. She’s always with Ben. If I’m really free,” I added, heavy on the skepticism, “maybe we could double.”
Bella. Hey. You just pointed out that Alice came and went with no visiting hour restrictions. Angela doesn’t have those, either. If you and she were really friends, you’d invite her over some weekend when Edward can’t come. And if you think that’s bad, check out this bit from the part I cut out:
Before Edward’s return, my school friends had polarized into two groups. I liked to think of those groups as good vs. evil. Us and them worked, too. The good guys were Angela, her steady boyfriend Ben Cheney, and Mike Newton; these three had all very generously forgiven me from going crazy when Edward left. Lauren Mallory was the evil core of the them side, and almost everyone else, including my first friend in Forks, Jessica Stanley, seemed content to go along with her anti-Bella agenda.
That’s right. Bella’s placing people into “good” and “evil” groups based on how they treat her. The author of the Mary Sue is supposed to do that, not the Mary Sue herself!
Going back to Charlie’s discussion-
“I don’t think you should dump all your other friends for your boyfriend, Bella,” he said in a stern voice. “It’s not nice, and I think your life would be better balanced if you kept some other people in it. What happened last September…”
I flinched.
“Well,” he said defensively. “If you’d had more of a life outside of Edward Cullen, it might not have been like that.”
“It would have been exactly like that,” I muttered.
Listen to your father, Bella. In this twisted version of the world, he’s the smartest person alive. CM + 1
Charlie specifically suggests spending time with Jacob. Bella struggles to put why she doesn’t want to be around Jacob in words, given the whole vampires and werewolves thing, and comes out with, basically, he wants to be her boyfriend. Even though she could’ve just said, “Edward and Jacob don’t get along.” That’s the truth, isn’t it?
“Isn’t Edward up for a little healthy competition?” Charlie’s voice was sarcastic now.
I leveled a dark look at him. “There’s no competition.”
CM + 1
With everything said, Charlie gives Bella a letter she got that day from the University of Alaska.
I flipped the envelope over and then glared up at him. “It’s open.”
“I was curious.”
“I’m shocked, Sheriff. That’s a federal crime.”
For once, I’m on Bella’s side. Federal crime or not, it’s my mail. If someone, regardless of who they were, opened my mail before I could read it, I’d be offended, too. It’s a trust thing. Although considering how little info Bella gives to her father, she doesn’t really trust him, so what would be a grievous faux pas for anyone else is just desserts for her.
They talk a bit about payment when the doorbell rings. Guess who it is?I wrenched the door out of my way — ridiculously eager — and there he was, my personal miracle.Would it surprise you that the rather lengthy next paragraph is devoted solely on Edward’s looks? CM + 1
His touch brought with it the strangest sense of relief — as if I’d been in pain and that pain had suddenly ceased.
CM + 1
Charlie interrupts their moment, thank goodness, and Edward greets him.
“Good evening, Charlie.” Edward was always flawlessly polite, though Charlie didn’t deserve it.
You’re right. Charlie doesn’t deserve politeness. He let you see your boyfriend while you were grounded. He deserves you groveling on the ground in gratitude, not just politeness.
Bella and Edward are filling out college applications for her, trying to reach the deadlines while they still have time. There’s an implication that Edward is bribing colleges to let Bella in, and I guess that’s romantic? Somehow? Charlie asks if Edward’s been accepted to anywhere.
“Syracuse… Harvard… Dartmouth… and I just got accepted to the University of Alaska Southeast today.” Edward turned his face slightly to the side so that he could wink at me. I stifled a giggle.
Way to rub it in that you’re surgically grafting yourselves together, assholes.
As Bella and Edward fill out applications, they discuss which college she’ll accept, since by the current plan, she’s going to be turned into a vampire shortly after she graduates from high school. Edward tries to caution her to take her time, since being a monster is no laughing matter. The murders in Seattle, he says, are due to a vampire, probably a “young” one. He wants Bella to be ready for when she turns.
They fill out forms for a little while longer before, with the smoothness of a hedgehog on sandpaper, Edward notices Wuthering Heights sitting on the counter and asks why Bella’s reading it again. He doesn’t like it.
“I think it would be a better story if either of them had one redeeming quality.”
“I think that may be the point,” I disagreed. “Their love is their only redeeming quality.”
Are they talking about Wuthering Heights or themselves? (And Bella’s wrong, anyway. The “love” in Wuthering Heights is unhealthy, abusive, and self-destructive. Not unlike Bella’s and Edward’s “love”, then.)
As they talk about love, the conversation turns to the werewolves, and Jacob in particular. Edward doesn’t want Bella hanging around with the werewolves, as he thinks they’re dangerous. Bella’s having none of it, as Jacob’s her friend. Edward reminds her that, because of the treaty, the Cullens can’t be around to protect her if she visits La Push, so Bella says she’ll just go alone. Edward says he’ll stop her if she tries, and Bella’s only response is, “We’ll see about that.” However, Edward’s words remind her of Jacob’s letter, how her relationship with Edward is keeping her apart from Jacob.
Clinginess Meter: 5
(looks up) …By Celestia, a lot of this post was me quoting Bella and Edward doing terrible things. In any case, it was a weak opening. Filling out college applications! Yaaaaay!
To Meyer's credit, she captures adolescent petulance and entitlement with pinpoint precision.
My god! How do you have the stamina to put up with all this? And without a break too? You're something else for sure.