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lliiraOn page 32, Bella thinks this about the Cullens:
It seemed excessive for them to have both looks and money. But as far as I could tell, life worked that way most of the time.
Um. Wow. I'm thinking, right now, of all the beautiful people I've known in my life, none of whom was rich. And of all the people who are anything but beautiful who are rich. So there's another lovely facet of Bella's character: she thinks rich people are almost always pretty, and pretty people are almost always rich.
Also important: Bella is drawn to these pretty people, and contemptuous of everyone else in her school. She doesn't know anything about the Cullens except that they are pretty, pasty, rich, aloof, all dating each other (except for Edward), they don't eat cafeteria food, and one of them hates her for no reason.
Bella goes to the supermarket. She enjoys this because "it felt normal" (32). She likes that she can't hear the rain on the roof.
I said before that I understand not liking a place you're stuck living in, and missing somewhere you used to live. I don't like Florida, and I miss both Michigan and New York City. But even I don't obsess about how much I don't like Florida 24 hours a day, 7 days a week! Further, though I call the area I live in "strip malls and parking lots built on a swamp," it's the strip malls and parking lots that I have the real problems with. The swamp is the swamp, and it should be allowed to be a swamp. The geology and biology of Florida aren't things I feel comfortable with, but they're also not things that anyone can -- or should -- change. Bella acts like the rain exists to hurt her. The rain makes things grow -- but she hates all the green. I think Bella would be thrilled with a drought.
This is bad writing. We don't need to be told how much Bella hates Forks on every page.* It makes her look like a self-pitying, self-absorbed whiner. Maybe she's supposed to be a self-pitying, self-absorbed whiner. Even if that's the case, Meyer overdoes it, making the book actively unpleasant to read. I never thought I'd find a protagonist more irritating than the one in Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man. But Bella's jockeying hard for that #1 spot, and I'm only in chapter 2.
Bella's making steak and potatoes. I hope she's not going to want to make something as expensive as steak every night; I doubt Charlie could afford that.
Bella checks her e-mail. She has three messages from her mom. Mom can't remember where her pink blouse is, and Bella tells her it's at the dry cleaners'. This is blatantly supposed to show what an airheaded scatterbrain Mom is. This kind of characterization makes me dig my heels in and disbelieve the writing. I do not like character development through character assassination.
So Bella writes back to her mom, then decides to read Wuthering Heights "yet again for the fun of it" (34-5). Wuthering Heights? I'd read Jane Eyre many times by the time I was Bella's age, but Wuthering Heights? Not only is that book relatively difficult to read, it's as depressing as a one-legged orphan puppy! Well, anything to reinforce Bella's view that her depression and loathing of the world are justified, I guess.
Bella's dad gets home and calls, "Bella?"
Who else? I thought to myself. (35)
Urrrrggghhhh moving on...
Charlie feels awkward in the kitchen, so he waits in the living room while Bella cooks. Both of them are "more comfortable that way." Yep, girls in the kitchen, boys sitting on their asses waiting to be served, that's the correct order of things.
I have no problem with Bella doing the cooking. Her dad works all day and gets home later than her. She should be doing some chores, and cooking's one that makes perfect sense. I do have problems with the fact that she and her father can't talk to each other, that neither of them asks how the other's day went, and that Charlie can't cook even though he's lived alone for eighteen years.
Bella and Charlie eat in silence, comfortably. This is a nice character moment, revealing something about them and their relationship in a way that does not make me cringe. Neither of them likes interacting with others verbally. Fair enough.
Charlie finally asks how Bella's doing in her new school as he takes a second helping of steak. Bella brings up the Cullens and mentions they don't fit in at school. Charlie responds by taking a soapbox out from under the table and standing on it. He goes on a huge rant about how horrible the people in Forks are to think anything negative about the perfect Cullens.
And they stick together the way a family should -- camping trips every other weekend... (37)
The teenagers in this family are all dating each other. No problems with that, officer? Just the way a family should be, huh? Anyone who takes issue with that is a narrow-minded small-town ignoramus? Okay then.**
Bella lies. "They seemed nice enough to me" (37). No they didn't. They sat at their own table, aloof from all the kids who were not as pretty and rich and white as them, and Edward Cullen hates your guts for no reason.
After dinner, Bella does the dishes while Charlie watches TV. I wonder if Charlie is going to do any chores, or act like he cares about spending any time with his daughter at all. Well, he's got his shrine, I guess the real thing isn't nearly as interesting.
Bella goes back to school and the week rolls by. And this is delicious:
In Gym [sic], the kids on my team learned not to pass me the ball and to step quickly in front of me if the other team tried to take advantage of my weakness. (37)
Don't expect anything of Bella, but protect her at all costs.
* There are only four pages in the first chapter in which Bella does not complain about Forks, either the people or the weather. Twenty-one pages of hating Forks, with only four pages' respite from Forks-hatred. This is mixed in with Bella's self-loathing and her disdain for individual people. Bella only stops hating everything (except the Cullens) while dwelling on Edward hating her.
** I grew up in a small town, though not as small as Forks, and not remote. The high school had 1000 students, and it was only a 20-minute drive to a large state university. Still, though it wasn't as teeny as Forks, it was a small town, middle and lower-middle class, and I do not appreciate the anti-small town prejudice in this book.
It seemed excessive for them to have both looks and money. But as far as I could tell, life worked that way most of the time.
Um. Wow. I'm thinking, right now, of all the beautiful people I've known in my life, none of whom was rich. And of all the people who are anything but beautiful who are rich. So there's another lovely facet of Bella's character: she thinks rich people are almost always pretty, and pretty people are almost always rich.
Also important: Bella is drawn to these pretty people, and contemptuous of everyone else in her school. She doesn't know anything about the Cullens except that they are pretty, pasty, rich, aloof, all dating each other (except for Edward), they don't eat cafeteria food, and one of them hates her for no reason.
Bella goes to the supermarket. She enjoys this because "it felt normal" (32). She likes that she can't hear the rain on the roof.
I said before that I understand not liking a place you're stuck living in, and missing somewhere you used to live. I don't like Florida, and I miss both Michigan and New York City. But even I don't obsess about how much I don't like Florida 24 hours a day, 7 days a week! Further, though I call the area I live in "strip malls and parking lots built on a swamp," it's the strip malls and parking lots that I have the real problems with. The swamp is the swamp, and it should be allowed to be a swamp. The geology and biology of Florida aren't things I feel comfortable with, but they're also not things that anyone can -- or should -- change. Bella acts like the rain exists to hurt her. The rain makes things grow -- but she hates all the green. I think Bella would be thrilled with a drought.
This is bad writing. We don't need to be told how much Bella hates Forks on every page.* It makes her look like a self-pitying, self-absorbed whiner. Maybe she's supposed to be a self-pitying, self-absorbed whiner. Even if that's the case, Meyer overdoes it, making the book actively unpleasant to read. I never thought I'd find a protagonist more irritating than the one in Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man. But Bella's jockeying hard for that #1 spot, and I'm only in chapter 2.
Bella's making steak and potatoes. I hope she's not going to want to make something as expensive as steak every night; I doubt Charlie could afford that.
Bella checks her e-mail. She has three messages from her mom. Mom can't remember where her pink blouse is, and Bella tells her it's at the dry cleaners'. This is blatantly supposed to show what an airheaded scatterbrain Mom is. This kind of characterization makes me dig my heels in and disbelieve the writing. I do not like character development through character assassination.
So Bella writes back to her mom, then decides to read Wuthering Heights "yet again for the fun of it" (34-5). Wuthering Heights? I'd read Jane Eyre many times by the time I was Bella's age, but Wuthering Heights? Not only is that book relatively difficult to read, it's as depressing as a one-legged orphan puppy! Well, anything to reinforce Bella's view that her depression and loathing of the world are justified, I guess.
Bella's dad gets home and calls, "Bella?"
Who else? I thought to myself. (35)
Urrrrggghhhh moving on...
Charlie feels awkward in the kitchen, so he waits in the living room while Bella cooks. Both of them are "more comfortable that way." Yep, girls in the kitchen, boys sitting on their asses waiting to be served, that's the correct order of things.
I have no problem with Bella doing the cooking. Her dad works all day and gets home later than her. She should be doing some chores, and cooking's one that makes perfect sense. I do have problems with the fact that she and her father can't talk to each other, that neither of them asks how the other's day went, and that Charlie can't cook even though he's lived alone for eighteen years.
Bella and Charlie eat in silence, comfortably. This is a nice character moment, revealing something about them and their relationship in a way that does not make me cringe. Neither of them likes interacting with others verbally. Fair enough.
Charlie finally asks how Bella's doing in her new school as he takes a second helping of steak. Bella brings up the Cullens and mentions they don't fit in at school. Charlie responds by taking a soapbox out from under the table and standing on it. He goes on a huge rant about how horrible the people in Forks are to think anything negative about the perfect Cullens.
And they stick together the way a family should -- camping trips every other weekend... (37)
The teenagers in this family are all dating each other. No problems with that, officer? Just the way a family should be, huh? Anyone who takes issue with that is a narrow-minded small-town ignoramus? Okay then.**
Bella lies. "They seemed nice enough to me" (37). No they didn't. They sat at their own table, aloof from all the kids who were not as pretty and rich and white as them, and Edward Cullen hates your guts for no reason.
After dinner, Bella does the dishes while Charlie watches TV. I wonder if Charlie is going to do any chores, or act like he cares about spending any time with his daughter at all. Well, he's got his shrine, I guess the real thing isn't nearly as interesting.
Bella goes back to school and the week rolls by. And this is delicious:
In Gym [sic], the kids on my team learned not to pass me the ball and to step quickly in front of me if the other team tried to take advantage of my weakness. (37)
Don't expect anything of Bella, but protect her at all costs.
* There are only four pages in the first chapter in which Bella does not complain about Forks, either the people or the weather. Twenty-one pages of hating Forks, with only four pages' respite from Forks-hatred. This is mixed in with Bella's self-loathing and her disdain for individual people. Bella only stops hating everything (except the Cullens) while dwelling on Edward hating her.
** I grew up in a small town, though not as small as Forks, and not remote. The high school had 1000 students, and it was only a 20-minute drive to a large state university. Still, though it wasn't as teeny as Forks, it was a small town, middle and lower-middle class, and I do not appreciate the anti-small town prejudice in this book.
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Date: 2012-04-14 02:01 pm (UTC)