eclipse chapters 15-epilogue

Book: Eclipse
Author: Stephenie Meyer
Chapter(s): 15-Epilogue

Page 345…Bella is worried that once she becomes a vampire she might not feel the same way about Edward and wonders…“Was there a human experience that I was not willing to give up?” I don’t know about her but mine would be food. Glorious food…coffee, red wine, cheese fries, kosher hot dogs, chocolate cupcakes with vanilla frosting…the list goes on. But on the other hand I would be too busy with feathers and broken furniture to think about eating…so food…we had some good times…it was fun while it lasted. I will remember you always.

Page 363…Bella tells Charlie she doesn’t know what to do about Jacob and he tells her…“The right thing isn’t always real obvious. Sometimes the right thing for one person is the wrong thing for someone else.” He is right…“the right thing” is a very subjective idea and one that I have struggled with many times. Often what you think is the right thing turns out not to be. Charlie continues…“So…good luck figuring that out.” Um yeah thanks Charlie…I guess!

Page 421…Bella asks Edward to either let everyone fight without his help or let her be there. This part makes me so mad. Could she be anymore selfish? Way to put someone you love in an incredibly difficult position. This book really shows her manipulative side.

Page 434 starts the chapter entitled Compromise. Bella and Edward go back and forth with the whole getting married thing and basically conclude that Bella will marry Edward only if he agrees to have sex with her before she becomes a vampire so she can experience it as a human. Well played Bella Swan…using your feminine wiles and raging teenage hormones to get what you want. Wait...a minute…are you crazy? Using sex as a compromise to marriage is so messed up. If this wasn’t an argument for their relationship being unhealthy I don’t know what is.

Page 450…Bella is trying to jump Edward’s bones…again (Believe me I don't blame her)…and he tells her…“You just promised to marry me before you do any changing, but if I give in tonight, what guarantee do I have that you won’t go running off to Carlisle in the morning? I am – clearly – much less reluctant to give you what you want. Therefore…you first.” You have been called out Miss Swan! It is totally out of character for Edward not to give in to Bella but I like that he is…even if it is just this once…at least trying.

Page 456…Edward tells Bella…“We’ll go to Vegas – you can wear old jeans and we’ll go to the chapel with a drive-through window. I just want it to be official – that you belong to me and no one else.” Well this sounds like my kind of wedding! But I have to say this scenario reminds me of another little love triangle…Carrie…Aidan…and Mr. Big! Aidan too wanted to “lock this thing down” and make it official. This attitude toward marriage is another reason why I fear it so. Maybe it is the use of the word official? Yes being married does afford a couple a reasonable amount of assurance that they will be faithful to each other emotionally and financially but divorce does happen. But aside from that I don’t like the idea of belonging to anyone. If I were to get married it wouldn’t be because I want to belong to anyone or have anyone belong to me. I would want to be together but belong to ourselves.

Page 528…Bella and Jacob kiss and she realizes that she is in love with him but not enough to change how she feels about Edward. This is sort of crazy to me. I am not saying it can’t happen but Bella is only 18. It is hard for me to wrap my head around the fact that she is squeezing in a lifetime of love and heartache into one year.

In conclusion:

Eclipse was a nice change of pace after New Moon. While we see some other sides to the characters throughout the book I feel Jacob has the best development. He really becomes the most interesting character since it is pretty much inevitable that Bella and Edward will end up together. Like I mentioned before reading about Rosalie and Jasper’s past was definitely the highlight for me. Now all I'm waiting for is Bella and Edward to finally do it!

eclipse chapters 7-14

Book: Eclipse
Author: Stephenie Meyer
Chapter(s): 7-14

Page 158…Rosalie is telling Bella the story of her last night as a human and recalls…“And so I remember this, when so many pleasant memories have faded away completely.” This is one thing I will never in all my days understand…why is it that the happiest of memories seem to have an expiration date but the worst can be recalled as clear as if they just happened?

Page 167…Rosalie goes on to tell Bella about finding Emmett…“I got luckier than I deserved. Emmett is everything I would have asked for if I’d known myself well enough to know what to ask for.” This thought scares me. How do you know when you really know yourself? Maybe I have been asking for the wrong things?

Page 177…Jacob is explaining the whole imprinting thing to Bella and says…“But you have to see her – the one that’s supposedly meant for you.” What I wouldn’t give for imprinting to be real…that would make things SO much easier.

Page 194…Bella is questioning Edward about past love interests and he says…“I prefer brunettes.” Well isn’t that something…I happen to be a brunette. Just saying…

Page 275…Bella tells Edward…“I’m not that girl, Edward, The one who gets married right out of high school like some small-town hick who got knocked up by her boyfriend!” This bothers me. All she talks about is being with Edward forever so why the resistance? The fact that she is so worried about what everyone else is going to think kind of contradicts the idea that Bella is this unique individual.

Page 277…Bella thinks…“I was just having Anne of Green Gables flashbacks.” I only point this out because I love Anne of Green Gables!

Page 325…Bella thinks about getting married…“Then, just for a second, I saw that same odd vision of Edward and me on a porch swing, wearing clothes from another kind of world. A world where it would surprise no one if I wore his ring on my finger. A simpler place, where love was defined in simpler ways. One plus one equals two…” I don’t really understand what she is talking about. I don’t think love is or ever has been simple. I could better understand if she was saying something like, “I know what people will think about us getting married so soon but I don’t care I love him and it feels right,” but she never says anything like that. The kicker is that no one even really cares once she does tell them…not even her scatterbrained mom. Not that I don’t think marriage is serious but she seems to be making it a bigger deal than it needs to be. If I was so sure about the person I loved I would not have a single care about what anyone else thought.

Page 327…Jacob confesses to Bella…“Bella, I love you. And I want you to pick me instead on him.” You have to give Jacob props for putting himself out there and laying it all out on the line…that takes guts. Honestly…if you ask me…I think if anyone is a masochist in this story it is Jacob.

eclipse chapters 1-6

Book: Eclipse
Author: Stephenie Meyer
Chapter(s): 1-6



To begin with, I really enjoyed this third installment of the Twilight Saga. Reading about Rosalie and Jasper’s past was definitely the highlight and I really liked how Meyer waits until now to go into detail about it instead of revealing everything in the first book.

Pages 28-29…In New Moon Meyer references Shakespeare and in Eclipse she goes with another classic, Emily Bronte's Wuthering Heights. Again, Edward offers another interesting analysis...“I don’t understand why you like it. The characters are ghastly people who ruin each others’ lives. It isn’t a love story, it’s a hate story.” Edward goes on to question Bella as to why she reads it over and over which she replies, “I think it’s something about the inevitability. How nothing can keep them apart – not her selfishness, or his evil, or even death, in the end…” Edward then says, “I still think it would be a better story if either of them had one redeeming quality.” Bella answers, “ I think that may be the point, their love is their only redeeming quality.” So this made me think…is that all it takes…is that all you need? Could you essentially be selfish and or evil and get away with it as long as you had one redeeming quality? It does seem easier to focus on one quality then a handful.

Page 40…Bella narrates…“Edward was quiet, playing absentmindedly with a strand of my hair.” I love that! I would instantly be in love with anyone who played with my hair!

Page 49…Edward tells Bella…“The outside world holds no interest for me without you.” On the surface that sounds like a sweet thing to say but underneath it speaks to the unhealthy part of this relationship. I think it is important to have interests outside of your relationship otherwise you become too dependent and alienate the other people in your life. Not to mention that Edward is always on Bella’s case to be human but he really isn’t letting her be.

Page 64…Edward and Bella get into a fight and Edward tells her…“Shut your window if you want me to stay away tonight. I’ll understand.” Bella goes upstairs and slams the window shut. She then thinks…“I stared at the shivering black glass for a long moment until it was still. Then I sighed, and opened the window as wide as it would go.” This was the first real mature thing I have seen Bella’s character do and for some reason it made me look at their love in a new perspective and see it developing. It takes a lot in a relationship to focus on what is really important and let go of little arguments.

Page 92…Bella thinks…“Someone like me shouldn’t be human. Someone with my luck ought to be a little less helpless." I don't know...I can't put my finger on it exactly...but this kind of rubbed me the wrong way. It sounds like she trying to rationalize her own shortcomings by saying that humans are essentially helpless?

Page 95…Edward leaves Bella a note on her pillow that reads…“I’ll be back so soon you won’t have time to miss me. Look after my heart – I’ve left it with you.” Now what I find interesting about this is that if I were to receive a note like that I would melt, be giddy like a little school girl, and be running to tuck this note away in my wallet so that I could carry it with me everywhere! However the very next sentence is Bella thinking…“So now I had a big empty Saturday with nothing but my morning shift at Newton’s Olympic Outfitters to distract me.” It doesn’t even faze her! He might as well have written, “be back.” It would be here where I would have to agree with my friend who thinks Bella is a snob.