|
Is New Moon better than Twilight ? 
Well, for me it's tie. If you liked the gret action and mix of romance in the 1st one than you will like New Moon. Although it's not the same without Edward. O im giving to much away! Anyway,New Moon doesn't fail to entertain.
New Moon 
The book was terrific. I received it in the time I was told. I had no problems with ordering or understanding the process.
Wrong Message of Love and Relationships 
*contains some spoilers*
I have not heard of the Twilight saga till after the frenzy rocked nations worldwide. So naturally I wanted to know what the hype was all about. What gives this series an edge over other books? After reading the debut and the sequel, I am still dumbfounded. Sometimes I wonder if we are all reading the same series. Okay, I know that Twilight fans are gonna give me a lot of negative votes but here it goes:
Even though I found the story entertaining enough to continue reading and would have given it higher stars if it were not for the fact that I was not impressed with the overall message of Twilight and New Moon (plus the lack of characterization, depth and the plot moves at a glacial pace). I am twenty-something and I know that this series is targeted for young adults and that is why I find it worrisome. It essentially imparts the wrong message to teenage girls about love and relationships. Bella struck me as a timid person with no personality and does not have much of a backbone to boot. Her entire life orbits around Edward and her reiteration of his beauty and how she is head over heels in love with him which after 300 pages, grew tiresome.
I like characters that are strong-willed, passionate and feisty but Bella is too weak-willed and needy for my liking. She whines throughout the book. On the other hand, Sookie Stackhouse is Bella's polar opposite. She is independent, sassy, and spunky. She fits the bill of a heroine. I simply cannot fathom how Bella has become such an iconic protagonist, especially in the 21st Century where female self-empowerment and autonomy are welcoming, desirable attributes. As a woman, it offends me how the book perpetuates the idea that a girl is incomplete without a guy. We are living in a world that breeds the idea that a girl's main purpose in life is finding a guy and this book reinforces it. It is anti-feminism and I am surprised that women are not indignant. I do not know why feminism is correlated with sexism or misandry (which means the hatred of men). It is far from it. Feminism is about breaking free of the stereotypical gender roles and establishing our place in society. Many feminists wear stilettos, and yes, even fall in love. Promoting ideas that you are worthless without a man is the antithesis of feminism. Nowadays whenever you go to your local bookstore, you see titles ranging from "Make Every Man Fall in love With You Instantly" to "If I'm So Wonderful, Why Am I Still Single." It is no wonder why some smart women would remain in unhealthy relationships due to the social stigma that is attached to being single. Having a guy is great, but it should not send anyone into a tailspin if she is single. Being single means that you have standards and respect yourself enough not to waste your time with Mr. Wrong.
Being in love with a gorgeous vampire is nice, but other than rescuing her in the nick of time, Bella's narration does not include why she is so irrevocably in love with him. Enumerating his phyiscal attributes hardly makes for a sound criteria. I mean, really, sparkling or locking eyes with one another does not really cement a relationship. Moreover, other than smelling delectable, what draws Bella out of all the girls to Edward over the centuries? As reviewers before me had said, their relationship is based on superficialities. How can a love of that great magnitude be based on superficialties? The mixture of phermones, lust, and the clandestine nature of their relationship seems to be the driving force. The distinctions between love and lust have become blurred. People romanticize the idea of forbidden, unattainable love, but the foundation of Bella and Edward's relationship is dubious.
It seems to me that his love borders on possession and hers on obsession. As reviewers before me have said, Edward watching Bella sleep at night while unbeknownst to her is downright creepy. This reflects a predatory behavior and no girl should find this romantic. Ever since the advent of the Internet, the proliferation of predators have alarmingly increased. Themes like Twilight makes it easier for predators to convince impressionable girls of shunning their family and friends all in the name of love.
Additionally, I found her self-castigation disturbing. Belittling herself, saying that she is not pretty enough for him, not good enough for him, that she is compartively plain and ordinary, blaming herself all the time and his calling her silly, weak, and criticizing her action. Moreover, Edward telling her what to do instead of asking and consulting with her while Bella complies without any demur. Does this really portray a mutually understanding union? If it were to be translated into reality, I would say that their relationship has the potential to turn abusive. The idea that girls might view domineering behavior as not only acceptable, but romantic is unnerving. Asserting dominance over someone is not a sign of love; it is a sign of abuse. If I had a friend whose boyfriend dicatates to her and follows her everywhere she goes, I would be seriously concerned about the soundness of her relationship. If I had a guy who disabled my car and tried to isolate me from my friends, warning bells would go off in my head. I know that love is blind, but it does it have to be irrational too. I wish Bella's self-recriminations ends there, but alas it continues into New Moon.
Since I dislike watching a movie without reading the book first, I decided to give New Moon a read and hoped that Bella has stopped whining and developed a marginal degree of automony in this installment. Unfortunately, Bella's character does not improve in the slightest. While in Twilight she appeared somewhat in control of her mental faculties, in New Moon she loses her marbles completely - using her college trust fund in order to repair a motorbike in the hopes that it will endanger her life is a sign of disordered thinking. It is one thing to attract danger; and another thing to throw yourself in harm's way.
However, granted, I found it to be slightly better than Twilight partly because the prose has improved and Bella had thankfully stopped gushing incessantly over Edward, although it appears that it got substituted for her lamenting about the hole in the chest.
Plus, the re-introduciton of Jacob (and fleshing him out a little bit) and his clan were the only thing that held my interest. I personally prefer Jacob over Edward because he is multifaceted, likeable, and non-controlling. As the reviewer, The Puddled Rizzler had said, "this book's saving grace is Jacob Black." Plus, the only time Bella starts to come out of her zombie-like state, is when ( you have guessed it) she is in the company of another guy. Although he is her "safe harbor," she starts leading him on because he makes her feel good.
It dismayed me how it continued to send the wrong message following the event after Edward leaves her. Getting dumped by a guy should not be the end of the world. At first I sympathized with Bella's grief and wanted to console her but then after months of moping and turning into a recluse and reiterating the hole in the chest phrase, I grew annoyed whenever she would fall apart because someone would make the slightest allusion to Edward.
Bella's morale would increase whenever she would hear Edward's voice inside her head. Even though he is absent from her life, he continues to rebuke and control her! To literally fling herself off a cliff - all because she wants to hear his "velvet" voice and then death becomes a welcoming embrace because she sees his face one last time. Nothing screams "when the going gets tough, the tough gets going" like throwing yourself off a cliff. Okay, let's face it. Breakups hurt - a lot! But we try to find ways to pull ourselves up from the trenches. Commiserate with our girlfriends, listen and sing along to empowering songs like " I will survive." We emerge from the experience a brand new person - stronger, hopefully wiser. But Bella simply gives up.
Like any other ordeal, pain builds character; makes you stronger; adds depth to your personality. What kind of message does this send? That if someone leaves you then it should be measured in catastrophic, epic proportions? That basically life is devoid of meaning? It unnerves me knowing how young girls today might follow in Bella's footsteps if their romantic relationship turns sour. Bella drawing an analogy that losing Edward is equivalent to dying just compounds the wrong message. I wanted to go inside the book and shake some sense into Bella! Tell Bella to get her act together and stop being such a weakling and that the sun, moon and the stars do not revolve around Edward and neither should she. That when a guy leaves you, you dust yourself off and continue living. Even fantasize about driving a stake through his heart if it will help (hey - catharsis works). Certainly not living in the shadows of your former life and lamenting about how you are not good enough for him, not to mention, trying to find ways to off herself so it would look like an accident.
Bella's entire universe was Edward - and once you remove that element, what remains is a disjointed mass of her former self - which remains nebulous since her character was molded by Edward. So many reviewers have asked, "Who is Bella?" and I ask myself the same thing. I do not recall a protaganist not encompassing distinct characterstics like Bella's. Bella's self-esteem and morale is tied to Edward and his approbation. And Edward is a volatile character - so Bella's self-esteem ebbs and flows depending on Edward's mood which hardly makes their relationship a very sound one.
I cannot believe that publishers are not aware of the insidious, subliminal message found in this book, especially since its readership consist mostly of teenage girls. Millions of malleable girls worldwide are inhaling the Twilight series and it worries me that they will apply the same unsound idea to their romantic lives. Are we trying to correlate love with a marked lack of self-worth? I seriously wonder why Ms. Myers would create such a weak character whose passion does not not go beyond her paramour. Is the book entertaining? Yes. Does it while away your time? Yes. But for it to become a global phenomenon is incomprehensible to me. This is a fluffy read which should also come with a cautionary warning to younger girls.
A little disappointing but I'll read the next one... 
Stephenie Meyer's "New Moon" is a little disappointing, but I will read the next one. Like some of the other reviews, I too felt there was a little too much "whining" in the main character, Bella. It is obvious that Ms. Meyer was attempting to place the reader in Bella's position, especially since the story is told from her perspective. However, the emotions were repeated a little too much in my opinion. I think the story could have been written tighter in that respect.
I also felt like I did not gain much from reading this book....it reminded me of one of the Harry Potter books where the story abruptly stops without much progress to the storyline itself.....that would be fine, except that this book is over 500 pages.
Still, I do look forward to reading the next book. Ms. Meyer may have, in my opinion, went overboard in describing Bella's emotions, but I do feel she did capture the emotions of a teenager.
J.R. Reardon
[...]
Excellent Book!
This is a good read. The end of each chapter makes you want to read on to the next chapter.
|
|
