Reading Twilight 3 - Phenomenon

I had enough trouble not falling down when the ground was dry; it might be safer for me to go back to bed now. Bella's fairly good at reminding us every once in awhile just what her major Human flaw is.

Ok, maybe this is a little more reality than you are aware of... But if the weather conditions in Forks, WA were really as bad as Bella describes at the beginning of this chapter, school would have been cancelled for the day. This isn't the Midwest where we're USED to plowing our way through snow; it's too hilly and ICEY here. We wouldn't be sending our kids to school in stuff like that here - even with chains on their tires. ALSO... Bella would have HEARD the chains on her tires before she got to school, even over the loud engine of her truck; PLUS it FEELS DIFFERENT to drive it with them on!

This whole "chains" thing seems to be a setup for letting us see how emotional Bella can get over Charlie doing something Fatherly for her. I guess... It seems forced like so many little things in here do.

Oh, ha! This is the setup for the big accident where Edward saves her - let me finish reading! This is one of our favorite scenes in the movie, isn't it?

Ok, all I'm going to say is that the scene isn't nearly as heart stopping as the movie's was. WHY does this book seem so dry to me? It's GOT to pick up... I would have expected the details of the emotions that seemed to pass between them in the movie during this rescue was something that would have been described in the book. Doesn't look like it... So, EXTRA kudos to Robert & Kristen (and maybe the screenwriter & director?) for making that scene more than it was in the book, ha!

Now I'm irritated with their conversation afterwards at the hospital so I'm going to stop for now. It is crossing my mind, that the part of Stephenie's dream doesn't really begin until Chapter 13, right? Now I'm expecting THAT to be the point where things start to get interesting. If that's the case, I'm wondering how the hell you all got through the first 12 chapters to make it to the good parts, ha!

Continuing...

This whole hospital scene... It seems to me that Bella is very forward and even demanding at times. (I know she's just been in an accident, but its out of place - maybe its another non-smooth transition thing). Again I'm NOT getting the impression that she is a shy girl. Her thoughts (and in this scene in particular), her words & actions are not "shy" (she unfastens the neck brace they put on her and throws it under the bed when no one is looking - a SHY person probably wouldn't dare do that). Just because she's telling her story in 1st person and not saying these things out loud, does NOT make her shy.

People can be very shy or extroverted inside and you'd never know it - MANY people act the opposite of what they are really like inside. It's "what's in the heart that counts" when you're writing - and Bella's heart seems full of briars. I KNOW she's not supposed to be like this, and I know I'm on the leaning side of being judgmental about this book.

But Bella's thoughts should reflect who she is inside as you're reading this. She's NOT this shallow. I think there are two things wrong with Bella at this point 1) Stephenie is trying to convince us that her main heroine is shy when she isn't; 2) She still hasn't found Bella's voice/personality, yet - or maybe Stephenie, herself, refused to believe that Bella is NOT SHY when maybe she's supposed to be something else. Can't we have a non-shy and STILL soft, heroine? Isn't that one of the neat things about us women - we can be BOTH?

"Edward Cullen - he was standing next to me." I'd always been a terrible liar; I didn't sound convincing at all. Again, BELLA shouldn't be TELLING us that she's a bad liar - that should be evident in the exchange of her conversation with Tyler; perhaps in his expression she might be able to see that he doesn't believe her - and THEN she can comment on what a terrible liar she has always been...

And I don't know... But it really seems to me that Bella's anger at Edward about him not telling her how he could save her from the truck accident is a little over the top. I get the anger, but shouldn't it be a little more tempered with curiosity or something?

We  scowled at each other in silence. I was the first to speak, trying to keep myself focused. I was in danger of being distracted by his livid, glorious face. It was like trying to stare down a destroying angel.
This is another thing that I thought would be more described and elaborated on in the book - Bella's reactions to Edward. In the movie, you get the impression first during the biology class scene that Edward's presence might be "dazzling" Bella, somehow. But when I read that scene in the book, there is no mention on any special effect that Edward has on Bella's feelings. And again with this slice... In the movie during this scene, you do not get any impression that Bella is mesmerized by Edward in any special way - but now all of a sudden, it is JUST NOW beginning to be mentioned and THIS is all she says about it. Bella doesn't go into her internal responses at all - and yet, we're supposed to believe that he's having this kind of intense effect on her?

By the end of this chapter, you definitely get the impression that Bella's thoughts are supposed to be completely consumed by Edward Cullen and she is utterly obsessed about him. But, there is NO FOUNDATION to this that I've read, yet. She's nothing but irritated with him, suspicious of him, and yeah curious about him... But she hasn't even suggested that she's minutely attracted to him other than the fact that he is unusually beautiful just like the rest of his siblings.

I'm pretty sure that Stephenie Meyer has said that the basic transcript of her actual dream is Chapter 13. And I've seen somewhere where she has said that she started writing the story from THAT point and then brought the whole thing back around. If that is true... She is leaving alot of things that she has in her head and not bringing them into the forefront of these beginning chapters. They are already deeply in love to Stephenie - but I'm not getting any little sliver about Bella being interested in Edward beyond him being pretty and he irritates her in ways (so far) that don't even seem sort of romantic.