Eclipse

#286
Title: Eclipse
Author: Stephenie Meyer
Publisher: Little, Brown
Year: 2007
637 pages

A review of my notes while reading:

Why does dimwitted Bella not think to ask if there are other sorts of undead wandering around the Pacific Northwest?* Why does she not wonder whether she and Edward will still be attracted to each other once they don't smell as nice?** Why doesn't her period send him into a frenzy?* Does it matter that she's so clumsy?* Has she thought about how she's going to manage the blood-drinking aspect of being a vampire when much to-do is made of her nausea at the smell of blood?* Why am I still reading this series?* Why, doctor, why?

*Unaddressed.
**Addressed in one or two sentences

More rapine than vulpine, despite the many werewolves. It's apparently okay, though, because it's not sexual assault if she turns out to have wanted it unconsciously, even if her attempt to signify "no" breaks her knuckle. In a sad conjunction that is common in the real world, Bella continues to met criteria for Borderline Personality Disorder and the men around her fall to the challenge, acting increasingly aggressively and coarsely as they disregard her desires. This applies to her father, the police chief, as well as to Jacob. Even saintly Edward, the bloodsucker with a conscience, denies her the sexual experience she craves. It could be argued that the vision of sexuality in these books is terrifically reductive. Sex equals intercourse, and, along the lines of Larry Niven's essay "Man of Steel, Woman of Kleenex," this act brings with it the distinct possibility of, as Niven says, "gutting her like a trout." It's a shame these characters, so clever in other ways, have not figured out that there might be something else they could do. Despite their many deceptions and rules broken, however, they are moralistic about sexuality.

This third volume in the series drags considerably and wants about 200 pages edited out. Meyer manipulates the reader's emotions in a way that feels calculated, not naturalistic. Like Bella, I feel controlled. Unlike Bella, this does not make me like the controller.