Breaking Dawn by Stephenie MeyerMy review
rating: 3 of 5 starsTo say I have mixed feelings about Breaking Dawn is an understatement. In fact, I don’t know that I have fully come to terms with the story and whether or not I like it.
I guess those two sentences, in and of themselves, say a lot about the book. That it has caused me such intense thought, debate and internal struggle since I finished reading it a few days ago, must mean something.
Right?
First, the good…
1) Being a fan of Jacob, I was delighted that a good third of the book is written from his perspective. He’s funny and his outlook is refreshing (if still a bit juvenile, but he is, after all, only a teenager). It seems as if writing from this new point of view must have inspired Stephenie Meyer. Her enjoyment in doing so is evident. The chapter titles in his section are quite amusing, if a bit over-the-top in their effort to be so. The details about pack life and his breaking off to form his own pack were all very interesting. Also, reading about Bella’s pregnancy through his eyes was a huge relief – who could have stomached Bella’s whining and martyrdom through that whole ordeal? And I cried - real, actual tears - when Jacob showed up at the wedding reception.
2) I like the characters of both Seth and Leah, who are introduced for the first time in any real sense.
3) Bella grows up. She stops whining so much, stops thinking she is so unworthy of Edward. She comes in to her own after becoming a vampire and it is fun to read of her joyous discoveries in her new life. Becoming The Best Vampire Ever? OK, that’s a bit of hyperbolic nonsense, but it is still a fun section of the book. Plus, she’s finally allowed to be funny and in this book we’re not just laughing at her.
4) Meyer knows how to write about sexual attraction without the scenes becoming either absurd or overly graphic. Since these books are actually aimed at an audience significantly younger than I, I appreciate this. Aside from too many hands cupping chins and fingers trailing from cheekbones down along necks, etc. (oh and I also wonder – do any of these people French kiss? Cuz it seems like any time a tongue makes even the slightest appearance, things have gone too far!) – repetition of details aside, I think Meyer does a good job at making these scenes sizzle. As I’ve mentioned before, sexy scenes are hard to write well and so I applaud her for hers.
5) Edward. I like Edward more and more as this book progresses (which is saying a lot, since I only started liking him at all in book 3). Sure, he makes me mad when he won’t have sex with Bella after that first time, but that doesn’t last long and it stems from his love for her – a love which actually, finally starts to reveal itself as something real, rather than just some strange obsession based only on the woman’s smell.
A lot has been said about Edward’s behavior during Bella’s pregnancy, but even his most desperate of actions during this time seem to make him more…dare I say it? human than he has ever been. The pure torture he goes through, watching his new bride dying, and the desperate ideas he has to save her, seem plausible in a warped way. As this is a warped situation, it makes sense to me – desperate people reach for desperate things. And it all makes me care about Edward.
Now the bad…
1) The plot. It sucks. Here I was, all geared up for some Big Vampire Showdown. International Fighting Championship with The Cullens vs. The Volturi. What do I get? Fizzle… A big wad of nuttin’. Zippo. Nada.
What a let down.
Meyer introduces us to a whole slew of vampires leading up to this non-showdown, all of whom seem quite interesting…if she would have taken the time to fully develop their characters or do anything with them at all.
I can only hope that this book is not, in fact, The End (as it says on the final page). The author certainly left a lot of open doors for future books - perhaps starring Renesmee and Jacob and dealing with the Volturi? Or some of the other covens introduced in the last section of this book?
There were many letdowns with the plot of this book (more on those, later in my review). I felt as if Stephenie Meyer had painted herself into a hole over the last two books (wherein her characters just kind of ran away, taking the story with them) and was just pulling a plot of out her patootie so she could come to some sort of conclusion with her characters.
2) Renesmee – what a lame name. It’s so lame, though, that it is extremely funny and so I could have listed it on the good list for that reason. Calling her “Nessie”? Likewise lame, except that Bella gets upset at the use of the nickname, which sets up some amusing scenes.
3) The honeymoon. The first time I have to beg my husband to have sex with me on our honeymoon is the first time I will be filing for divorce.
Edward didn’t even hurt her that much – at least not enough to keep them from having sex again. What’s a few bruises between friends?
4) For all intents and purposes, Jacob is left almost entirely out of the last third of the book. He’s around of course, but not in the same sense as he has been since book two of the series. I understand why and all, but Jacob was such a huge part of the story that it seems weird to me that he becomes essentially a background character at the end.
5) Alice is hardly in Breaking Dawn at all. Oh, Meyer comes up with some silly excuse about her having headaches, but it’s as if she only just realized that - Oops! Alice had been a major character and now I haven’t even mentioned her in like 300 pages. Perhaps I should make up some reason for her to be gone!
At least Alice gets to save the day in the end, but still…I missed her.
And then there is just the ugly…
That whole pregnancy. UGH! As if the thought of having children didn’t sound horribly unattractive to me before, I have now been completely scared off of the notion. Broken ribs? Babies born with teeth? Yikes…
A lot of would-be scenarios ran through my mind as I read of Bella’s pregnancy through Jacob’s eyes and, with him, realized this was not going to be any normal birth. Most of these scenarios were incredibly gross and while they may have made for a better story, I am actually glad they did not come to fruition.
One thing I did not envision? Jacob imprinting on Bella’s baby!
(Pardon me while I cuss here, but it just has to be done.)
What? The fuck?
Remember what I said about pulling plotlines from your patootie so that you can close some holes?
Eyah…having Jacob imprint on Renesmee would be a perfect example of that patootie-pulling.
OK, I understand that Jacob is a cherished character. Nobody wants to see him die and nobody wants to see him live in misery, still in love with vampire-Bella, whom he can never have.
But this? Seriously…
First of all, you can rationalize all you want that this is not a sexual thing, but I still think it’s weird that this dude just fell in love with a newborn baby. And this is my beloved Jacob! Do not make me think unhappy thoughts about Jacob!
Presumed pedophilia aside, though…I just…I can not…this is just…wrong!
What happened to Jacob’s overwhelming love for Bella???? What happened to her actually loving him? Not like a brother – you don’t kiss your brother the way she kissed him in the woods at the end of Eclipse! They loved each other. Sure, Bella was meant to be with Edward – but that does not mean she did not love Jacob. This is the guy she literally snuck away from Edward to go visit! More than once! To totally blow off everything which happened before and say it was all just a familial love that got misplaced somehow…that’s just bugshit. Worse, it’s a cop-out for the writer.
I honestly thought Jacob would be killed in the climactic fight with the Volturi (of course, since there was no climactic fight, that obviously could not happen). Barring death, I thought as the book went on that he may end up with Leah. That way, he would at least find semi-happiness with somebody who understood him; but I thought he would always truly love Bella…or at least, his memories of pre-vampire Bella. The fact that she is now a member of a race which are his sworn enemies could have led to some seriously great story-telling…but then, Meyer cops out on this matter, too, since the wolves and the vampires forget all about that “natural enemy” business, in the end.
And so what happens in a few years when Renesmee is miraculously 18 years old and marries Jacob who has not aged so he is still essentially a teenager as well (funny how these things work out, isn’t it?)? Nessie has a little heart-to-heart about her sex life with her mom and Bella’s like “Yeah, I can imagine he’s good in bed…I made out with him once…”
Weird!
I just think this love between Jacob and Bella had been built up to be one thing and then it’s like the author just changed her mind. She didn’t like where that story was leading, so she threw a little hitch in to our collective git-along. That really bothered me. More than the non-climax; more than the stupid “how many chromosomes do you have?” conversations; more than the “I am the most bestest vampire the world has ever known” hyperbole; more than the lost opportunities to develop interesting characters; more than the unexplained inconsistencies which run through the plotlines of each of these books; more than the convenient “fix all” devices that Meyer employs in order to give her characters a happy ending; more than the repeated biting of lips and cupping of chins.
I feel ripped off.
And a tad nauseated.
In all, I like books two (New Moon) and three (Eclipse) the best in the series. While this book may be better, technically, the story in books two and three is far more engrossing.
I guess, in the end, what the book is saying is that love conquers all.
Yeah, whatever. I still feel ripped off.
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