At the time of my last post I had just reached the point where the head-scratchingly-named Bella Swan was about to leave home for her first day at Forks High School. Little did I know that her school experiences were about to demonstrate her propensity for ... er, how should I put this delicately?... oh yes: bitchiness. I suppose I shouldn't be terribly surprised. Being a proud Seattle native, I was already disinclined to like her after reading of her reaction to the rain-soaked topography of Forks: "too green - an alien planet." I liked her even less upon reading of her smirking reaction to two young gentlemen named Eric and Mike who were both helpful and pleasant in helping her get oriented in her new school surroundings. Eric's assistance in showing Bella to her second class of the day earned him a dismissive "overly helpful, chess club type" description from our heroine, while Mike's similar services got him tacitly regarded as "taking on the qualities of a golden retriever."
Meanwhile, Bella has formed an overwhelming obsession with one Edward Cullen, whom she describes as "devastatingly, inhumanly beautiful" and possessing a mug that seems to be "painted by an old master as the face of an angel." And how does this angelic person welcome Bella? "He stared at me...meeting my eyes with the strangest expression on his face - it was hostile, furious ... He was leaning away from me, sitting on the extreme edge of his chair and averting his face like he smelled something bad ... He was glaring at me again, his black eyes full of revulsion..." and so forth. Naturally, Bella seems to be head-over-heels in love with this young gentleman, who if I'm not mistaken is also a vampire.
Is it just me, or is Bella clearly destined for one abusive relationship after another? Granted, Edward is surprisingly pleasant the next time he meets our heroine, and proves to be a shockingly intelligent lab partner in science class. There's also the small matter of him using some sort of otherworldly power to save Bella from being crushed to death by a van spinning on an icy road. Still, even if Edward weren't a vampire, he doesn't seem like he would make a particularly upstanding human at this point in the story. I realize it's still early in the book, and by my calculation I have only read 13.4% of it, but Bella just seems like the kind of person who grows up to be a battered wife who constantly says "It's my fault!" rather like Connie Corleone in The Godfather. I'd feel more sympathy for her if she weren't so patronizingly dismissive of classmates like Eric and Mike, who have shown nothing but thoughtfulness towards her. I just can't say I like Bella Swan at this point.
But still, things are early, and it's just a work of fiction, no? I'll do my best to keep an open mind as I plow ahead in my journey into the world of Paranormal Teen Romance fiction.
And no, I did not purchase a copy of Alice in Zombieland at the same time I bought Twilight, so let's go ahead and put that rumor to rest.
No comments:
Post a Comment