In Which Chapter 5 Simply Continues and We go back to school
Bella and Jacob drag the bikes to the shed and Jacob starts to disassemble them. They start talking, or specifically Jacob starts to talk while Bella does her manipulative "nudging" to keep him going. Jacob happens to mention two friends, Quil Ateara and Embry Call, who show up a paragraph later. I don't know why Meyer didn't just have them show up rather than insist on this awkward "coincidence".
After introductions and more shop talk, Bella leaves to make Charlie dinner. That night = no nightmares.
Right here = where the last chapter should have ended.
The next day she and Charlie go back to visit Billy and Jacob. The kids ditch the fogies and go for a stroll at the dump (not a junkyard?) and a parts store 2 hours away to get gear for the motorcycles. As they drive we get actual teenagers having teenager conversations. Jacob is friendly and obviously has some interest in Bella. She's not turning him down, but she's also not described as being a manipulative fiend or insensitive. Bella feels relaxed and friendly and hey, you know who you were never relaxed and friendly around? Yeah... what's his name?
Back at the garage/shed, Jacob sets to work on the bikes. That evening Bella and Charlie stick around to have dinner with Billy and Jacob and another family: Harry, Sue, Seth and Leah Clearwater. Who will never show back up in this book.
After a nice ride home, Bella has a new nightmare involving Sam, the guy who found her after the breakup.
We then get a description of Bella's next day in school, which is interesting for a variety of reasons. First, we get real insight into Bella's break from her depression. She describes feeling invisible all day and understands that she's been acting invisible since the breakup. This shifts to her noticing changes amongst her friends (Jessica, Angela, and not-friend Lauren), which gives the reader some actual insight into people we've barely known exist for a book and a half now. Wow, characterization abounds. Next, there's a description of increased bear sightings around Forks, which I'm assuming either has to do with the lack of Wahmpires hunting them or people spotting Werewolves. Finally, Mike manages to drag Bella into the conversation and she mends some bridges with Angela.
SumUp: A
Woolf's eyebrows, I might just faint. Other than the strange place for a chapter break, this was straight-out pleasant reading with no-kidding characterization.
Bella + Jacob were interesting.
Bella at the dinner party was interesting
Bella's emotional responses at school were both interesting and enlightening
Bella's friends were dynamic and her observations were interesting
Ye gods, it's a miracle of storytelling and nothing magical or ludicrous or nonsensical happened! And you know why? Because Edward wasn't around to screw with Bella's mind. Now none of this is Pulitzer material or fantastic prose, but it performs necessary and desirable characterization and plot progression in an enjoyable manner, and that has been all but absent throughout the first book.
Edward is the dark cloud to the silver lining that is this chapter, of course. This is the Twilight series. It's a love story about Bella and Edward, not Bella and Mike or Bella and Jacob (the not-a-werewolf). The Edward who turns Bella from normal teenager into a suicidal drug addict. I know how Bella feels because when Edward's around I'm miserable, too. Now that he's gone, I feel like a veil's been lifted on my life. It's not going to last, though. Her self-destructive path is clear and I can't escape the undertow.
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