In Which We See The Cliff Coming
"I felt so much, much healthier when I was with Jacob"
Healthier. Not just better, healthier. I think Meyer is suggesting that Bella + Jacob is better than Bella alone in her depressed funk. As far as I can tell, however, she's vastly better with Jacob than she ever was with Edward. This whole section reads normal, or as close to Normaltown as we can get in this series.
Now I know the Jacob = werewolf thing is lurking somewhere in the distance. I know that Edward is going to come back and at the end of this book we'll be right back in the rank quagmire of their moronic relationship. I know that it's all going to annoy me, so I just want to point out that right now, in this section of the book, I can believe in a relationship between Bella and Jacob-the-human. Bella suddenly grew a soul in the last few chapters. Jacob is slightly unrealistic and flat still, but he at least has some character and presence and it's early. They've established some common interests. They've spent time together and enjoyed it without forced instant microwave love. Instead, there's a budding friendship/romance building between two teenagers and it kills me that Werewolves and Wahmpires are going to get dumped all over it like motor oil on ice cream.
If I keep reading it's all going to go wrong. Sigh.
Bella takes a trip back to Vampire Manor. She wants it to spark some kind of Edward-fugue like her flashback to rapistville, or she wants some sign that this real connection to Edward is disappearing. It honestly succeeds in the text, she monologues like a druggie in recovery driving past some old crack dens to sharpen memories or ignite fear. It also emphasizes just how right Edward was about one thing (the real one, not the crazy one in her head): he's bad for her. He might not mean it psychologically, but there's no clearer indicator than Bella's obvious struggle to recover. This isn't post-love blues, lady, this is withdrawal.
Her need to touch base with her horrible, traumatic past satisfied, Bella hightails it to see Jacob. There's some banter and he shows her the vastly improved motorcycle in the shed. Bella is impressed, and they discuss future, non-mechanical plans. It certainly appears Bella is over her manipulative streak, and she starts to talk about her and Jacob as a couple rather than a team of mechanics.
At school, Bella finds herself dodging the amorous moves of Mike, who welcomes her back to the land of the living with a movie date. She postpones and heads home to do homework with Jacob. And to make dinner for an enthusiastic Charlie: +1 domestic (ugh), then back to the garage, repeat.
Then, the bikes are done so Bella and Jacob head out into the woods to start riding lessons. On the way, Bella freaks out over some cliff divers (the hell?) and gets a lesson in bored kids in the Northwest or something. Bella wants to do it as an adrenaline rush, Jacob resists for a few seconds before agreeing.
Jacob describes the "gang" of tribesmen that Bella was watching cliff-dive, including her rescuer Sam and a few of his "disciples". It's clearly important to the plot, especially the part about Jacob being "special" and this strange cult following Sam has. Jacob doesn't like Sam or how distant/isolated his followers seem. I'm smelling werewolves, thankfully we get on to motorcycle instruction.
Jacob starts to put more moves on Bella, she puts up the friend bubble. I'm sensing a pattern here.
SumUp B-
So in the cliff-diving scene Meyer is setting up the werewolf conversion thing as part of tribal puberty. If true, it might (MIGHT) get her some slack in regards to Jacob spilling the plot beans in the last book. IF Jacob is a werewolf who doesn't know he's a werewolf, his "scary stories" in the last chapter boil down to really lazy exposition on Meyer's part rather than a horrible train wreck of character motives. We're still in readable territory and I'm feeling generous, so we'll see how this pans out. I don't understand why the Werewolves are suddenly being sighted by hikers, maybe it goes somewhere.
In fact, almost everything post-depression reads like an entirely different book. Actually, not an entirely different book. Drop the first few chapters (even my favorite second chapter) and apply the depressed funk to Bella's move and you essentially have the exact same story as the first book up to this point. Sad Bella goes to school, meets a hunky guy (Jacob, this time) and starts a romance to avoid the depressing boredom of Forks. Sadly, this one is often written well and doesn't need the idiotic love-hammer, there's no statuary or (thus far) emoting eyes.
OK, now I really am worried.
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