Chapter 8 has three main sections
- There's a conversation between Jacob and Bella on the beach at La Push (where else?)
- A conversation between Jacob and Bella at Billy's about Bella's plans
- Time with Edward and Bella back and the Vampire Manor.
T.03.08.01 Perversion
Bella and Jacob are where Bella and Jacob always are, on the beach at La Push. Must be the hip thing to do in La Push.
Quill has converted to werewolf. So that's nice. Ends that little bit of drama.
Quill has also imprinted, which is crap.
His soul-mate imprintee is two years old.
Go ahead. I'll give you a moment. It took me a few.
Two. Two Years Old.
No, I'm not kidding in the least. Eclipse. Chapter 8. Page 175 of the hardcover edition. Most of the bottom of the page.
Go on. Go check.
Two.
"It happens", Jacob helpfully notes.
"Sounds really creepy", Bella understates by a million.
"There's nothing romantic about it", Jacob argues.
Really? Because that's not the song you were singing two chapters ago when this horrible abomination was first introduced. It was "love at first sight, only more absolute" and a "soul-mate" thing. Now it's all big brother and friend and buddy system when a toddler is suddenly involved.
"Doesn't Claire get a choice?", Bella asks. Finally pointing out one tiny facet of the nightmare we're now immersed in.
"Why wouldn't she choose (Quil)?"
Why? WHY? Because she's TWO. Maybe because she the parts of her brain that involve romantic love won't develop by one neuron for another DECADE! Maybe because you've introduced two characters and destroyed their emotional free-will!
Why, Stephenie Meyer? WHY? Why are you doing this? What possible reason could you have for defecating this concept into your story? This is the ugliest, creepiest, most offensive idea I have ever encountered in a mainstream "romance" novel. I'm struggling to find anything in my reading that comes close, and I have to stretch out into some weird manga or slash-horror movies to even approach this idea. I was convinced back in chapter 5 that this was ugly, did you really need to bring it back up and make it WORSE?
This is, by far, worse than the sleep-watching Edward.
This is, by far, worse than Charlie's crush on Alice
This is, by far, worse than the anti-climax of the first book.
This is, by far, worse than the idiotic "for-your-own-good" break up in the second book.
This is, by far, worse than the anti-climax of the second book.
This is, by far, worse than the endless comedy of errors of the funeral/fake suicide in the last book
This is, by far, worse than Edward's emotional abuse of Bella at the end of the last book
This is, by far, worse than all the plot cheating Meyer has been doing with telepathy and precognition.
SumUp: F------
I cannot grade this low enough to truly express my horror. There aren't even words. There is no defense of this, no possible way to claim this isn't awful in the extreme. It's sickening.
T.03.08.02 Break Up
That out of the way, we move on to Bella and Jacob essentially breaking up.
Back at Billy's house, Bella and Jacob discuss her plans to become a Vampire. Jacob wants to talk her out of it, but when Bella tells him that graduation is essentially the deadline, he freaks out. Bella insists they can still be friends but Jacob is having none of it. He thought he had more time to convince her to stay alive and stay with him, now he's down to weeks. He angrily points out that the treaty isn't limited to Washington State, so if Bella goes to Vamp U, the Werewolves might go to war. In anger, Bella hops on her motorcycle and leaves.
SumUp: B
Once again, Bella and Jacob work. I don't mean "ooh, I'm team Jacob, he lubs her". I mean Meyer can actually write scenes with these two characters in which you might actually forget you're reading a book and might, to one degree or another, believe that these two are real people having a real conversation. It's amazing how rarely this happens with Bella and Edward.
T.03.08.03 Treaty
Bella returns to Vampire Manor and talks to Alice and agrees to stay. She crashes on Edward's couch, but wakes up on his bed with Edward alongside. They get a little freaky and it's rather believable. Edward backs down, of course, and they start to discuss the Switzerland situation. Edward is retreating from his anti-Jacob position, but Bella tells him about the fight. So that might sort-of be resolved. Edward tells her a little of his backstory, something that ties back to Rosalie's midnight storytime that involves other, female vampires. Bella gets a little jealous, despite Edward's protests.
SumUp: B+
I'm almost going to back down from my position (stated above) that Edward and Bella rarely have good conversation because here they have a very good conversation. The sexual tension, even with the stupid safety net, builds and bubbles. Edward shows some real emotion, Bella gets jealous. It's believable and effective and even amusing.
SumUp SumUp: F+
I will not touch on the horrors of this chapter. I won't. It's done. I will say that without them, this would have been a chapter of interesting conversations, full of emotional moments and engaging discussion. It's not perfect, Jacob is getting a tad annoying and Edward's perfect boyfriend facade might turn out to be real. Still, when I reread the chapter (skipping a certain section), it was solid stuff. Sadly, the average is still below a D.
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