Tuesday, March 10, 2009

I slog on with the vampires, realizing I am experiencing a Cultural Phenomenon in the Making

Eclipse (#3 of the Twilight series) ***1/2
By Stephenie Meyer

** SPOILERS** Some character development at last!

Vampire Boy becomes far less two-dimensional in Book 3. He's thoughtful. He struggles to be less bossy and controlling. He is a worry wart. He makes Human Girl wear a motorcycle helmet. He helps with the dishes.

Human Girl remains, if anything, even less developed, the book's most serious weakness. Gone is the dim and slightly endearing klutziness (convenient and deft way to explain away the constant injuries incurred by hanging out with the Undead). Instead she's either clueless to the dangers of strange vampires or stands around helplessly in oh-dear-whatever-shall-we-do mode when dangers turn up.

Literary references to "Romeo and Juliet" in Book 2 give way to brief discussion of themes from "Wuthering Heights" here, which help explain the nature of the love triangle between Human Girl, Vampire Boy and Wolfman.

Full disclosure: I thought "Wuthering Heights" was about the dopiest book I'd ever read as a teenager, and the intervening decades have not rendered its jacked-up emotional turmoil more palatable. On the contrary, my urge to bitch-slap Cathy and put her on mood stabilizers has increased with my advanced age.

However, the overwrought romantic sensibilities of "Wuthering Heights" actually do make sense when applied to the kind of intensities involved in a Human-Vampire-Werewolf troika. And Meyer, wisely, doesn't strain the comparisons.

Anyhoo, Vampire Boy continues to be the hottest thing going, never any real doubt who Human Girl is going to end up with. Sex becomes an overt issue in this book, with Vampire Boy refusing to consummate their love until he has married Human Girl in order not to endanger her soul or his. Assuming he HAS a soul to endanger.

Meyer is weakest when she tries to probe theological territory of ensoulment, but she's firmer on general morality. The pitfalls of having sex with a vampire invites readers to look at sex as loving and non-exploitative in a way that's both refreshing and unpreachy.

Vampire Boy's down-on-his-knees proposal with his mother's engagement ring is too much, but I try to remember that this is a book for Young People who may still harbor these kinds of fantasies.

So much for the romance.

Lots of backstory and lore in this installment. Legend of how the Quileute Indian warriors became werewolves and why they hate vampires, more info on newborn vampires, (watch the crime reports in your daily newspaper, shiver shudder), how vampires die, and why Vampire Sister Rosalie dislikes Human Girl.

As usual, last third of the book has the most action, including exciting visit from the creepy little emissary from the head vampires in Italy, show-down with the vendetta-seeking Vampire Victoria, and, of course, high school graduation!

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