Reading Twilight So You Don't Have To: Chapter Twenty
Chapter Nineteen
Chapter Twenty: Impatience
The chapter starts with her waking up in a generic hotel room, then goes on to tell in flashback format the trip there. It's a rather awkward construction for no real reason. It's not like waking up in a hotel room is a strong open or anything. They made the trip in one day (vampire reflexes not only allow for super-fast driving but, apparently, avoiding speeding tickets) and arrived in the Valley of the Sun (she uses that phrase but doesn't do anything with the irony of being in the Valley of the Sun with creatures who need to, you know, stay out of the sun). Again, her description of Phoenix is compelling.
Phoenix--the palm trees, the scrubby creosote, the haphazard lines of the intersecting freeways, the green swaths of golf courses and turquoise splotces of swimming pools, all submerged in a thin smog and embraced by the short, rocky ridges that weren't really big enough to be called mountains.
My main problem with this description, however, is that I don't think it's what Bella could possibly actually be seeing. They drove in by car and came over a mountain pass into town. I've driven into Phoenix from almost every direction imaginable, and I've never been able to see so much all at once. Piecing together stuff like "the sun was behind us" and "stay on I-10" (only spelled out "I-ten," which just looks WEIRD), they must be coming in from LA. And that approach is flat flat FLAT. It's not like you're on a huge mountain looking down into the city. What she describes sounds more like flying into Sky Harbor airport. Nice description, but it's Stephanie Meyer's view of Phoenix, not Bella's.
But the next bit is kinda cool.
The shadows of the palm trees slanted across the freeway--defined, sharper than I remembered, paler than they should be. Nothing could hide in these shadows. The bright, open freeway seemed benign enough. But I felt no sense of relief, no sense of homecoming.
I really like the contrast here between all the things she loved about Arizona (the openness, the brightness) and how those very things are dangerous to her now. See, Stephanie Meyer? Stop writing about Bella and Edward and you do just fine.
We finally get back to the present--Bella waking up in the Phoenix hotel near the airport--and she finds she's in a suite. Jasper and Alice are in the living room portion. There's a bit of interchange about what's going on, Bella expresses fear for the others, but Jasper and Alice are quick to reassure her that they will all be fine, that their only concern is her. It's actually a little touching.
They spend a long day cooped up in the room, waiting for word from Carlisle. Again, the description is interesting.
My babysitters handled the suspense better than I did. As I fidgeted and paced, they simply grew more still, two statues whose eyes followed me imperceptibly as I moved. I occupied myself with memorizing the room; the striped pattern of the couches, tan, peach, cream, dull gold, and tan again. Sometimes I stared at the abstract prints, randomly finding pictures in the shapes, like I'd found pictures in the clouds as a child. I traced a blue hand, a woman combing her hair, a cat streatching. But when the pale red circle became a staring eye, I looked away.
They really should have brought a laptop and gotten a room with wi-fi.
Bella and Alice discuss possible reasons Carlisle or Esme haven't called, most of them centering around not wanting to be overheard. What, they haven't heard of text messaging?
Then Bella asks how one becomes a vampire. Alice hedges because Edward doesn't want her to tell, but Bella insists. OMG, Bella is going against Edward's wishes????? Well, he's not actually there at the time, so I guess it doesn't count.
But, anyway, the way Meyer-verse vampires get sired is through a venom in the vampire's bite. If the victim lives long enough, the venom spreads through the body, turning the human into a vampire. But often the victims don't survive that long, as Alice explains:
"We're also like sharks in a way. Once we taste the blood, or even smell it for that matter, it becomes very hard to keep from feeding. Sometimes impossible. So you see, to actually bite someone, to taste the blood, it would begin the frenzy. It's difficult on both sides--the bloodlust on the one hand, the awful pain on the other."
Alice, however, doesn't remember her own transformation. She doesn't remember being human at all.
Then, she suddenly has a vision of Tracker James in a room with many mirrors and a wood floor. He's waiting. The sudden vision is of the future, but the fact that THIS future is now possible means in real time, Tracker James has just made a fateful decision that LEADS to this. Right after she describes the vision, her phone rings, and it's Carlisle telling them they lost Tracker James near Vancouver. He got on a plane--back to Forks, they think--but that's all they know. His girlfriend is in Forks trying to pick up the scent, and Esme is keeping watch over Charlie. The phone call includes an insipid exchange between Bella and Edward (I love you more, no I love you more...), then Alice plays sketch artist and draws out the room she saw in her vision. Bella recognizes it immediately as a ballet studio, one eerily similar to one she knew. Bella the clutzy Swan apparently took ballet as a child. And was terrible at it, of course. Said studio is just around the corner from her mother's house... and now they are suddenly worried about Bella's mom, who will be coming home from Florida soon, so she calls from Alice's cell and leaves a message for her to call, not do anything until she talks to Bella.
And that's pretty much it. The waiting ensues, and Bella falls asleep.
Once again, not a bad chapter in all. A little dull, but dull for the right reasons: Bella is bored and waiting. And the ballet studio makes for some nice suspense. We'll see how it holds up.
Chapter Twenty-One
Quick Links:
Why I'm doing this | Preface & 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 16.2 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | Epilogue |
Discussion Questions
Chapter Twenty: Impatience
The chapter starts with her waking up in a generic hotel room, then goes on to tell in flashback format the trip there. It's a rather awkward construction for no real reason. It's not like waking up in a hotel room is a strong open or anything. They made the trip in one day (vampire reflexes not only allow for super-fast driving but, apparently, avoiding speeding tickets) and arrived in the Valley of the Sun (she uses that phrase but doesn't do anything with the irony of being in the Valley of the Sun with creatures who need to, you know, stay out of the sun). Again, her description of Phoenix is compelling.
Phoenix--the palm trees, the scrubby creosote, the haphazard lines of the intersecting freeways, the green swaths of golf courses and turquoise splotces of swimming pools, all submerged in a thin smog and embraced by the short, rocky ridges that weren't really big enough to be called mountains.
My main problem with this description, however, is that I don't think it's what Bella could possibly actually be seeing. They drove in by car and came over a mountain pass into town. I've driven into Phoenix from almost every direction imaginable, and I've never been able to see so much all at once. Piecing together stuff like "the sun was behind us" and "stay on I-10" (only spelled out "I-ten," which just looks WEIRD), they must be coming in from LA. And that approach is flat flat FLAT. It's not like you're on a huge mountain looking down into the city. What she describes sounds more like flying into Sky Harbor airport. Nice description, but it's Stephanie Meyer's view of Phoenix, not Bella's.
But the next bit is kinda cool.
The shadows of the palm trees slanted across the freeway--defined, sharper than I remembered, paler than they should be. Nothing could hide in these shadows. The bright, open freeway seemed benign enough. But I felt no sense of relief, no sense of homecoming.
I really like the contrast here between all the things she loved about Arizona (the openness, the brightness) and how those very things are dangerous to her now. See, Stephanie Meyer? Stop writing about Bella and Edward and you do just fine.
We finally get back to the present--Bella waking up in the Phoenix hotel near the airport--and she finds she's in a suite. Jasper and Alice are in the living room portion. There's a bit of interchange about what's going on, Bella expresses fear for the others, but Jasper and Alice are quick to reassure her that they will all be fine, that their only concern is her. It's actually a little touching.
They spend a long day cooped up in the room, waiting for word from Carlisle. Again, the description is interesting.
My babysitters handled the suspense better than I did. As I fidgeted and paced, they simply grew more still, two statues whose eyes followed me imperceptibly as I moved. I occupied myself with memorizing the room; the striped pattern of the couches, tan, peach, cream, dull gold, and tan again. Sometimes I stared at the abstract prints, randomly finding pictures in the shapes, like I'd found pictures in the clouds as a child. I traced a blue hand, a woman combing her hair, a cat streatching. But when the pale red circle became a staring eye, I looked away.
They really should have brought a laptop and gotten a room with wi-fi.
Bella and Alice discuss possible reasons Carlisle or Esme haven't called, most of them centering around not wanting to be overheard. What, they haven't heard of text messaging?
Then Bella asks how one becomes a vampire. Alice hedges because Edward doesn't want her to tell, but Bella insists. OMG, Bella is going against Edward's wishes????? Well, he's not actually there at the time, so I guess it doesn't count.
But, anyway, the way Meyer-verse vampires get sired is through a venom in the vampire's bite. If the victim lives long enough, the venom spreads through the body, turning the human into a vampire. But often the victims don't survive that long, as Alice explains:
"We're also like sharks in a way. Once we taste the blood, or even smell it for that matter, it becomes very hard to keep from feeding. Sometimes impossible. So you see, to actually bite someone, to taste the blood, it would begin the frenzy. It's difficult on both sides--the bloodlust on the one hand, the awful pain on the other."
Alice, however, doesn't remember her own transformation. She doesn't remember being human at all.
Then, she suddenly has a vision of Tracker James in a room with many mirrors and a wood floor. He's waiting. The sudden vision is of the future, but the fact that THIS future is now possible means in real time, Tracker James has just made a fateful decision that LEADS to this. Right after she describes the vision, her phone rings, and it's Carlisle telling them they lost Tracker James near Vancouver. He got on a plane--back to Forks, they think--but that's all they know. His girlfriend is in Forks trying to pick up the scent, and Esme is keeping watch over Charlie. The phone call includes an insipid exchange between Bella and Edward (I love you more, no I love you more...), then Alice plays sketch artist and draws out the room she saw in her vision. Bella recognizes it immediately as a ballet studio, one eerily similar to one she knew. Bella the clutzy Swan apparently took ballet as a child. And was terrible at it, of course. Said studio is just around the corner from her mother's house... and now they are suddenly worried about Bella's mom, who will be coming home from Florida soon, so she calls from Alice's cell and leaves a message for her to call, not do anything until she talks to Bella.
And that's pretty much it. The waiting ensues, and Bella falls asleep.
Once again, not a bad chapter in all. A little dull, but dull for the right reasons: Bella is bored and waiting. And the ballet studio makes for some nice suspense. We'll see how it holds up.
Chapter Twenty-One
Quick Links:
Why I'm doing this | Preface & 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 16.2 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | Epilogue |
Discussion Questions