ECLIPSE by Stephenie Meyer: Third Time is Not the Charm

Grade: C-

Bestselling author Stephenie Meyer is coming to Cincinnati tonight.  I will be there with bells on--or is that Bellas?--and anticipate an enormous crowd.  I was talking with one of the Joseph-Beth clerks last week and she told me she expects hundreds of people, including folks who are driving in from Louisville, Lexington, and Columbus.  My plan is to slink through the line and not quite meet Meyer's eye when she signs my book.  This is because I feel strangely guilty for not liking Eclipse, the third novel in the ongoing saga of Bella Swan and the monsters who love her.  I wanted to enjoy the book, or at least be seized by the same compulsion to read it that marked my outings with the first two; those were books I had some problems with (click here for my earlier blog reviews for Twilight and New Moon), but I was utterly fascinated by them.  With Eclipse, I read the first 200 pages or so on the first day it was released and then was easily able to put the book aside for weeks before I completed it.  I also had to will myself to finish, which surprised me greatly.

Why the dragging feet?  Well, the dragging pace had a lot to do with my lack of enthusiasm.  In the earlier books, Meyer created tight plots and demonstrated a natural talent for the "slow reveal" -- the mystery novelist's trick of giving the reader just enough information to keep her guessing and turning those pages.  Here, however, the pacing is a disaster.   Far too much of the novel is taken up with a juvenile love triangle between Bella, Edward, and Jacob.  This becomes tiresome because it is not balanced by equal attention to the actual plot of the novel: a coven of newborn vampires is loose in the city of Seattle, but Bella and the Cullens believe the newborns are heading to Forks.  We flit in and out of this exciting plotline to return to the soap opera of Jacob's many spats with Bella, who just wants to be friends with him, and Bella's misgivings about getting married (which seem awfully silly in comparison to her eagerness to become a newborn vampire who might cause death and destruction wherever she goes).  Ideas and characters dance in and out with no follow-up; we finally hear Rosalie's back story, for instance, but the information leads us nowhere and Rosalie all but vanishes after her moment in the spotlight.

This book has "haste" written all over it.  Not only is the novel too long by at least a hundred pages, it is rife with typos and small errors throughout.  Who edited this thing?  People expect more from Little, Brown, and certainly more from Stephenie Meyer.  Sadly, the whole promising plot of the newborn coven is dispensed with in a flash, and the much-touted Volturi appear and disappear without so much as a whimper.  The only real conflict in this plot is the overextended love triangle, and it's just not enough to sustain the novel.

I have already complained about the retrogressive gender roles in this series, and Eclipse doesn't go very far in erasing my anxieties.  Edward is still controlling and mercurial, though Bella gives him a lot of credit for "letting" her go to see Jacob at La Push.  Maybe Edward is the parent Bella never really had.  She still picks up socks and makes every meal for Charlie, who does not seem capable of the most rudimentary standards of self-care.  How did he survive before Bella came to live in Forks?  On the plus side, however, Meyer finally stops merely telling us that Bella is clever and perceptive and begins showing us scenes where Bella is the first person to figure out a clue or lead.  It's about freakin' time.

I'm disappointed, as I had such high hopes for this book.  I marked real progress in Meyer's writing ability between Twilight and New Moon.  Perhaps she is having a delayed version of the all-too-common sophomore slump that many novelists experience -- especially very successful ones.  I think the real culprit is that this half-baked novel simply didn't get the loving attention and revisions it richly deserved.  Meyer is fantastically busy with promotions, fans, websites, book tours, and of course being a mom. 

If I did get up the courage to raise my head tonight and say one thing to her, it would be this: take a break.  The Twilight series is all about moral choice, and you now face one: If you want to be a bestselling author, all you have to do is already here in this installment.  Essentially, you only have to show up.  If you want to be a writer, you need to do more.  Take all the time you need.  You are so talented that your fans will gladly wait for you to return to form with Breaking Dawn.  Your books do not need to be stairstep children, with one released every year.  Make them special.

Comments

[Ann B]

I completely agree with everything you said. It seemed like every other page I was groaning and turning to Chris to complain about another typo or error. In addition, I did not like the epilogue. The change of point of view took me a minute to figure out and then when I finished I found myself saying "so . . . " I suggest you be brave and tell Stephenie to take a break because we have such high hopes for better writing.

[Jana]

I wound up going through the line very quickly as predicted. :-) Authors deserve to bask in their success in a venue like that! It was a very enthusiastic booksigning of over a thousand people . . . tons of teenage girls screaming their heads off every time Edward Cullen's name was mentioned. It made my head hurt. I think I am getting old.

Many people came dressed up, some in funny self-made t-shirts. One said, "Edward Cullen: Sexier Than You Since 1901." Another had a line about choosing between Edward and Jacob, and concluded that Edward would be best for summer and Jacob for winter. I thought that was hilarious.

Meyer did a great job with the Q&A and the huge crowd -- she was poised, funny, smart, and friendly. She seems like a terrific person, which made me feel even guiltier for disliking the book as much as I did.

[Al Hsu]

I just finished reading this book earlier this week, and again, it's not a book I ever would have picked up had you not plugged the previous volumes. I concur - the love triangle got tiresome, and it seemed like there were not enough real-life high school scenarios or contexts to make the story interesting. Part of the intrigue of this (as well as Buffy, I surmise, though I've not ever gotten into the Buffyverse) is the hypothetical what-if-ness of juxtaposing supernatural mythical creatures and characters in an everyday setting like high school. That's part of what makes Smallville interesting (though I've been stuck in season 3 for years now). Eclipse seemed to remove the characters from real life - even the graduation seemed sort of glossed over.

Maybe it's because I just finished season 5 of Alias, but I kept mentally picturing the Alias character Sark (David Anders) as Edward. But he's probably too old for the role. Bella, on the other hand, is more of a cipher to me. I don't really have a clear mental picture of her.

[Tayani]

dude, what is up with u people? dont get me wrong i hated book 3 too and had majour issues with book 2 but obviousely for different reasons, the love triangle kills me. i'm a teenage girl, het target market, so technically my comment should be considered the most. you guys are overly critical about irrelevent things like type-o's although of course i did notice them too and did also question who edited it, but the real issue is bella's fickle nature and hypocracy. twilight is all about how edward is her ultimate be all and end all yet when the 2nd and 3rd book comes around she's all about how jacob is her sun and bla bla bla. she wants to be with edward for eternity yet shies away from a marriage proposal. iv said it before and i'll say it again, the story line has taken a rediculous turn from the start of book 2 already, the second book was likened by SM herself to Romeo and Juliet and thats the problem its like twilight is the epitamy of what Romeo and Juliet is all about then its like halfway through the play she just suddenly goes "huh. maybe i should be with Parris after all!" wth? i am not impressed.