3/4 Review of Eclipse

I am about 3/4 way through Eclipse by Stephenie Meyer. This is supposed to be the book in the Twilight series that everyone hates. The one where Bella is annoying and Jacob is irritating, or the other way around.

I don't hate it. In fact, I like it.

Sure, parts of the book aren't quite necessary. Bella is immature. Jacob is immature. Edward occasionally feels like an over-zealous security guard. A couple of the conversations(ok maybe ALOT) feel a little awkard to me. Some of the control issues could be concerning. It doesn't seem to matter.

I forgive it's awkward moments because I like being Bella. No, I don't have her personality, and honestly, she doesn't do anything that would make Edward and Jacob fall so madly in love. What does she do? She goes to school. She cooks her father spaghetti. She's semi-antisocial. She doesn't like parties (neither do I for that matter). She seems to do most things because of a sense of obligation. She does have a "magic" ability that so far hasn't been developed. I'm sometimes very critical with books, especially ones with questionable character development, but for some reason I just like reading these. Why?

I've thought about it, and what makes it such a fun read (in part), is the fantasy world building. Who doesn't want to go spend an afternoon at the beach, followed by Native American stories by the campfire, your boyfriend waiting to pick you up? Or the graduation party set in the big mansion in the woods.

The suburban nowheres-ville that happens to be full of extra special people. The Cullen family somehow remind me of the family out of the Tuck Everlasting novel. And Jacob's family, well, they seem exotic in just the opposite kind of way. All of this set in a quiet town where, if you can put yourself in Bella's shoes, you fit in but don't. My parents moved at the beginning of highschool for me, so I totally understand this aspect of Bella's life. I love all of this. Call me a cheeseball, but this is a really comfortable place to escape.

I do reserve the right to change my opinion of book 3 if the last 100 pages take a drastic turn, but overall I think it's a good addition to the series.