Carol Chou reviews New Moon

In the fantasy novel, New Moon, written by Stephanie Meyer, it starts out with a party scene at the Cullens. It was Bella’s birthday, and while she was opening her present, she cuts herself, causing the Cullens to react to Bella’s irresistible blood scent. Consequently, Edward, thinking that he is putting Bella into danger, decides to end their relationship and move away from Forks, leaving Bella heartbroken and sad. During the months that Edward was not present, Bella developed a good relationship with his friend, Jacob, which later she discovers that he is not just some ordinary human being. With Jacob’s supernatural abilities, he protects Bella from Laurent and Victoria, vampires seeking revenge for their dead friend, James. Because of some misunderstanding, Edward assumed that Bella had committed suicide, so he thought that there was no purpose of him living anymore and decided to kill himself in Italy. Later on, Bella’s presence at Italy saved Edward and a captivating ending occured
Our main protagonist, Bella Swan, is a teenage girl that falls in love with a vampire, Edward Cullen. The book opens with Bella’s birthday and everybody wishing her happy birthday: “‘Happy birthday, Bella’”
“‘Shh!’ ”
“‘What’s the worst that can happen?’”
“’Getting older.’” Not wanting attention, Bella does not want people to know that it’s her birthday and tells everyone to keep it a secret. She doesn’t want to be older than Edward, (since he is immortal) because she wants to spend the future with the Cullens. She doesn’t want to be old and wrinkled when all the other Cullens are all still young. This shows how much Bella loves Edward and wants herself to be like Edward, all young and charming. However, she can not avoid aging, which makes her depressed. She does not want herself after fifty years to be old while Edward is still young. Bella started to hate her birthdays just because she wants to fit in with Edward and the rest of the Cullens.
Throughout this book, Bella experiences the hardest and most difficult time of her life when Edward decides to end their relationship: “Not tonight. Tonight the sky was utterly black. Perhaps there was no moon tonight – a lunar eclipse, a new moon.” This quote shows how sad Bella was when Edward broke up with Bella, leaving her in the forest. Normally, a ray of moonlight will shine through the clouds, but not this night. The sky was completely dark, symbolizing the darkest and saddest time Bella had been through. Therefore, the title was adapted from the studies of the lunar cycle since new moon is the darkest phase, reflecting on Bella’s toughest time.
During the days without Edward’s presence, Bella comes very close with her friend, Jacob. Bella finds out his special abilities and protects her from vampires that are trying to hurt her. When Bella sees Caraslie’s (Edward’s father) car parked outside her house, Bella forced Jacob to stop and let her go in. However, Jacob does not trust the Cullens and tells Bella that he is incapable of protecting on these grounds since they have made a treaty with the Cullens. As Bella makes her way in to the house, Jacob shouts from behind, “‘I can’t go back. Treaty or no treaty, that’s my enemy.’”
“‘Jake, it’s not a war!’”
“‘Bye Bella.’” This quote shows Jacob’s love for Bella and how much he wants to protect her within his ability. Jacob is incapable of protecting her from the Cullens on these grounds because of the treaty. Jacob does not want her to go in the house, but Bella still chooses to. At last, no matter how hard Jacob tried, Bella still chose Edward over Jacob and decided to walk away from Jacob and into the house where she believed the Cullens were.
After reading this book, it really taught me about true love. Through Bella’s experience, I learned that the pain of losing them is incomparable to anything in the world, for it is like losing a part of you. Therefore, I recommend this to anyone that is interested in fantasy with lessons of true love.