December wrote:So now I've got this little fantasy that this novella is Stephenie's chance to right the balance after BD's lurch into the unremitting sunshine-and-roses of its supersweet HEA. As we discussed at such length on the old Choices, TW, NM and EC -- not to mention MS! -- certainly hinted that this was an equivocal story Stephenie was telling, with one foot in heaven and the other in hell. The life of a vampire was something so monstrous and difficult that nothing less than the glorious, otherworldly, obliterating love Edward and Bella feel for each other could possibly induce you to choose it. Monstrous birth scenes notwithstanding, BD really does seem to smooth away those earlier intimations of the dark side of what Bella was choosing. It's hard to think of a better narrative to redress that imbalance than poor Bree's. And if she does...maybe it's an affirmation that Stephenie WAS attuned to the darker implications of her fluffy love story after all. How nice if it were to make all that stuff we wrote on Choices look a little less wildly off the map (*grin*)....
December: Get out of my head! *smiles* I was just thinking this last night on my drive from work to home. I see the dark side being more plausible in Bree's short story, which now has me thinking of the two things that did not sit well with me in Eclipse:
1. Bree's death- Is it just me or did it seem like the Cullens, especially Carlisle, didn't feel any remorse in letting a new born die? I have a mental picture in my head where I can see Carlisle thinking, "Well, at least it's not one of us." Part of me feels this way because we know absolutely nothing about Bree and therefore can't empathize with her, which in turn makes her death shocking. Now if we theoretically are given that information, doesn't that change the way we view or add fuel to the anticlimatic "war" with the Volutri in regards to the issues of justice or the lack of it? As I guess what I want to say is, how does Bree's story change our views at all? Bella still gets her HEA, which overall cheapens the death of Bree. Does that make sense?
2. Edward killing Riley and Victoria- I know Bella passed out and didn't see the whole thing, but as a reader I was taken aback. I don't remember the exact quote from Edward, but it was something to the fact of "You're not scared of me now?" I know how taken Bella is with Edward, but come on! That's some scary stuff.