Twilight: New Moon

Awhile back I read and reviewed the first installment of Twilight (you can read it here).  I found the first book so addictive that I had to borrow K's copy of New Moon a few weeks later.

I imagine all of you are familiar with Twilight's plot and thus I will spare you a long summary.  Those unfamiliar with the story?  Basically, it goes something like this: normal highschool girl falls in love with a vampire who appears to be a normal, though very attractive, highschool boy.  Twilight follows the highs and lows of their relationship along with a few supernatural battles and family feuds.

New Moon focuses extensively on the loss of love.  For Bella, the main character, the loss of love is so unbearable that she becomes suicidal.  Meyer never forthright claims that Bella is suicidal but all of her actions point towards highly unbalanced and personally dangerous behaviour. 

Suicide is a thought-provoking and extremely important topic for YA books.  However, the negative aspects of suicide are never mentioned within the book.  Perhaps Meyer could have incorporated a more enlightened discussion on dangerous behaviour and suicide than what is currently within her work's pages.

I disliked how Meyer portrayed a break-up as the complete 'end of the world.'  What type of values are stressed to young girls when they read that a break-up is allowance for dangerous behaviour?  Meyer capitalizes on the damsel in distress stereotype to the hilt with this work. 

Yet, despite all of the critiquing, I did enjoy reading New Moon.  It is addictive, fast-paced, and causes me to wonder where the story will lead to next... and I honestly mean that - I am one of the rare young women who have not sat through one movie installment of the Twilight franchise.



Bibliographical Information:
Meyer, S.  (2006).  Twilight: New moon.  New York:  Little, Brown and Company.