Tuesday, September 27, 2011

Breaking Dawn Re-Read Along: The Summaries: Week 2

Welcome back - chapters 3 and 4 on the way (again from http://www.shmoop.com/breaking-dawn/summary.html )


Chapter 3:

  • Bella wakes up from her nightmare. She's disturbed that she had such a dream the night before her wedding, and tries to shake it off.
  • Alice takes Bella to the Cullen house to get her ready for the wedding. Bella still doesn't know where Edward is taking her on their honeymoon. Alice lets it slip that Bella will be on a plane, and she already packed her clothes for her. Knowing Alice's "risqué" taste, Bella takes the favor with a grain of salt. She refrains from looking into the mirror, because she believes she's going to look plain next to Edward.
  • During the beautification process, Renée and Charlie come to see Bella. They hand her a small, white box with her Grandma Swan's silver hair combs inside. Bella thanks them, very touched.
  • When Bella first sees Edward waiting for her at the altar, she has to control herself to not bolt into his arms:

    All I really saw was Edward's face… he broke into a breathtaking smile of exultation… Suddenly, it was only the pressure of Charlie's hand on mine that kept me from sprinting headlong down the aisle. (3.115-116).
  • Edward and Bella say their vows. At their request, the priest concludes with the line "as long as they both shall live." After they say, "I do," and kiss as husband and wife, their family and friends surround them to congratulate them.
Chapter 4:

  • As the wedding festivities proceed in full swing, Bella and Edward dance together in the garden of the Cullen residence. Edward notices a figure standing off in the dark of the surrounding forest. It's Jacob.
  • Bella and Jacob reunite. They dance together. Jacob tries his best to keep the conversation cheerful. He teases her about her honeymoon, because he believes that she can't have a "real" honeymoon since Edward is a vampire. When Bella responds that she fully intends to have a "real" honeymoon, Jacob loses his temper and grabs her roughly.
  • Edward steps in, supported by Sam, Quil (in wolf form), and Seth (in human form).
  • Edward and Bella return to the party. Jacob's reaction causes Edward to second-guess his agreement to try to make love to Bella, but Bella tells him to stop worrying: "You and me. That's the only thing that matters" (4.228).
  • When it's time to go, Alice, Esme, and Renée help Bella change out of her wedding dress. Bella uses this moment to say good-bye to her mother. On the way out, she also bids farewell to Charlie:

    My father and mother could not be allowed to see me again; I would be too different, and much, much too dangerous. (4.280)
  • As Edward and Bella drive to the airport to embark on their honeymoon, Bella hears the heartbreaking howl of a wolf growing fainter and fainter in the distance.
Yay, the wedding!!  Discuss below:  I don't think we need any questions for this one...

Chapter 5-6 up on Tuesday again! 

21 comments:

  1. Ok I'll go first.
    After reading the Alice "beautification" scenes and Bella describing how Alice looked... No spikey do, rather smooth, curls or something...yuck. Sounds so frumpy, right? But then reading on, the wedding theme was around the 1920's generation of Edward's human time. So I'm assuming Alice wanted to look like that. Maybe that explains why Alice looks like she got a bad hair cut in the trailer pictures. I'm still ranting on Alice's horrible look!
    The hair combs from Renee and Charlie was a sweet gift. Looks like Kristen only has the comb that holds her veil, so I'm guessing that won't be in it.
    I can't imagine any bride, even Bella, not looking at herself on her wedding day, but this is SM's Bella and it does make her look so uninterested and embarrassed by being front and center like this.
    I liked the little details, like Edward helping Esme get the yard ready, and the twinkly lights from the graduation party. I'm a sucker for details.
    Of course, I think it's ridiculous for a Bride to be that emotional over an X boyfriend, crying over him on her day. But again, that's part of the plot line, but still, don't like Bella crying over Jacob when she's about to get Edward.
    Again, with the detail, I liked how Jacob talked about cutting his own hair after spending so much time in wolf form. I could imagine the sloppy cut, the dirty, smelly dog essence. Yeah, I'm all about making Jacob look less than good. But honestly, and seriously, I felt for him too at this point. It was big of him to come at Edward's request for Bella's sake. Too bad he couldn't control himself.
    I like what the movie seems to have added, when Charlie/Bella walk down the aisle and she says don't let me fall and Charlie says never...The book didn't do a good job of highlighting Charlie. I'm hoping the movie continues to make Charlie an even more important character when the battle starts...oops getting ahead of myself here.

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  2. I love Charlie too! The don't let me fall line is in the book, but his line isn't. I feel like that "never" line means so much from him....seems like a great addition in the movie. Maybe they're going to make her veil clip from grandma swan's clip? Also, Alice's hair is most definitely not in 1920's pin curls in the trailer so if that's what they're going for, someone in hair/makeup fails at knowing what pin curls are....which are on state boards for hairdressers so they should know....lol. I winder if they'll show Edward helping set up and stuff....probably not since they'll need to move kind of quickly....

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  3. Her hair at the wedding does look flapper like. But later it just looks bad.
    Like you said, Charlie's response makes Bella's klutz comment much more intense and meaningful. The book "don't let me fall" is just that, literal, they take it up a notch in the movie, thankfully.
    Nope, I'm sure they won't show Edward helping get ready for the wedding. too bad, anytime Edward is on, is good...

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  4. I just thunk it'd be cute to show Edward doing stuff around the house to keep Alice happy as per the conversation in the story where Rose I think says that he knows better than to cross Alice on that particular day....cute family dynamic piece it could be :-)

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  5. That would be awesome. There isn't enough of Edward and his family in the movies.

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  6. I love the family too....wish there was more of them :-)

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  7. You said it Fran "any time Edward is on, is good" AMEN!

    I digress, but this made me think of prom: In the same context as the 'set up' but going a little off topic. I loved the 'extended prom scene' that SM wrote where Edward cooks dinner for Bella at her house. I love Charlie's reaction to seeing the Aston Martin too and taking it for a ride. I would have loved to have seen that filmed for the movie, but it is very clear for me to 'see' as I read it.

    I'll be back to comment on the post at hand.

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  8. Wait. What extended prom scene? I don't remember Charlie driving the Aston...? Leave it to kiTT to uncover some hidden goodies.

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  9. I don't remember that either......kiTT help us!

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  10. Stephenie admonishes it, but meanwhile it is wonderful. What Edward (and the family) strive to do for Bella is just adorable.

    http://www.stepheniemeyer.com/twilight_outtakes.html

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  11. It seems weird to me that Edward is setting up for the wedding just before the ceremony starts. I mean not that he can't do everything very fast but still. And I don't get why Alice wanted Bella to wait to see the decorations. Bella doesn't really care about all that stuff; like ya know looking at herself in the mirror. I really hope they have Edward showing Bella her reflection in the windows. I hope they show the shock on Bella's face when Rosalie offers to help do her hair. That will lead the way to building their friendship when it comes to the *spoiler alert* baby lol.

    I don't get why Bella beats herself so much about telling Jake about her honeymoon plans. Is it weird that I feel that she's reacting like she's a battered woman. "Why did I make him mad? It's all my fault. I shouldn't have said anything." YOU didn't make him mad, it's NOT your fault, you shouldn't have to censor yourself because of someone else's reactions. Grrr that just makes me kinda mad at SM. And why the HELL does Edward not tackle Jacobs butt out into the woods. Stupid jerk was being all rough with Bella.

    Speaking of being mad at SM. Why does she put down her own outtakes. Embrace it! Your readers love it. Other authors do it because they truly love their characters and WANT to write these extras like oh I don't know J.R. Ward the author of the Black Dagger Brotherhood! God Steph stop putting yourself and your stories down. Why would people want to read stuff that you basically call crap? Okay I think I'm done ranting now :)

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  12. Kassie as always you just belt it out and say it as it is.
    Funny how even though there is a lot about SM and her stories that make us cringe, we still love them, it still works for us. I guess it's because we love them, we need to point out the flaws too. I get what you're saying about the battered syndrome. But I explain it more like the martyr syndrome. She wants to protect the things she loves more than protecting herself. She loves Jake, on a level she doesn't understand yet, none of them do. The reader doesn't either at this point and until just recently, I didn't. But now I guess we have to go with the reasoning that she's got the "family tie/bond" because of Renesme. Like I said, we love the stories even when some elements seem a bit over the top. It is part of the plot line after all.
    I'd love to see the Rosalie connection being developed. They'll just have to anyway, so at the wedding prep would be a good time as that is how the book reads too.

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  13. I love reading all our perspectives.

    I see your point Kassie about how Bella internalizes like it is her fault, which leads me to one of the things that irritates me here. Bella is still so wishy-washy. She makes such grand declarations about wanting to be a vamp, not feeling like she is sacrificing anything, seeing only Edward at the altar, kissing him like there was no tomorrow in front of everyone, and certainty about having sex, that it is hard to see her act the shrinking violet and be this person that feels badly and second guesses herself over Jacob of all people.

    I love how Edward gives Seth a hug.

    I love how Edward winked at Bella and then threw the garter belt right into Mike's face.

    That's the 'book' playful Edward I love that has always lacked in the movies.

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  14. kiTT, I totally see your point about the playful Edward of the books - here's to hoping we see a bit more of that in this movie...I feel like we might.

    You have all hit the nail on the head about why I've never really liked Bella as much as some others do. I get it - she doesn't want anyone else, she's set on life as a vampire, she is happy with her choice of a new life. Why is she constantly second guessing herself and acting like she's not so sure of these things, but then when Edward mentions her not being so sure she gets frustrated and angry and tells him she only wants him and can't he see that...I get why he can't see it, because he can hear what goes on through other people's *coughjake'sthoughtsareprettyloudcough* thoughts and sees that indecision more than she realizes I think.

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  15. With the po$$ible answer being that much of Bella's certainty dialogue was original from 'Forever Dawn' the sequel in which Jacob was of little nuisance. Jacob was not there for the birth and didn't imprint until weeks later in it.

    http://www.stepheniemeyer.com/bd_faq.html

    Which is why, for me, it feels like Bella's thoughts of Jacob and reaction$ always read like extras '$tuck in there afterward'

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  16. le sigh. the wedding.

    i'm glad they switched the vows up a bit in the movie version to show the inside understanding between bella and edward.

    wow kiTT! i have never even heard of that. must check it out.

    @tesoro - i totally agree that bella shouldn't really be having her first dance/getting all emotional over jake on her wedding day. i guess he was missing for a while though and so she was probably happy to see him...and edward knew how worried she had been. i love how rob had no idea how to play such a pu*#y. he was like there is no way i would be okay with you dancing with jake on our wedding day.

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  17. OMG kiTT you seriously go to town on SM's website lol. I've never really explored it so I haven't seen a lot of these things. Um yeah that is a waaaaay better series in my opinion. I think I wouldn't hate Bella at all if the series would have been written in this other 'Forever Dawn' format. But then you'd miss out on the angst that's made the saga so popular and easily translatable into film $$$$ :)

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  18. kiTT and I were talking through an email last night and she suggested that we do some read-through type things with the outtakes and extras on Stephanie's site since so many of us didn't really know they were there or haven't read them. I suggested doing it maybe after BD comes out to fill in some of the "dead air" between that and *hopefully* Cosmopolis news starting. What do we think?

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  20. I broke down and bought BD for the Kindle. I had to. The book is so big and cumbersome. I love have my light little Kindle.

    I agree with kiTT - I want those playful Edward lines in there. I want Edward to tell Alice "You're awfully small to be so hugely irritating".

    Speaking of Alice, as I was rereading these chapters I was also reminded how much is bugs me that the relationship between Bella and Alice is almost non-existent in the movies. The bond that Alice and Bella form in Eclipse is totally left out - the kidnappings and sleepovers. The "Bella if you really love me, you'll let me plan your wedding" line. I really hope Bella and Alice have more girlfriend/sister time in BD.

    Please let them keep Emmett and Jasper "howling with laughter" at Bella blushing while Edward carefully removes her garter with his teeth.

    Ooh, and Kassie - yes! I hope they keep Edward showing Bella her reflection in the glass. I know I'm wanting too much - but hopefully of our wish list items make it in there.

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  21. I'm a bad girl. I had some family drama and didn't get to read 4. I'm off tomorrow. I'll read it in the a.m. with my coffee and come back and comment.

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You've given me no choice...but to comment.