Breaking Dawn Read Along: Week 1

Welcome to our first BD2 Discussion!

First off, the summaries:

Prologue:

• Bella finds herself in a nightmare-turned-reality: she's facing the Volturi on the field of battle, completely outnumbered.
• Her hopeless desperation suddenly changes into a fierce bloodlust. She crouches and prepares to attack.

Chapter 19:

• Bella's narration picks up the moment after she bends over to retrieve her cup of blood and is suddenly overcome with extreme pain:
  
  I felt like I was being sawed in half, hit by a bus, punched by a prize fighter, trampled by bulls, and submerged in acid. (19.6)
• She hears that her placenta is detached and yells at Edward to deliver the baby. As they're working on her, she slips in and out of consciousness. She remembers her promise to both Edward and Jacob to keep her heart beating, but she just feels numb.
• When Edward whispers, "Renesmee," Bella feels a flood of warmth for her daughter and asks to hold her. "She was even more beautiful than her father. Impossible" (19.41).
• Suddenly, the new mom feels pain again, and that the baby is taken away from her before Bella descends into blackness. She fights the blackness, realizing that if she was only fighting for herself, she would let go, but for all the people she loves, especially her baby, she has to fight and survive.
• Even though Bella can't see, she feels her body beginning to warm. The heat around her heart slowly increases until her whole body seems to burn in a raging fire. She wants to scream, but can't move her lips or any other part of her body.
• She realizes that the morphine doesn't numb the pain of her transformation, but instead makes her a prisoner of it. She's glad that Edward can't read her mind so he won't know how much she's suffering.
• Caught in the painful transitioning of her body, Bella hears a discussion between Carlisle and Edward. Edward worries that Bella isn't coming back to consciousness. Although Bella is actually fully conscious, she refrains from speaking, afraid to lose control and show Edward just how much pain she's in.
• Alice comes into the room, marveling over Bella's beauty. They all agree to keep the baby away from Bella, which really upsets her.
• After a final rush of pain sends Bella's heart into a frenzied helicopter-like beat, the fire stops, along with her heart. Bella opens her eyes to her new world.

Chapter 20:  

• Bella takes in her surroundings through her new, superior vampire eyes. For the first time she sees the complex beauty of things, even simple dust particles. All her senses are sharpened.
• When Edward touches her for the first time, she's shocked because his touch feels warm. She realizes they're the same temperature now.
• The Cullens form a protective stance around Bella, and it takes her a moment to understand that she's the danger. "I was a newborn vampire…Human emotions and longings would come back to me later in some form" (20.43).
• Still struggling with her new "self," her eyes come upon Edward. She's swept away by his true beauty. Bella goes to hug him, and he steps back, because her strength is hurting him.
• She realizes, though, that she still has her human longings. She tells Edward she loves him. Her voice shimmers like a bell. They kiss:
  
  It as like he'd never kissed me – like this was our first kiss. And, in truth, he'd never kissed me this way before. (20.66).
• When Carlisle asks her how her transformation went using the morphine, she lies to him about the pain she felt.
• Carlisle encourages her to go hunting, since she must be starving with thirst. His words bring the dry ache in her throat to the forefront of her mind. Edward urges her to go hunting, but Bella wants to see Renesmee first. Edward explains that Renesmee is half-human and that Bella's instincts pose a danger for the baby. When she hears that Jacob is still here, she's surprised.
• Before they go hunting, Alice wants Bella to admire her new looks in a mirror. Bella's first reaction is fascination with the beautiful creature now looking back at her in the mirror, followed by the horrified question:
  
  Who was she? At first glance, I couldn't find my face anywhere in the smooth, perfect planes of her features. And her eyes! Though I'd know to expect them, her eyes still sent a thrill of terror through me. (20.153).
• Jasper is amazed at the control Bella has over her emotions, but still doesn't trust her. He wants her to go hunting, because he's afraid she'll snap at any minute.

Chapter 21:  

• After Edward assures Bella that Renesmee is safe with Jacob downstairs, he asks Bella to jump out the second floor window instead of exiting through the front door. She stalls at first, because everyone's watching her. When she finally does it, even Edward is amazed by her gracefulness – even in the tight dress and silly stilettos Alice gave her to wear.
• Bella and Edward bound and leap through the forest hand in hand. Bella worries about harming the trees. She rips her dress on both sides to allow for more movement. She flies across, farther than Edward, having a grand time discovering her new abilities.
• Edward reminds her to focus: they're on a hunting trip, after all. He takes off and tells Bella to follow. She finds it hard to listen to him, because she's so distracted by her physical attraction to him – something she thought she'd lose as a newborn.
• Edward suggests that they go after elk for her first hunt. Bella doesn't care. Once her mind shifts to her thirst, that desire consumes her mind.
• Edward teaches Bella to find the elk by using her hearing and her sense of smell. Once she perceives the elk's smell, she finds it unappealing. Edward admits that it will take some getting used to.
• Bella is about to launch at a male elk when the wind shifts and a human scent catches her nostrils. She hurtles after the scent, compelled by single-minded killer instinct. She realizes she's being followed and turns to confront the pursuer. The snarling sound emerging from her throat brings her up short.
• The wind shifts, taking with it the temptation of the sweet human scent, and she realizes with sudden clarity that she's not only been hunting a human, but that she almost attacked Edward. She tells him she needs to get away. She holds her breath and runs north, away from the human temptation.
• Edward catches up with Bella. He's amazed that she was able to stop herself just then:
  
  You shouldn't be able to do any of this. Bella, you're behaving like you're decades rather than days old. (21.122)
• Bella admits to Edward that she still feels as attracted to him as she did before. When Edward mentions that she must be thirsty, her thirst comes to the forefront again and she focuses on hunting.
• She attacks a mountain lion – an easy, but messy, kill. She compliments Edward on his ability to kill so gracefully.
• Now that Bella's thirst is quenched, and she feels more in control, she demands to see Renesmee.

Soooo....chapter 19 actually happens during BD1 as far as the movie goes, but it seemed fitting to start this read-along with the entirety of book 3.  We all know what those red eyes look like when she opens them the first time.  And I do enjoy the way that they delivered the "conversion" on film through showing the changes to her veins, heart, etc. 

We've seen a bit of a glimpse of hunting-Bella in the trailer that was released at the VMA's.  

What do we think of Jasper's reactions of shock at her control and  mistrust of her?  They were finally getting somewhere in Eclipse with his story coming out to Bella and now he's back to a bit untrusting/uncomfortable?  Do you guys think that'll be a big part of the movie? 

How do you think they're going to take care of showing Bella's sharpened eyesight?  Are we going to see all kinds of bright-ness and dust specks or is it just going to be normal "hi-def" movie going?  (I have to add...thank God they didn't go "well, we need 3D to make this look defined for her..."). 

Other thoughts, comments?  We've kind of set the stage for the action this week...next week we'll discuss Breaking Dawn: Book 3 - Chapters 22-24! 

Summaries found here