New Moon is the second book in Stephenie Meyer's vampire romance saga and direct continuation to the story of Twilight.In New Moon Bella is facing a different problem from being killed by a vampire: aging. Her 18th birthday makes her freak out because then she's officially older than her beloved, always beautiful and 17-year-old Edward (even though in real years he's about 100 years old). Her birthday party becomes a chaos after she gets a bleeding cut in her hand at Cullens' house - a house full of vampires.
This leads to events that cause the whole Cullen family to move away from Forks, and Edward leaves Bella behind. Her world comes tumbling down and she spends months in a deep depression. Finally she starts to recover with the help of Jacob Black who eventually becomes her best friend, but who also has a dark secret to bear.
The writing in New Moon has the same kind of gripping hold of the romance-thirsty reader, but the story does not handle much deeper investigation. I suppose it is the author's own views on life that jump up in the story too much - the glorification of the good vampires and the inclusion of religious views in such a story make me sigh in disbelief. Also I find it difficult to understand that a 18-year-old girl who is officially and legally adult, would be fine with being grounded at home by her father. It does not make any sense to me.
Sex is prominent between the lines but is still not really mentioned in the story. Marriage is mentioned though, and that clearly shows the author's disapproval for pre-marital sex. This does not make any sense in the real world, at least not to a person living in a sexually liberal Nordic country. It just makes me wonder, if this kind of beliefs, which were common in this part of the world many many decades ago, really still are that strong in the US.
Is there then any good in New Moon? Yes, of course there is. It has much more action than Twilight, it has new creatures and monsters, interesting revelations, but the author also digs pretty deeply into the area of depression. It describes thoroughly how the changes in life can cause total chaos in one's mind, making everything meaningless, even survival. Because depression and other forms of mental illness are so common in the world today, I find it good that such things are also discussed in literature targeted to young audiences as it may help also them to deal with the difficult time as a teenager and also with the emotions that may lead to serious depression.
The movie of the novel is set to be released in November this year, and it will directed by Chris Weitz, the director of The Golden Compass. Robert Pattison and Kristen Stewart will be returning to their roles as the lead couple Edward and Bella. It will be interesting to see how the new movie turns out as New Moon will require much more efficient visual effects than Twilight, in which the effects were a bit crappy. Also interpreting Bella's depression will be a difficult task for Stewart.
Written by Stephenie Meyer
Year 2007
Pages 608
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