It seems as if everyone has an opinion on this not-so-little debacle and I'm not above admitting that...I certainly do also. I have major opinions; I get them from my mother, so no judgement please (also something I get from my mother). While I was in a not-so-rare dull period at work a week or so ago, I started checking all my regular websites for any news. I came upon Stephenie Meyer's official website and started to read a new post from her to us, her fans. As I read, I can imagine how my face slowly dropped, how my mouth fell open in horror and my eyes crinkled up in despair. Someone had leaked Stephenie's partial draft of Midnight Sun onto the Internet and she was so hurt and upset about this "violation" that she was putting the book "oh hold indefinitely". This was VERY bad news, to say the least. But a shining light in the dark! Stephenie had posted the partial draft on her site, in order to make her fans feel less guilty about crumbling under the tortuous temptation of having such a long-awaited gem suddenly available to them. How could we not read it? Her tone suggested that she would more than likely never finish it, so why not go ahead and read what she had freely given us (though under duress, no doubt)? She was right of course, the temptation was too great. If Stephenie Meyer's books were all the different sins, then I would be the worst kind of sinner, and I would not be alone in my damnation, that's for sure. I had to read it. I was only a couple chapters in when I realized that it was so much worse that I had first suspected. It was so much worse because Midnight Sun is, for lack of a better word, amazing. It's wonderfully insightful and satisfying in a way that is hard to express. Let's just say that no ex of mine has ever been able to satisfy me in the way that finally being able to understand Edward's side of the story has satisfied me. Sad, but true (and please, if any ex is reading this, don't be put out. I'm sure it doesn't lessen your "satisfying" skills since you can't really be correctly compared to the delicious thoughts and feelings of a fictional character). Not only is Edward's side of the story wonderful to finally hear, but we finally get to see Bella from his eyes. We have seen Bella from Jacob's point of view, but in my opinion it doesn't count since his eyes and feelings were clouded by Renesmee (yet to be born). Any feelings we got to read were not just his real feelings for Bella, but also his feelings for Renesmee, though he didn't realize it at the time. Finally, we get to see Bella clearly. Since up to this point (besides Jacob's POV) we have only seen her from her own eyes. And we never see ourselves clearly, that's for sure. Midnight Sun crystallized Bella for us and we couldn't have had better eyes to look out of than Edward's. We finally see Bella for everything she really is; selfless, kind, gentle, warm, compassionate and loving. We always suspected that this was the kind of person she was, but now we get to SEE her from Edward's unconditionally loving gaze. She is even more than we first thought and in now seeing her from his eyes, we also get to see who Edward really is also. They define each other and now that we get both pieces of the puzzle, we get to see them both for who they really are, more so than we ever did before. I do not believe that there are people like Edward and Bella in our real, non-fictional world but that doesn't mean that we shouldn't strain to be more like them everyday. I would pride myself in having even one of their generous qualities and would be unable to resist anyone that showed themselves to be even remotely alike to either of them.
Needless to say, Midnight Sun was so much better than I even imagined it could be. And that's saying alot, since I have come to have very high expectations for Stephenie Meyer's writing. I will be very put out if Stephenie is unable to find it within herself to finish it.
So, that concludes my rant for today, as I know you are sighing in relief that the end has finally come. Here are some shiny pictures, cause I do so love to have visuals with my lessons. Haha.
