The song for this chapter is Lonely People by America
[audio:https://twilightguy.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/07/lonelypeople.mp3]
Due to some research by Maureen Johnson, I realized that my busyness is quite common this time of year: nearly every writer I know is undergoing revisions, and is getting behind on everything else in the process. But, I managed to sneak away and tackle the dreaded Chapter 3 in New Moon…
I have never had a chapter that carried so much warning. In fact, my last chapter post had more comments on THIS chapter than on Chapter 2. You people have left me filled with dread of what I’m going to find in here.
First off, Bella’s caught the I’m-better-than-you-because-I’m-a-vampire disease:
It seemed strangely childish. Maybe I just wasn’t in the mood for normal human behavior today. Those pitiful, weakling creatures, sniveling like worms…
But then, things immediately get serious. I notice that Edward is different in this chapter, so much that I’m beginning to feel early on what could be coming. He seems indifferent and unaffected, as if he’s walking in a daze and really isn’t feeling anything. There is a numbness in his voice that seems to tell me that something is bothering him very deeply. I feel that it is the growing pressure on him that every moment he is near Bella, he is putting her in more danger. Seeing what happened in the chapter before, with Jasper, only seemed to strengthen this in Edward’s mind: not only him, but his entire family, is different, and dangerous to Bella.
Edward is in turmoil. Part of him wants so deeply to stay with Bella, because he loves her. The other part feels that if he really does love her, then he would leave, and let her have a normal life.
This chapter is so sad. It is different. I remember a Bella and Edward in Twilight who loved each other, and who were talking all the time: it just never seemed to end, their dialogue through the whole book. You can tell a lot about two people from the way they talk to each other. It seemed endless, the sweet words they exchanged for no reason, the jokes between them about vampires and humans. Their conversations were really what made them who they were.
But suddenly, Edward seems to have become a brick wall. He is no longer the same person, but brooding and depressed, even around Bella. I feel as if all the love is gone.
And then, it all comes down to Edward’s three words:
“Bella, we’re leaving.”
Through all the time of reading Twilight, I did not realize how attached I had become to the idea of Bella and Edward being together. This book, as you’ve read in my bio, is my first vampire romance novel. So I am not one to become attached to two characters being together.
But for some reason, there is a deep and vast connection between Bella and Edward that left me very down as I sped through the rest of the pages in this chapter. It was like a deep gloom had settled over my room.
I realized that I did not pick up the second book in this series to read about Bella, the main character. I didn’t pick it up to read about Edward either. I picked it up to read about Bella and Edward. To me, they were so close, they were nearly one. I wouldn’t have read this book if there was only one of them, going off on adventures as a vampire or a human. And now that one of them is gone, it is like half of the main character has been split away as well.
I hope you’ll forgive me for not posting anything funny this time. It’s really hard to find something funny in a chapter that leaves me so sullen. I will be honest and say that by the ending of it, I was beginning to feel very down; and also uneasy, as I realized I had become attached to these characters when I had tried so hard to keep a sane mind about me.
Somehow, right after Edward left, I really did start to care even deeper about what happened to Bella, and had a deep urge to want to comfort her; while the rational side of me roared in my ear: It’s only a blasted book! Sometimes, we do not listen to our rational sides; or more commonly, do not want to listen to our rational sides.
I don’t think I have ever read a chapter as long as Chapter 3. After thirty-one pages, it would be very easy to rationalize stopping. However, when I got to the last page of the chapter, and instinctively began turning the pages again, I realized that I was literally paging through the months, skipping ahead in time after Edward disappeared from Bella’s life.
Because I’m rambling already, and I’m still in the middle of Chapter 4, I will be posting about it very very early tomorrow (think 5 minutes past midnight again). And to all the commenters: you were right. I really couldn’t stop at the end of Chapter 3 this time.
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400 Responses
Kaleb, I’ve read New Moon four times already and it doesn’t get any easier reading chapter 3. I dread it every time I read that book. I guess it shows what a wonderful writer Stephenie Meyer is. If she can bring out soooo much emotion in her characters and to make us feel this way, WOW!!!!! Those blank empty month pages were the worst 🙁 Enjoy chapter 4!
Your post made me realize! Yes, i read the book for Bella AND Edward-together… This chapter is so sad and you realize how emotionally invested you are in the characters…
I thought the page/months were VERY effective… i still cringe when i think of this chapter 🙁 waaaahhhh!
you are a genius!!!!
you captuered the essence of this chapter. i felt the same way when Edward left!!! New Moon is of all the Saga the hardest to read…
I can’t wait for your thoughts on the next chapter!
The dreaded chapter.
Im glad you made it through and are still reading, after this chapter I was so upset about it that I didnt pick the book up for a week.(Pathetic, i know)
But just keep reading. It gets better, I promise!
And in the end once your though with it you will come to realize just how important this chapter is.
You get this these books!!! I keep saying it, but you do and you word everything so perfectly. This chapter was very sad. I was sad for both of them.
I was sad for Edward too. We know how much he loves Bella and how hard that must have been for him. We hurt even more for Bella, as we remember what it was like to have our hearts broken for the first time.
Kaleb, I think of Edward and Bella as one. I think we all do.
You are so insightful. Your comment about half of the character being ripped away – please remember that when you read about how Bella copes. Your review of this chapter is amazing, and it doesn’t need anything funny, as there is no humor in this chapter.
omg. i just reread new moon this weekend and that part still made me cry. and ive read it like 5 times too! its way sad… 🙁
Yup. It’s depressing.
Come on, Kaleb! Didn’t you cry?!
It’s amazing how all of us have grown attached hasn’t it?
When i read chapter three, the magic words, “It’d be as if i never existed”, i felt so much pain that i couldn’t even listen to happy songs after i read it. hahahaha 🙂
I tried reading it again and i figured out that i just couldn’t. hahahaha. I still feel the pain.
I can’t wait till your next post. 🙂
When I was reading the conversation Bella and Edward had right before he left, I was in denial. I don’t think I breathed that much, and as I read I just kept thinking “No, no, no, no!” Then I just sat there in stunned disbelief at the end of the chapter.
When I got to this chapter my reaction was doubled of yours. I felt no need to read on, for what was the use if there was no E&B? Its what made me love Twilight so ferociously that I now check every fan site daily. In chapter 3 I felt like I was part of some cruel sick joke. That one of my friends who worked at Borders had it in for me and jacked the real book. All 39 pages now are tear stained.
awww…
this post is sad.
it brought back how i felt when i was reading this chapter 🙁
i was really surprised when edward left bella, i never imagined that it could happen… but then it happened and it was really depressing. i just love how stephenie meyer considered all these complications, it’s so real.
I completely agree that the story just doesn’t seem right unless Bella and Edward are together. My stomach went sour and I completely lost my appetite when Edward left Bella in this chapter, and I too was heartbroken while flipping empty pages of the next few months of Bella’s life without him.
Isn’t it amazing how when you read the chapter you start to feel your chest getting heavier and heavier until it come to the end and all of the sudden you can not breathe? It stays there. For me many chapters went by before I could finally start to breath right…Even while I read your thoughts I could feel the pressure. I feel so bad for you I don’t know if I would ever want to read that chapter for the 1st time ever again.
As hard as chapter 3 was, the warnings I would issue would be for the next couple of chapters. they make me admire Meyer all the more. Its pretty rare for me to find an author who writes pain so vividly that it almost hurts to read it. But then again, if you ever get around to The Host, there is a similar phenomenon.
I was pretty shocked–just as you were–at how much I had depended and grown attached to these two characters. Realistically, it doesnt make much sense, but you become emotionally joined with them anyway. Continue to read the next few chapters with hope, even if it is but a very very dim light.
Though everything has been said, I felt like you: empty.
I’m rereading NM for the second time and still felt the same.
*Note: If you read it as though you were Bella, the emptiness you feel is almost the same as hers.
That said, I felt like Bella when she was like Edward: numb.
Oh Kaleb, you have no idea. Your sullen attitude is just beginning. I know exactly what you mean by there being only half of a character left. Bella and Edward complete each other so fully they almost become one entity. That’s the reason they’re soul mates. But when Edward leaves…nothing is ever the same. The pages after that chapter, with the months printed on them, struck me deeply. Those are the empty months of Bella’s life. I was so depressed after reading that chapter and still get sad when I think about it too much. But I suppose that is the beauty of these characters, they make you feel what they feel. But don’t worry too much, the moonless night of Bella’s life will become light once again. Keep Reading!
After reading Twilight, I don’t understand how anyone couldn’t grow an attatchment to the characters, especially Bella and Edward as a single, complete unit. That’s what they did, they completed each other. Being funny about this chapter would seem inappropriate, considering all that has happened in this chapter. More than likely I’ll be up until 12:05 (thank goodness we live in the same metroplex) and I’ll be reading your next chapter comments then. Thanks for sharing your journey : ) I hope you don’t ever come to regret it, especially with all of the support you have backing you up.
Oh Kaleb…*insert sad piano music here* I’m sorry for your loss, but cheer up! It will get better! (I have to end on a positive note!)
OME, you almost freaking made me cry again. You totally get what the characters are like and why we like them so much! I really hated this book alot at this point!
I just read this part of New Moon again last night, and it kills me every time, I cried the first time and tear up still. And reading your thoughts on it made me tear up again. I don’t blame you for not being funny, there is nothing funny about it. Just don’t give up on the book. You won’t regret it!
Aww cheer up Kaleb its going to get better. the first time i read this chapter i ws in english class and all my friends were wondering wat was wrong with me because i was hyperventaliting like crazy. I didn’t cry though, but i became a little depressed while reading and almost stopped..
but by then i had already asked my twilight friends was he coming back and a few of them said no, which got me Realy woried… sorry i rambled 🙂 But seriously dont worry about it because he comes back, and as soon as i heard that truth i was able to calm down and get to know the wonders of Jacob Black, which is one of my fav characters
I’m so sorry Kaleb. We all know how this feels. Despite the depresing-ness of this, it is a really good book overall.
On a side note, it could have been worse-like what happened to me:
I got New Moon from a friend on a Friday afternoon, I was reading on the couch, home alone, everything perfectly silent. In the middle of this chapter, I was on the verge of tears. And then,(remember it was completely silent) right when Edward says “Goodbye Bella”….MY PHONE RANG!!! I had to resist the urge to scream at my dad for that one, but I reminded myself that it wasn’t his fault. Still, I was so annoyed!
Ahh I’ve just stumbled across this website today (to be fair I just started really getting in to the series and didn’t know how absolutely wonderful it was)
So your reaction to chapter 3.. Pretty much my reaction. Except I’m sure I cried more. A lot more. Lets face it I started sobbing and had to close my book and put it down so i wouldn’t throw it. Then i had a cigarette break. It was just too… intense for me. And i’m still mad that Bella gave in so easily… *sigh* Silly girl.
But like all these other people have said… Just keep reading.
Oh man. I commented a ways back, but I just realized something. How are we all going to handle it when/if New Moon gets made into a movie when this scene happens?
*hugs the Jaleb* oh don’t worry! You aren’t the only guy to get upset. We have three Twlight Guys at our work plces and all were furious with me for getting them started when they reached that Chapter.
This is the first time i have commented on any of your postings.
When i read this chapter I was in art class surronded by alot of my good friends and I started crying and they just stared at me like i was insane or something but i was just so angry and horribly sad that edward had left and done that to bella it is mind blowing how you get so attached to a series and the characters in it, and your right you cant stop at the end of chapter 3 you just have to keep reading. These books changed me in some way and they have done it to us all and of course we do not think rationally about them.
Can’t wait for your next post.
ok so I must have read New Moon about 6-7 times and I still cry everytime I read this chapter.. Like uncontrollable sobbing.. It’s quite sad, but the way you write and describe this chapter is amazing.. Thank you Kaleb!
like i said before…. i sobbed through 90% of the book.
I feel kinda lame posting a comment in the 100s, cause usually I’m earlier… oh well.
I felt horrible after reading that chapter. But you have to promise not to speed through the middle of the book to get to the end.
Oh, and you should eat pringles for one of the chapters. Just saying. Since you dont email me anymore.
Corinne!
and i was lucky… i read this one at home over the weekend, so no sobbing in the middle of class or something.
Aww! >.<
The saddest chapter in the book! D=
Yeah, I still cry when I read this chapter… Every time…
I’m actually happy to read that you’re sad about it Kaleb, that means you REALLY like the books! =D
The saddest chapter in the entire series…I cry everytime I read it :'( New Moon is my least favourite book due to the lack of Edward (stupid “over loving” vampire) but I think we’ve all realized that these books ARE guy-friendly because you generally care about what’s happening! Yay Kaleb! You’re officially hooked, and theres n going back now. lol 🙂
post number 45 lauren ahah wow!
but even though it’s heartbreaking, there is sunshine at the end of the tunnel in the form of a human boy. i can’t wait for you to talk about someone other then edward. please keep and open mind Kaleb and remain objective. Please!
This was the chapter that made me want to stop reading the book. I was half tempted to skip to the end, but thankfully I didn’t.
I read it in the middle of the night all the way through (having to wake up early for my hardest exams the next morning didn’t help I suppose)and I cried too when I got to this chapter, especially when he says
“I will always love you, in a way”
that about broke my heart, because I could feel the pain Bella must have been feeling.
Until about the third or fourth to last chapter, I got to see why people loved Jacob so much.
Sorry about such a long comment! 🙂
luckily for me,
i was home alone when i read this chapter.
i cried for God knows how long.
i had to stop reading and just sit there and cry.
it was horrible.
it was so hard reading, not know when/if edward would come back. but i knew that it couldnt get any worse. [or atleast thats what i hoped]
but its nice seeing a guy reading this, and feeling the way that girls all over the world have felt.
now people know that the books rele are attaching, and that you feel like they are apart of you. its not just some ‘girl’ thing.
it rele hurts deep down.
‘sigh’ isn’t it just horrible! All I can say Twilight Guy is, it gets better, it really does! The time passes and is does.
I, just like everyone else here, cried when reading that chapter the first time and every time after that. I always dread coming to it when I reread the series and can’t help but get so attached to these characters and so involved in their feelings. You summed it up perfectly, as always.
I wondered when you would realize just how much these books have connected with you. This post made me cry, you described what happened so beautifully. I don’t know how I’m going to survive reading you reading the rest of New Moon. It doesn’t help that my mom is close to where you are, in the middle of chapter two haha.
Yes, there is no humor for this chapter. Just reading your post makes me teary-eyed because I remember the heartbreak so vividly. This chapter seriously broke my heart. I was hysterical when he left. Even now, I’m emotional as I type this because it was just so hard to read. I dread reading this chapter again because of what it does to me. Then, to see those next few pages, it sort of makes it worse, doesn’t it? Stephenie is truly an amazing writer to be able to capture feelings the way she has and to make so many people actually FEEL Bella’s heartbreak.
I think the worst part of that chapter, for me, were those months printed seperately on each page.
i love that you’ve become as attatched as the rest of us! and i felt the same way when i read this chapter. except, i cried like a baby.:( and i actually started crying before edward even told her that they were leaving because i knew what was coming. this chapter made me really depressed and i actually didn’t start on chapter four for another week. i just couldn’t imagine the book without edward being there!
but i can’t wait to see what you think about everything that is to come!:)
This chapter is sooooo sad!!! I threw my book across the room when Edward left and cried 🙁 But I’m almost done rereading it and I thought it was a lot better than I thought it was when I first read it, it gets very interesting throughout the book.
my god thats a lote of comments already! anywhoo. ur post gave me goose bumps! u had some good insite to this chapter! ur sensitve 😀 haha, see what we mean when u feel for the charaters. lol we warned you! and good luck reading the rest of the book..plz no matter what else happens keep on reading! its so worth it! u get to meet someone new…well not to knew but u get more on this charater! enjoy! and a few new charaters to tho..not many ones so to say, but they are there! have fun! cant wait till u read the rest, ur gonna end up reading chapter after chapter now. u’ll never beable to put it down!
I can’t wait for you to get farther into the book, this chapter is too depressing. I cried so hard and didn’t want to pick up the book again.
Good luck on the rest, I can’t wait to hear more!
You’re either really really perceptive, or totally cheating. Just going on past experience I’m guessing it’s the first.
I felt the same way the first time I read New Moon. I was almost depressed for the majority of the book, and still kind of sensitive at the end. I kind of wanted to put the book down because it was so hard to endure, but I couldn’t because I had to find out what happened. It’s so *empty* without Bella and Edward together.
I just reread New Moon a couple days ago, and I didn’t cry (I almost did), but your post came even closer to making me cry than the book did. 🙂
Your so right about Edward and Bella belonging together…I just couldn’t put down the book after this chapter. Luckily, it was weekend when I read New Moon. Don’t worry, we don’t blame you for not writing anything funny. This chapter (as well as others) are to depressing to find anything funny in them.
I really wanted your opinion on this chapter. I think you hit to a point what most of us were feeling as we read this.
(What makes my New Moon experience worse was that I had a raging headache that day, and my mom and little sister were sick. I had to take care of them. So for an entire Saturday, I read New Moon, with a headache, which the tears that I had cried did not help. I don’t usually cry for things though, so it really got me.)