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.
—ADDED JULY 22, 1:13PM: I absolutely abhor self-promotion, but I just reached the #17 most subscribed in Partners on Youtube, and if anybody hasn’t sub’d me yet, please check out my channel, as I’d really like to stay up there! And thanks so much to everyone who got me that high.
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400 Responses
Kaleb. What can I say except that you captured the raw emotions and the physical pain in this chapter. And I even cried when I read your post. Your reaction to this chapter was dead on to the reaction that I had. I did not cry but I felt this empytiness inside. I felt that feeling of being torn in half. And all of a sudden I started thinking about what I would have to do to continue with my life. The beauty of this chapter is that it is necessary for Edward and Bella. Soon you will see why. And I can’t wait to see what you have to say. Having never posted before – I would just like to say that I am a rabid reader of your posts. And that I would just like to thank you for your witty sacastic humor. Love your all your post.
Well Kaleb,
I’m so glad I read your post and most of these comments…
I was really upset reading these part of the book because I’ve been heartbrooken like that before.
Having such strong reactions to it made me wonder about my feelings, made me question if I was over it all…
But I realise now that everyone felt it like that too.
New Moon is my favorite not because of the plot, but because it makes us FELL so much… that is what a good book is about..
Sorry for my horrible english, it is not my first language… (For those who don’t know – we speak Portuguese here in Brasil). Lots of kisses, and keep the good work. 😀
I have been wondering how you would react to this chapter, what you would write about it. Whenever I reread it, and flip through all of those months, my heart just sinks. It is such a brilliant thing though, and realistic (as far as vampire romance novels can be). In real life time would pass anyway too..
And one more thing. When you try and read this chapter again you will probably cry. Which is sort of weird because I did not cry the first time – but every other time I have. So be prepared.
I never cried, like all these saps here did (jk, jk, <3) but I raced through the rest of the book and didn’t slow down until towards the end. I didn’t really like Jacob through my first read of New Moon, but once I read through it and started reading it again, I slowed down and actually enjoyed the book, not just wondered where Edward could be. If anything, that would be my advice. In this book, you shouldn’t read wondering where Edward is. Just read for the story, and it will be a lot better.
I completely rushed through New Moon as well. I completely agree with you Kaleb, I read the books for Edward & Bella, that’s why I skipped over most of the book. I have no interest in Jacob! Embarrassed to admit it!
Oh, I hate that chapter… but I love it, too. The emotions and everything else just makes it incredible for provoking responses and it’s so well written.
Although I do have to read different chapters afterwards, else I get asked by my family why I’m so depressed.
~MoonStar
If you ever get down to my comment… Actuwaly read the book, I know this might be hard. Myself and all my friends will confess to speed-reading skiming over things just to get to the end and see if Edward comes back. So then I had to go back, knowing the ending, and re-read the book so I could fully understand the middle part of New Moon.
Honestly, I’m extremely glad that you didn’t post anything funny, because there isn’t anything remotely funny about this chapter. Also, I think it’s really great that a guy can react to this like how I did.. it makes me feel less schmuck-ish!
Don’t we all wish we could just Blue-skadoo into this chapter and kick Edward’s sorry butt?
(Edward lovers kick my face) Ok, maybe not.
I’d just like to throw this in though: even though you are only really into the Edward and Bella ness of the series, please be open minded towards totally innocent characters that might happen to pop back into the story *cough*JACOB*cough*
I cried. Really, really hard. This book puts your emotions on a roller coaster. Blah! 🙁
Weren’t those four month pages heart breaking!!?? I asumed the next page Edward would appear and say “Just Kidding!’ but he didn’t……and that’s when it really hit me..HE LEFT HER!!!
Prepare for a very very depressing book.
Kaleb, we’re all here for you. This was a really sad part. It took me so long to pull myself out of depression after he left. Stephenie does a great job of really making you feel like Bella. Hold on though you’re gonna make it!!
Oh, and Im glad you didn’t put anything funny either, this chapter deserves seriousness.
somewhere up there in your comments,my older sister just commented and said how her little sister spoiled pretty much the beginning of new moon for her. yeah i’m that little sister.i felt completely terrible once that slipped from my mouth.but anyways…
on to the chapter…
the first time i read this chapter,i remember just sitting there starring at the pages in complete shock.it was so depressing,how bella was so naïve,that see just assumed edward was acting weird,because he was going to ask her to leave with him.
this chapter was like a stab in the heart for all the people who are constantly rooting for bella and edward to last forever.
it’s just good to know, that it’s not just girls who would feel pain from this chapter, but that guys feel it too.
ahhh,yes. i too cried and raged and flipped through the pages making sure that Edward came back. Don’t worry, he did. but by the time he reapeared my view on bella/edward had changed darasticlly and i started hating edward. Why? jacob black. Undeniably the kindest and most caring charecter out there. And as for Bella and Edward’s charecter changes, Bella is just starting a downhill slide and by Eclipse she becomes a selfish, intolerable whiney brat. That’s just my opinon though. However Edward just becomes plain mean and the similarities to Wuthering heights are unmistakable.
I know how you feel… I had just finished reading that chapter, and my mom called me for dinner, and I just sat at the table, and couldn’t say anything…. I sped through the book hoping he would pop out and say “Psych! Bella, you’re dumb. It’s pretty sad if you think I would leave you.”
But no, Stephenie Meyer HAD to make the story plausible.
Poor Kaleb! It is hard to get past this part in Twilight history, but eventualy it will pass. For me, New Moon took the longest to read, but thats just me. And if it makes you feel any better, my mom couldn’t get through it without crying every other page. (though its not that sad, my mom is just over emotional)… Have fun 🙂
the rest of the book is just as depressing… so be prepared!
But it is very very good! just keep a tissue with you and you should be ok.
A good song for the next chapter is “what hurts the most” by rascall flatts. in case you need a song…
Saddest chapter EVER! I cry every time I read it. Heck, I teared up a little just raeding about you reading it!
Kaleb, for you to be a guy and admit your attachment to the characters, that is just the best thing I have ever heard.
Reading your post and the passion in it made me relive when I read that chapter.
I love how you write, I can’t wait for YOUR book
It really is hard to read this part of the series and now that I’ve read it a few times, I tend to skip over it and get to the good stuff. However, since this is your first read, you really should just grit your teeth and get through it. What happens during this time changes both Bella and Edward inexorably and they really cannot go back to how they were before. And that isn’t bad. In fact, I really think it is a good thing, but change sometimes is painful, and definitely it is for them. Just keep persevering and you will come out the other side and you will see how this section changes the books. Good luck to you.
I remember when I read this chapter for the first time. And let me tell you, I didn’t see it coming at all. I remember that I didn’t cry, not at all. I was in too much shock (that, and my adderall hadn’t worn off yet >.>). After reading the book again, I found myself unable to STOP crying. I was shedding the built-up tears from the first time reading. Hope you have tissues nearby, the rest of the book is still kinda sad =/ *lends a cyber-tissue*
that was one of the two chapters in the series that made me cry. D’:
…
and this chapter is what really turned me off of edward. especially cause of who comes in next~~~ 😀
It is really hard to find somthing funny in this chapter. I actually cried. But it will get better:I promise.
When i first read this chapter, i was in tears. i could feel even before the walk in the woods, that something was wrong with Edward; he wasn’t making jokes, he was talking to all the other guys to keep from talking to Bella, he wasn’t sure about going to her house.I’m sorry to say, that this is the first of the several depressing chapters in New Moon. Even the second tie that i read it, even KNOWING WHAT WOULD HAPPEN NEXT, AND whether or not edward would come back, SM writes the words so…., so perfectly, that you feel the pain for Bella, and you feel her sadness and anger. Actually, not even anger. Bella never gets angry because, well, she understands. she understands that it never seemed right for a living god to be in love with her.
Don’t worry though. Bella finds happiness again. 🙂
*of course, she hurts herself in the making, but thats to be expected from her :P*
o wow. i just re-read what i wrote. left a complette thought there.
**insert to after whther or not edward would come back,
********i still crying my eyes out. I cried for edward to return. I cried for Bella’s pain. I cried for my anger at him for leaving her so hurt.
I cried when he broke up with her, I swear to God.
I thought i was acting like such an idiot, but when i convinced my friends to read it they sort of did, too.
i swear i could feel it coming but i was still in denial.
before reading any book, i just HAVE to read the last page, btu i promised myself i wasn’t going to do this with new moon (i said the same about HP7 but i couldn’t resist. i ahd to know wether JKR killed harry or not)
when he broke up with her i immediatly turned to the last page and sighed a sigh of relief.
i’m so ridiculous, i know. but omg,if i hadn’t read that i am compeltely sure i wouldn’t have been able to finish the goddamn book. lol
and i promised myself I HAD TO ABSOLUTELY READ THE LAST PAGE ON RBEAKING DAWN
I JUST AHVE TO
No one blames you for not coming up with anything funny in your post for this chapter. Funny sure wasn’t possible for me. I felt like I’d been ripped in two. Just thinking about this chapter and how it ends still hurts.
Even though it’s already been said here, I want to say you’re completely right about Bella and Edward being one entity. I didn’t really even like the books at the beginning, with Bella by herself. But when Edward came along, well, that is the whole story; Bella and Edward. And that’s all.
I do love this book, but I don’t think it’s my favorite. I went through it in kind of a daze, missing my Edward. I do love what happens to the characters though. Pain can do a lot to a person (especially make for awesome hurt scenes).
*sighs and shakes head at Edward*
I know what you mean! I was literally depressed and felt down the entire time I was reading NM (Well, for the most part..) I still have trouble picking that one up to re-read .. I try to skip over the sad parts 🙁
****cried
Now I have just started New Moon for the millionth time – and I just got to the third chapter. Sighs. And I honestly feel the turmoil that Edward possesses and the heartache that Bella is undergoing. These books never get tiring and I always come out finding myself anaylzing the whole situation – but seriously who couldn’t. Kaleb I would just like to let you know that we are all here for you, and that we can all relate to your feelings. Or the majority of us. And now I can’t wait to see how you feel about Jacob. Being a pivotal character and all I just want to see your thoughts on him and his behavior.
I cried for twenty minutes at the end of chapter 3. That might not seem like much to some people, but I’m the kind of person who cries maybe twice a year.
Bella really isn’t the same with Edward gone.
Kaleb, welcome to the swirling pit of depression that is New Moon.
When I read this chapter the first time, I forced myself to put the book down and curl up in a corner. Edward being so gloomy and depressed was so heart breaking. 🙁
This was the saddesst chapter I’ve ever read in my entire life. I cried so hard after reading this, I was sitting on the floor like a little child sobbing, and I couldn’t stop. I hope you found out a little about yourself while reading this chapter. I think every guy in the entire UNIVERSE should read this, just so they can discover a new side of themselves. Good luck on the next chapter!!
I cried alot the first time i read it and even more the second time, i actually ran out of tissue. It’s so hard to read that chapter, that I just skip it now. And I was like with people when I was reading that chapter for the first time, I had to shut the book like right when edward said we’re leaving, cause i knew i would’ve cried if i kept on. I was depressed..
Now I don’t feel so utterly insane for feeling such a deeply sad and personal reaction to this chapter! I remember reminding myself, “It’s a work of fiction. It’s not real.” I felt competely & utterly insane! Now, I don’t feel so crazy. This just shows what an amazing writer Stephanie Meyer is to affect people in such a way!
Haha, I think the guys need to leave more comments. They’re making us girls seemed…obsessed. After all, this is TwilightGUY.
Good lcuk on the next oneee!!
I actually have to say that I have only read New Moon completely through 4 times…although I have read Twilight and Eclipse all the way through at least twenty times.
I realized, after torturing myself all the way through New Moon, that maybe I should skip from when Edward leaves to one of the very last chapters. I miss all the…bad parts, I guess.
I love the whole series, don’t get me wrong, and this book is great…but it’s the worst in the series thus far.
I know many people already said it but…when i read this chapter I cried and I wouldn’t listen to anyone trying to calm me(though many tried) I just couldn’t believe that he actually left!!! I was so mad and I cried ALOT!!
now everytime something bad or something is just going really worng for me I open up New Moon and read those chapters were Bella is…lost…and i get through it in someway knowing that there is worse things then what happened..though now I can’t get through my sad times because when my parents went to wash the car(new moon was in it) some guy through it to the garbage and I can’t find it…though I ordered it…
Ok, after reading more posts (sorry, my kids are sleeping and I have nothing to do) I see alot of people saying this was the saddest chapter they’ve ever read. I do agree that it’s very sad, but just wait until you get to The Host after you’re done with this series. Chapter 58, Finished, is the saddest thing in fiction writing I’ve ever read. And the blank pages after that were worse for me than the month ones for NM.
“And now that one of them is gone, it is like half of the main character has been split away as well.”
Very eloquently stated.
This chapter is very… I understand why it’s here, but I dislike the turn the story takes. I would hate to spoil something for you, but I hope you enjoy the rest of New Moon more than I did. While it is very well written and there are occasional bright spots, it was not enough for me to say I really *enjoyed* the book. Particularly since I know where it goes in Eclipse…
I do think the opening teaser does lead to the best ending of the three, though. It’s a very conflicting, polarizing story.
I love how you really understand the Bella&Edward thing because some of my friends said after reading this chapter ‘im not reading NM anymore cause Edward isnt in the book’ and i told them the book is not about Edward only, its about
them, together well at least for me thats why i’m reading the books.
Chapter 3 is so sad. At first i got angry and then i cried and my mom told me ‘its just a book’!
I am reading the books for the 6th time since I first read them last October in preparation for Breaking Dawn. I think what keeps me coming back to this story is how I feel like my emotions are tied up with the emotions of the story. My heart feels like it’s breaking whith Bella’s and I feel the intensity of the love between them when they are together and the depair when they are apart. I also feel the emotion of bella and jacob, too. I love these books. I’m married and my husband thinks I’m a bit obsessed. My 9 year old son just says “oh that’s Twilight, right” when he walks into a room and sees me watching a trailer or reading, again.
*HUGS*
(Also, Stella, could you have spoiled the entire series for him a little more, please!? pff)
*sniff* just reading about it makes me sad… poor Bella. and poor Charlie, having to see his daughter go through this but not completely knowing why. Gah, now I’m feeling sad 🙁
anyways, I’m actually glad you didn’t make any jokes, becuase this chapter isn’t something you want to be making jokes about around Twilighters, even if you mean well. Apparently you are now suffering from early stage New Moon Depression. Be prepared for it to kick in when you see a silver Volvo in real life and think about Edward (which earned me some strange looks in the Walmart parking lot)
it was a good post, Kaleb
keep reading!
I truely feel for you…i remember my first time reading that chapter, a sad day. even more depressing is i was at school, i learned don’t read or bring twilight related material to school, not a good idea. But i do have to say that the chapters following NM were worse for me, especially the blank pages. But i totally agree with you the story isnt about bella or edward it’s them together, that’s what makes it so heart breaking because you know they belong together.
Same here! I didn’t think I was that attached until I read those three, horrible words. I was actually in the car and I threw the book down and started crying. My mom was confused, but I couldnt’ say anything because she wanted to read it but hadn’t started the series yet. I was depressed the rest of that weekend. I did not think I would be this attached to Edward and Bella. I hate the rest of New Moon. Well, most of it. 🙂
“The heart has reasons that reason knows not.” I think that was Shakespeare saying that this thing, this hideous agony we feel at Edward’s departure, is not meant to make sense. It is too powerful for logic. Thanks for keeping on reading and commenting, Kaleb. I feel it all over again when you write about SM’s creations, even as I’m rereading them for myself.
When I read the third chapter I was shocked but I still kept reading and I’m actually proud that I wasn’t like my other friends who put the book down and didn’t continue reading until the next hour or so. New Moon is my favorite book of all three. I know you guys might be like “WHAT!” but it’s because you get to read about Jacob and as you guys might notice I am not an Edward fan. Anyways I won’t spoil it for you but New Moon is worth reading and not being gloomy about (well Stephanie Meyer is the author) anyhow good luck with the next chapter can’t wait to read your update: D