Spotlight on Twilight!

My 'g' key is sticking, not sure why...

Anyway! At work I typically bring a book to read because there is a lot of down time, and nothing makes me want to die more than standing up front for three hours with five customers coming through an hour. So I read.
And the other day I grabbed a book off the shelf in my haste to make it to work on time (a failed attempt, I'm sure), and that book happened to be New Moon.
I haven't actually re-read New Moon, so I though, okay, this won't be so bad, I'll probably find things I missed and such.
It took me two work periods to finish it (Twilight fans, does that show you how much free time I have on my hands?), and I realized something.
I hate Bella Swan. Like, really hate her.
Now I have to go through all the books and find out if this hate is just during New Moon, or for all of the books, because I never noticed how she is.
Allow me to explain.
New Moon is book three of the Twilight "saga" if you will. In it, Bella and Edward are back together since Edward left her, Jacob and Bella are barely speaking because she chooses Edward over Jacob, she's grounded, and Victoria is on the warpath to kill her. Still.
During the course of the book (which, I think, plays out like the authors on personal fan fiction), Bella is made out to be completely selfless. She is constantly beating herself up because she doesn't feel like she is worthy of Edward since he is so beautiful, and angry because she cannot let Jacob go as a friend, even though she knows he loves her.
She refuses to deal with the emotions of Jacob, getting angry when he tries to explain to her how he feels, even punching him in the face (and breaking her hand), when he tries to kiss her.
Meanwhile she is trying very hard to keep the Cullens from fighting the newborns that were created to kill her because she's afraid that they all will die. When the fight is upon them she makes Edward stay with her, and kisses Jacob, finally admitting she loves him. Edward and Jacob have a completely honest conversation about why the love Bella and why she is so great and perfect, and how they are willing to fight to the death over her, all of which Bella hears, but is so dense she figures it is a dream.
Later on, when Victoria finds Bella, Edward, and Seth, Bella tries to kill herself to save Seth rather than just sit where she is and trust the people around her, almost killing Seth in the process.
All is well when Victoria is dead excepting for Jacob being hurt. She goes down to visit him where they lay all their emotions on the table, and she tells him how she wishes she could be with him, too.
She spends all night sobbing to Edward over Jacob, and the love she will never have with him, and at the end of the book Edward and Bella send Jacob a wedding invitation.

OKAY, now that that is out of the way! Bella is a lot like a Mary-Sue in this book. There is not a lot of depth to her character (not a lot of depth to ANY of the characters, but I never claimed this was good writing), although the author tries. So mostly Bella contradicts herself. Sometimes the author tries and makes her sarcastic and funny, but mostly she just makes her whiney and sad. Through most of the book Bella begs Jacob not to do dangerous things, please stay behind with me and so I can rub Edward in your face.
Bella also makes sure she is home every night to cook a home cooked meal for her father, does laundry on a regular basis, and generally tries to mother everyone around her. She has no interest in shopping or fashion to the point that I don't understand how she dresses herself in the morning. However, the author gives her favorite tops, bottoms, and such, that she wishes she had when they are lost.
Bella is also the most sought after girl in Forks, but is completely unaware. All the boys want to date her, but she is so lost in "no body could ever like me..." that she never notices, even when three boys ask her to the prom.
Girls also hate her because she is so pretty and boys like her, something else she never realizes.

It makes it hard to like her when you can't identify with her. I think that was the realization I had. That, if I read the books and don't do any kind of thinking, then I really enjoy them. But once I start thinking about it, and applying it to my life I realize that I am an actual human, and Bella is the author in her own fantasy land, and Edward is her ideal man.

That being said, I do love Edward and Jacob. They feel like real people, and behave in situations the way people should. Mostly.

-Embee