New Moon (novel)
Little, Brown | ||
Publication date | ||
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Media type | Print ( LC Class PZ7.M5717515 New 2006 | |
Preceded by | Twilight | |
Followed by | Eclipse |
New Moon (stylized as new moon) is a 2006 romantic fantasy novel by author Stephenie Meyer. The second installment in the Twilight series, the novel continues the story of Bella Swan and her relationship with vampire Edward Cullen as she enters her senior year of high school. When Edward leaves Bella after his brother attacks her, she is left heartbroken and depressed for months until Jacob Black becomes her best friend. However, her life twists once more when Jacob's nature reveals itself and Edward's sister decides to visit.
According to Meyer, the book is about losing true love.[5] The title refers to the darkest phase of the lunar cycle, indicating that New Moon is about the darkest time of protagonist Bella Swan's life.[6] Meyer wrote the book before Twilight was published. Writing the book was difficult for Meyer as she feared the readers' reaction to the book and often cried as she described Bella's pain.
The book was originally released in hardcover on September 6, 2006, with an initial print run of 100,000 copies. Upon its publication in the United States, New Moon was highly successful and moved quickly to the top of bestseller lists, becoming one of the most anticipated books of the year. It peaked at #1 on both the
Reception for New Moon was more positive than that for its predecessor. Some criticized the middle section's pacing; critics generally, however, argued the novel was more mature in tone, praising the character development and its depiction of human emotion.
Plot
On
In the months that follow, Bella learns that thrill-seeking activities, such as motorcycle riding and cliff-diving, allow her to "hear" Edward's voice in her head through her subconscious mind. She also seeks comfort in her deepening friendship with
Meanwhile, a series of miscommunications leads Edward to believe that Bella has committed
Differences between film and novel
- Bella never confronted Sam in his werewolf form in the novel, but rather in his human form, which Emily later explains everything to her. The film, has her confronting him in his wolf form.
- Unlike in the film where Charlie grounds Bella after she runs off to Italy, Charlie grounds her after he sees her with Edward at their house in the novel's conclusion.
- In the novel's end, Edward never proposed to Bella, but rather walked her in the house to explain everything to Charlie. The film omits this.
- In the novel, Edward doesn't try to stop Jane when she attempted to use her abilities on Bella and failed. In the film, he does and gets hurt mentally.
Development
After Meyer finished writing Twilight, she found herself writing multiple, hundred-page epilogues, and has said, "I quickly realized I wasn't ready to stop writing about Bella and Edward."[10] She began writing a sequel, which was entitled Forever Dawn and skipped over Bella's final year of high school.[11] While Meyer was still writing Forever Dawn, she learned that Twilight was going to be published and marketed as a young-adult novel.[11] Wanting the next book to be aimed at a similar audience, she decided to write a new sequel, New Moon, which took place during Bella's senior year of high school.[11] Therefore, Meyer started writing the outline of the book and thinking of what her characters would do, and claims that she "swiftly regretted asking them for the story." She didn't like the idea of Edward leaving at first and tried to think of other plot options, but, in the end, she said that "she accepted the inevitability of it."[11]
Meyer wrote New Moon in five months. She found the editing process "much longer and more difficult than the same process with Twilight." Also, unlike Twilight, which Meyer intended not to publish at first, she recognized that New Moon was going to be published and had what she described as a "horrible feeling much like stage fright" while writing. However, Meyer considers Jacob to be her favorite gift the book gave, as she liked the character a lot and wanted to expand his role and presence.[11]
The confrontation with the Volturi in the clock tower at the end of the book was the first scene Meyer wrote. She did not want to use a real city as the location for the Volturi's residence, as she did with
The first draft of New Moon differed significantly from the manuscript published. Originally, Bella never found out that Jacob was a werewolf, and as a result, the seventy pages following Bella's discovery of Jacob's nature were missing. The epilogue was also different in title and content.[14] Meyer found it difficult to write Bella's pain over Edward's departure and often cried while writing those parts.[11] She mentioned that she never suffered a heartbreak like Bella's, so she couldn't draw inspiration for her pain from personal experiences, but based it on how she thought she would feel if she lost a child,[15] while insisting that it came from her character, who is "much more open—to both pain and joy." She claims that "the way she chose to cope with it" was unexpected.[16]
According to Meyer, the story was inspired by
Cover and title
The cover art of New Moon was designed by Gail Doobinin and photographed by John Grant. Meyer has expressed on numerous occasions that she had no hand in choosing the cover,[18] and said that she does not like it. She described it as "a very lovely ruffled tulip that means nothing at all".[18] Originally, Meyer suggested a clock image for the cover as she saw "time" as one of the most important themes of the novel. However, the artwork team that designed the cover chose the image of a tulip losing one of its petals, aiming to represent Bella losing a drop of blood.[19]
When Meyer finished writing the book, she wanted a title that referred to a time of day to match Twilight. As it reflected the mood of the sequel, she titled the novel New Moon, "the darkest kind of night, a night with no moon", to refer to the darkest period of Bella's life.[11]
Publication and reception
Sales
New Moon was published by
By 2008, Publishers Weekly reported that New Moon had sold 1.5 million copies throughout the U.S.[25] In October 2008, the book was ranked #37 on USA Today's "Bestselling Books of Last 15 Years".[26] According to USA Today, the book was also the second biggest-selling book of 2008 behind its prequel, Twilight,[27] and the biggest-selling of 2009, giving the saga the top four positions on the list for two consecutive years.[28] It was also ranked at #27 on the list of biggest-selling books of 2010.[29]
Critical reception
The novel received mostly positive reviews with some critics feeling that it dragged in the middle. Hillias J. Martin of
New Moon won the Senior Young Reader's Choice Award in 2009.[35]
Adaptations
A film adaptation of New Moon was released on November 20, 2009.[36][37][38] It is the sequel to 2008's Twilight, which is based on the previous novel written by Meyer. The film starred Kristen Stewart, Robert Pattinson, and Taylor Lautner, reprising their roles as Bella Swan, Edward Cullen, and Jacob Black, respectively.[39] In late November 2008, Summit Entertainment greenlit the sequel, which was directed by Chris Weitz with Melissa Rosenberg returning as the screenwriter.[40] The majority of the film was shot in Vancouver, British Columbia.[41]
References
- ISBN 0316160199.
- ^ "New Moon". stepheniemeyer.com.
- ^ New Moon: 2. ASIN 0316160199.
- ^ New Moon (Twilight Saga Book 2). February 26, 2009.
- Amazon.com. Event occurs at 00:00:18. Archivedfrom the original on January 20, 2009. Retrieved January 18, 2009.
- ^ "Twilight Series|New Moon FAQ". StephenieMeyer.com. Archived from the original on August 7, 2011. Retrieved August 12, 2011.
- ^ a b "Children's Books – New York Times". New York Times. November 12, 2006. Archived from the original on January 14, 2015. Retrieved July 23, 2009.
- ^ a b "Best-Selling Books Database". USA Today. August 2, 2009. Archived from the original on July 1, 2012. Retrieved August 9, 2009.
- ^ Diane Roback (March 23, 2009). "Bestselling Children's Books 2008: Meyer's Deep Run". Publishers Weekly. Archived from the original on October 16, 2009. Retrieved August 9, 2009.
- ^ "BookStories Interview with Stephenie Meyer". BookStories. Changing Hands Bookstore. August 2006. Archived from the original on December 16, 2008. Retrieved August 15, 2009.
- ^ a b c d e f g Stephenie Meyer. "The Story Behind the Writing of New Moon". StephenieMeyer.com. Archived from the original on November 4, 2006. Retrieved August 15, 2009.
- ^ a b "Twilight Lexicon – The Q & A from the February 2007, BYU Symposium". Twilight Lexicon. February 9, 2007. Archived from the original on May 22, 2011. Retrieved June 13, 2011.
- ^ "Stephenie Meyer answers your questions". Twilight Lexicon. November 17, 2009. Archived from the original on July 24, 2011. Retrieved June 12, 2011.
- ^ "If Jacob Didn't Break the Rules" (PDF). Stephenie Meyer.com. Archived (PDF) from the original on June 23, 2011. Retrieved June 12, 2011.
- ^ "The Q & A from the February 2007, BYU Symposium". Twilight Lexicon. February 9, 2007. Archived from the original on July 22, 2011. Retrieved July 5, 2011.
- ^ "Twilight Lexicon – Personal Correspondence #10". Twilight Lexicon. September 19, 2006. Archived from the original on May 22, 2011. Retrieved June 12, 2011.
- ^ Proctor, Maurine (August 8, 2008). "Stephenie Meyer's Twilight". Meridian. Archived from the original on December 1, 2008. Retrieved April 19, 2010.
- ^ a b "The Breaking Dawn Concert Tour-Seattle Q&A". Twilight Lexicon. Archived from the original on October 2, 2011. Retrieved July 5, 2011.
- Little, Brown.
- ^ Cecelia Goodnow (August 6, 2007). "Stephenie Meyer's Forks-based saga of teen vampire love is now a global hit". Seattle Post-Intelligencer. Retrieved August 15, 2009.
- Waterstone's. Archivedfrom the original on October 16, 2009. Retrieved August 15, 2009.
- ^ "New York Times Best Seller list". The New York Times. October 22, 2006. Archived from the original on January 17, 2016. Retrieved August 12, 2011.
- ^ "New York Times Best Seller list". The New York Times. July 15, 2007. Archived from the original on January 14, 2015. Retrieved August 12, 2011.
- ^ DeBarros, Anthony; Lopez, Korina; Cadden, Mary (January 14, 2010). "The top 100 books of 2007". USA Today. Archived from the original on June 4, 2011. Retrieved June 13, 2011.
- ^ "Stephenie Meyer By the Numbers". Publishers Weekly. December 5, 2008. Archived from the original on September 21, 2008. Retrieved August 15, 2009.
- ^ "USA Today's best-selling books of last 15 years". USA Today. October 30, 2008. Archived from the original on April 14, 2009. Retrieved August 22, 2009.
- ^ Debarros, Anthony; Cadden, Mary; DeRamus, Kristin; Schnaars, Christopher (January 14, 2009). "The top 100 books of 2008". USA Today. Archived from the original on August 5, 2011. Retrieved May 31, 2011.
- ^ Debarros, Anthony; Cadden, Mary; DeRamus, Kristin; Schnaars, Christopher (January 6, 2010). "Best-Selling Books: The top 100 for 2009". USA Today. Archived from the original on August 7, 2011. Retrieved May 31, 2011.
- ^ Minzesheimer, Bob; DeBarros, Anthony (January 12, 2011). "2010 saw a frenzy for fiction, led by Stieg Larsson's 'Girl' trilogy". USA Today. Archived from the original on January 16, 2011. Retrieved June 13, 2011.
- ISBN 0316160199.
- ^ ISBN 978-0-316-07565-7. Retrieved August 12, 2011.
- ^ http://www.teenreads.com Archived 2008-07-01 at the Wayback Machine Teenreads.com
- ^ "New Moon by Stephenie Meyer". Teenreads.com. Archived from the original on July 19, 2011. Retrieved August 12, 2011.
- ^ Anna Limber. "'New Moon' by Stephenie Meyer – Book Review". About.com. Archived from the original on October 2, 2011. Retrieved June 13, 2011.
- ^ "2009 YRCA Winners". Pnla.org. Archived from the original on August 18, 2011. Retrieved August 12, 2011.
- ^ Larry Carroll (February 19, 2009). "'Twilight' Exclusive: 'New Moon' Art And Official Title Revealed!". MTV. Archived from the original on February 21, 2009. Retrieved February 20, 2009.
- ^ Jennifer Cady (February 20, 2009). "New Moon Gets an Official Title and Artwork". E! Online. Archived from the original on February 23, 2009. Retrieved February 20, 2009.
- ^ "What Rob Pattinson Misses Most & His Secret Fear". The Improper. February 21, 2009. Archived from the original on February 24, 2009. Retrieved February 21, 2009.
- ^ "Taylor Lautner to Reprise His Role as Jacob in New Moon" (Press release). Summit Entertainment. January 7, 2009. Archived from the original on February 10, 2009. Retrieved March 17, 2009.
- Reed Elsevier. Archivedfrom the original on December 12, 2008. Retrieved December 12, 2008.
- E! Online. E! Entertainment Television, Inc. Archived from the originalon June 4, 2010. Retrieved April 27, 2009.
External links
Quotations related to New Moon (novel) at Wikiquote