One page later, he thinks, “But then I would have to stop them from escaping. So that’s what Edward was thinking in the famous scene when he smells Bella: about killing a classroom full of high-schoolers. Her thoughts meant nothing, for she would not go on thinking them much longer” (p. The mystery of her thoughts was forgotten. There was no room full of witnesses - they were already the collateral damage in my mind. There was nothing else in the whole world but that truth. They’re averaging a sigh every four pages. Pomegranate seeds and my underworld” (p.615).Įdward and Bella collectively sigh 168 times. “Because what would hurt Bella the most? I couldn’t escape the truest answer.I thought of pomegranate seeds for the first time in a while” (p.470). “A flicker of unease twisted my expression.How many toxic seeds had I already infected her with?” (p.365).

“This was a dangerous path to even hint at.

“One too many pomegranate seeds, and she was bound to the underworld with me” (p.

“Every word we spoke here - each one of them was another pomegranate seed” (p.

“I saw Persephone, pomegranate in hand.

Also, Hadestown and Portrait of a Lady on Fire both do Persephone better, neither hitting you over the head with pomegranates. If you think it’s deployed gracefully, you thought wrong.

Edward draws a comparison between his and Bella Swan’s plight and the story of Hades and Persephone, countering the biblical apple motif of the first Twilight book with the next most biblical fruit. The motif of Midnight Sun is pomegranates.

Here are the most notable moments from our annotated reading: It took me, a lifelong Twilight fan, two whole weeks to read it and not just because I’m dumb. Now those Twihards are all grown up, and those who are so inclined can read the full version of Midnight Sun, a retelling of the first Twilight book from Edward’s perspective, as what it is: a nearly 700-page fanfic exercise. It was also released in 2008, sort of, when a leak of an early draft of the book’s first half reached the internet, dissuading author Stephenie Meyer from completing the rest of it in a move that didn’t not feel like she was punishing fans for passing notes in class. Midnight Sun, the new book in the Twilight series, was released on August 4, 2020.

Read midnight sun online