The Host Chapters 20 and 21

Chapter 20- Freed

I was just thinking. Maybe Melanie is slowly taking OVER the body and beating Wanderer back into submission, and THIS is why she she keeps talking about how much she loves Jamie and Pedobear. Instead of Wanderer just being a stupid bitch who doesn't know how to keep her feelings separate from Melanie's. Hmm.

Jeb tells Melanie that she's moving into a bigger place with a bed. So...she's a part of the group now? I'm so sure.

“Now, we'll have to hang out here until we're sure Jared's really gone and can't catch us.” He grinned conspiratorially. “Then we'll have some fun!” He's going to rape her.

Now Melanie's sleeping on a real mattress and Jeb is like, in the room watching her. CREEPY. I could never EVER sleep if I knew someone was watching me.

“So the guys are long gone,” he said enthusiastically. “How 'bout a tour?” He stroked the gun
slung through a strap at his waist with an unconscious gesture. I'm so sure it was his GUN he was stroking. Euphemism!

Now Melanie and Jeb (HOLY SHIT I wrote "Melanie and I". HOLY SHIT I'M BEING SUCKED INTO THIS FRIGGEN BOOK. SAVE ME JEEBUS) are bonding. Jeb is giving Melanie a tour and saying all these stereotypical hermit-y type things.

I think Jeb showed Wanderer a room she would be staying in while its owner was away. Or something. I could be wrong. Is this significant? I don't know. Yesterday I didn't sleep for 21 hours and an hour ago I ate for the first time in 24. I'm really tired because I got woken up by some guy asking my friend for smokes and then twice more by the phone ringing. I'm pretty much a zombie right now. I won't be understanding much of these two chapters.

Now Jeb has led Melanie into the mess hall and everyone is staringa t them in disbelief. And then they leave on a tour. Not much happened in this chapter.

Chapter 21- Named

Jeb, Jamie, Wanderer, Ian, and the doctor who apparently doesn't warrant a name are walking together for no apparent reason.

And ignore what I said earlier about Melanie slowly taking over the body. She isn't.

And now Wanderer thinks Jeb lured her to the doctor's lair so he could experiment on her.

I honestly have no idea where this book is going. I mean SERIOUSLY. Obviously, it's not going to be about Melanie and Wanderer psychologically matching wits to take over the body. Apparently it's not about fighting the aliens, since we've gone like five chapters without mentioning them. WHAT ELSE IS THERE?

Anyway, Jamie is guarding Wanderer now and she freaks out because Jeb gives him a gun.

I don't know how these people survived an alien invasion because they are SO STUPID. Doesn't ANYONE think it's weird that:

a) Wanderer tried to hug Pedobear.
b) Wanderer is obviously always happy to see Jamie.
c) Wanderer tried to protect Pedobear from Kyle(?)
d) Wanderer is running away from her own kind.
e) Wanderer is not malevolent in any way.
f) That she called Aunt Maggie "Aunt Maggie."

You'd think ONE of them would be like, "Hey! She's acting like Melanie! Maybe Melanie is still in there somewhere!" But obviously they're too stupid. And they've never read Animorphs.

Now Jamie and Wanderer are bonding.

“Are theSee Weeds”–he laughed once at the pun–“the only other aliens?” He would laugh. Everyone in Smeyer's books has the same sense of humour as my father; his favourite joke is this: A mushroom walks into a bar and goes "I'm buying drinks for everyone!" The bartender goes, "Why did you just buy drinks for everyone?" and the mushroom goes, "because I'm a fun guy!" Get it? Get it? My dad LOVES that joke.

Oh you did NOT just mention Roswell. Someone's been doing her homework! Despite the fact that her vampires are fucked up to hell, she's decided to research aliens for the sci-fi book. That or she has NEVER read a sci-fi book and the only aliens she's ever heard of are the most famous ones. By the way, I SO wanted to go to Roswell for the 60th anniversary of the crash. DEAN HAGLUND was there. I'm SO going for the 70th anniversary. Or 75th. That one might be bigger.

“What about the little green guys with the triangle heads and the big black eyes? The ones who crashed in Roswell and all that. Was that you guys?” Never mind, she hasn't done her homework. The Roswell aliens didn't have triangle heads. She's thinking Silent Hill. Hasn't she seen Signs? Those were stereotypical Roswell aliens.

“How did you come here, then–if you weren't the little green guys, who were you? You had to
have bodies to move and stuff, right?”
“Right,” I agreed, surprised at his grasp of the facts at hand. How is it SO smart and amazing to realize that parasitical aliens need to have bodies to move around?

I just took a looooooooong break from this recap. I'm fading fast.

Now they're hugging and Jamie is crying. AGAIN, is it not obvious that SHE IS NOT ACTING LIKE A YEERK? SHE IS ACTING LIKE MELANIE.

We jumped apart. Jamie lurched to his feet, but I curled closer to the ground, cringing into the
wall. ARGH she's like an abused puppy. I mean SERIOUSLY. I've read a book trilogy set IN THE VICTORIAN AGE which featured stronger female characters. This is ostensibly set IN THE FUTURE. And apparently feminism has regressed.

Oh for fuck's sake. Jeb is calling Wanderer "Wanda" now. Maria hates the name Wanda. I hate the name Wendy, which is close enough. By extension, I now hate Wanderer more. I will not call her Wanda.

It just now struck me that Jeb kind of reminds me of Sailor Dan. Kind of stuck in the past ("it's gonna be famous, like that painter who was big a few years ago...Van Gogh?") and hermit-like and eccentric and possibly a little insane.