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cameronlt's review against another edition
emotional
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
joemdief's review against another edition
5.0
Brilliant. Heart warming and heart wrenching. Enchanting from cover to cover.
readingspells's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
This book has set on my shelf for around 15 years. I have come close to un-hauling it a few times but something always stopped me and I would pop it back on the shelf.
This year I wrote myself 12 reading challenges. One of them was to read a book published in the year of my daughters birth (2003). When I was looking for potential candidates this popped up on the list of books published in that year and I knew it was meant to be.
Oddly I am glad I waited all that time to read it. I have a feeling 15 years ago I might have DNF it as the beginning is a little confusing and the time travel element probably would have had me dismissing it as silly. (I had not really discovered my love of magical realism back then) but now, today, this book... *happy sigh
Is it perfect? Nope, there are definitely some descriptions of food or places that ramble on a bit, Clare is oddly not easy to connect with at first and Henry is more fleeting in the early parts of the book. There is also some repetition but when I mentioned to my husband (who has read it) he was like, press on. Trust the process. And that is my advice to you if you have not read it because the author took me on a journey and I am totally in awe of what she managed to do with this book.
I can't begin to imagine the plotting it must have taken to weave this story together. To make it linear whilst also jumping back in time and on some rare occasions, forward too. Henry slowly emerges into the story I found myself caring deeply about him. He seemed to fragile and lost and scared and yet he constantly tried to make it OK for everyone else. As for the ending, tears were shed.
“I love you, always. Time is nothing.
Henry”
CW: Graphic miscarriage descriptions, graphic car accident, amputation.
This year I wrote myself 12 reading challenges. One of them was to read a book published in the year of my daughters birth (2003). When I was looking for potential candidates this popped up on the list of books published in that year and I knew it was meant to be.
Oddly I am glad I waited all that time to read it. I have a feeling 15 years ago I might have DNF it as the beginning is a little confusing and the time travel element probably would have had me dismissing it as silly. (I had not really discovered my love of magical realism back then) but now, today, this book... *happy sigh
Is it perfect? Nope, there are definitely some descriptions of food or places that ramble on a bit, Clare is oddly not easy to connect with at first and Henry is more fleeting in the early parts of the book. There is also some repetition but when I mentioned to my husband (who has read it) he was like, press on. Trust the process. And that is my advice to you if you have not read it because the author took me on a journey and I am totally in awe of what she managed to do with this book.
I can't begin to imagine the plotting it must have taken to weave this story together. To make it linear whilst also jumping back in time and on some rare occasions, forward too. Henry slowly emerges into the story I found myself caring deeply about him. He seemed to fragile and lost and scared and yet he constantly tried to make it OK for everyone else. As for the ending, tears were shed.
“I love you, always. Time is nothing.
Henry”
CW: Graphic miscarriage descriptions, graphic car accident, amputation.
bittersweet_symphony's review against another edition
3.0
I wish I could have liked this more. The characters were not especially likable, neither were their abrasive. The characters didn't come to life for me.
I felt like I was too much inside of a 40 something year old woman's fantasy novel--I imagine the novel was the exact dream Audrey Niffenegger wanted to live out.
Time travel is always difficult to pull off. While not a book, I believe the film "About Time" does a better job of achieving all the heart, and thought-provoking presentation that leaves an audience changed. The Time Traveler's Wife did not do that for me.
Still, there is a reason this book is so popular.
I felt like I was too much inside of a 40 something year old woman's fantasy novel--I imagine the novel was the exact dream Audrey Niffenegger wanted to live out.
Time travel is always difficult to pull off. While not a book, I believe the film "About Time" does a better job of achieving all the heart, and thought-provoking presentation that leaves an audience changed. The Time Traveler's Wife did not do that for me.
Still, there is a reason this book is so popular.
_emilialou's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.5
kathydavie's review against another edition
5.0
It’s a lovely and so very sad love story. Read it only if you enjoy a weepy tale. I love that I’ve read it but I hate that I cried and cried and cried.
The story moves back and forth: always forward for Clare while Henry is never quite sure when or where he is. It begins with an older man, Henry, who pops in to visit a six-year-old girl, Clare, and continues throughout their lives. While Henry knows everything of Clare’s life from the beginning, we only learn of Henry’s pre-Clare history when Henry and Clare begin their life together.
It’s a sweet tale of a normal life, or, at least, as normal as it can be when one half of a couple suddenly disappears into the future/past. What’s intriguing is how Niffenegger manages to weave normal concerns with Henry’s time traveling creating both tension and hope---Clare and Henry had so very much and so very little all at once. The most amazing marriage of secrets and truth, love and tolerance.
I wanted this to end differently---they deserved so much more. And so beautiful to read the poetry that Henry loved.
Henry is a librarian who speaks several languages, loves poetry, and is a punk rocker with an historian’s love of music while Clare is a paper artist specializing in birds. The family and friends who surround them are intriguing; it amazes me how many are brought into the secret and how well they handle it.
The cover is so appropriate considering the amount of time the older Henry has spent visiting with the younger Clare while combining a faint presence of Alba.
The story moves back and forth: always forward for Clare while Henry is never quite sure when or where he is. It begins with an older man, Henry, who pops in to visit a six-year-old girl, Clare, and continues throughout their lives. While Henry knows everything of Clare’s life from the beginning, we only learn of Henry’s pre-Clare history when Henry and Clare begin their life together.
It’s a sweet tale of a normal life, or, at least, as normal as it can be when one half of a couple suddenly disappears into the future/past. What’s intriguing is how Niffenegger manages to weave normal concerns with Henry’s time traveling creating both tension and hope---Clare and Henry had so very much and so very little all at once. The most amazing marriage of secrets and truth, love and tolerance.
I wanted this to end differently---they deserved so much more. And so beautiful to read the poetry that Henry loved.
Henry is a librarian who speaks several languages, loves poetry, and is a punk rocker with an historian’s love of music while Clare is a paper artist specializing in birds. The family and friends who surround them are intriguing; it amazes me how many are brought into the secret and how well they handle it.
The cover is so appropriate considering the amount of time the older Henry has spent visiting with the younger Clare while combining a faint presence of Alba.
the_booker's review against another edition
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
clairechum's review against another edition
5.0
I started reading The Time Traveler's Wife because I saw that HBO had turned it into a TV series starring Theo James, who I absolutely love. I wanted to watch the show but a friend recommended I read the book first.
I am SO happy I chose to read the book first because the jump between times can be a bit difficult to grasp so I imagine watching the show with no prior knowledge of Henry's time-traveling situation might be confusing or hard to follow.
As for the content of the novel, Niffenegger writes about the lives of Clare and Henry so intimately that you get to know both characters so well and by the end, you are sure to be attached. Without spoiling too much, I can say that I was sobbing at the end of the book.
I am SO happy I chose to read the book first because the jump between times can be a bit difficult to grasp so I imagine watching the show with no prior knowledge of Henry's time-traveling situation might be confusing or hard to follow.
As for the content of the novel, Niffenegger writes about the lives of Clare and Henry so intimately that you get to know both characters so well and by the end, you are sure to be attached. Without spoiling too much, I can say that I was sobbing at the end of the book.
squidopedia's review against another edition
5.0
Well, this book is going straight onto the favourites shelf!!!
I'm always looking for that perfect love story, and I think I've found my one. I read this book, and then as soon as I finished it, I started it one more time.
Clare and Henry are wonderfully written characters, Audrey Niffenegger has a beautiful way with words. The love is something I genuinely felt, and believed in. The story was one I didn't question or judge the entire way through, and I couldn't predict what was going to happen which is so rare for me!
So phenomenal. So wonderful. This love touched me in a way that left me feeling empty when I wasn't a part of it anymore.
I'm always looking for that perfect love story, and I think I've found my one. I read this book, and then as soon as I finished it, I started it one more time.
Clare and Henry are wonderfully written characters, Audrey Niffenegger has a beautiful way with words. The love is something I genuinely felt, and believed in. The story was one I didn't question or judge the entire way through, and I couldn't predict what was going to happen which is so rare for me!
So phenomenal. So wonderful. This love touched me in a way that left me feeling empty when I wasn't a part of it anymore.