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3.93 AVERAGE
3.93 AVERAGE
emotional
inspiring
reflective
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
adventurous
emotional
funny
hopeful
inspiring
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
dark
sad
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I reserve 1 star for books I can’t finish, so since I finished it, I’ll give it a 1.25. This book is unnecessarily traumatic and gross. I don’t recommend it to anyone. *SPOILERS AHEAD*
To begin, the good things: the premise is cool. The idea of a guy who can time travel without a machine? Awesome. The idea of said guy falling in love and having a family? Also cool. The real life, well written struggle of this couple trying to conceive? Brought tears to my eyes.
That’s about it for the good stuff.
The bad: it’s unavoidable that Henry groomed Claire. We have a prepubescent child being told by a 30+ year old man that they will get married one day, and that man has a sexual encounter with this girl after 12 years of grooming when she is 18 and he is 41. I understand that he is married to her as an adult when these encounters occur, but that doesn’t make it less creepy? It’s like Jacob imprinting on Reneesme in Twilight.
Can we say that Claire and Henry fall in love? When Claire is a kid, Henry tells her that they’re in love. When Claire meets Henry in real time, she tells him that he’s her husband. But do we ever see them fall in love? Or is it a catch-22 of telling each other that they are in love?
Also, not one of these characters are good people. Henry is a thief, a groomer, runs around with multiple women at a time, dumps a girl he’s dating when Claire comes and says you’re my husband and never seems to care about her struggle with being dumped. Claire cheats on Henry (by the standard that she was in a relationship with him when they went their two year without seeing each other) with the boyfriend of her best friend, and never seems to feel bad about it, nor does anything to keep herself out of potentially compromising scenarios with him. Gomez, who is one of Henry’s best friends, sleeps with Claire and never tells Henry, then tries to have sex with Claire again while being married with children to her best friend while she is mourning the loss of her husband. We also have times where Claire and her father know things about Lucille that neither of Claire’s siblings know about, and would be good information for them to have.
Lastly, the traumatic events that occur for absolutely no reason. We have graphic descriptions of miscarriage, a woman being killed in a graphic way in front of her child, traumatic injuries after being left in the cold (which served no purpose to the plot), and a woman committing suicide in front of another character. The gore descriptions rival Stephen King, and honestly wouldn’t bother me if I was reading a horror story, but alas, this book is not marketed as such.
Overall, there is too much gross content for me to have enjoyed this book, and I echo my statement above that I would not recommend it.
To begin, the good things: the premise is cool. The idea of a guy who can time travel without a machine? Awesome. The idea of said guy falling in love and having a family? Also cool. The real life, well written struggle of this couple trying to conceive? Brought tears to my eyes.
That’s about it for the good stuff.
The bad: it’s unavoidable that Henry groomed Claire. We have a prepubescent child being told by a 30+ year old man that they will get married one day, and that man has a sexual encounter with this girl after 12 years of grooming when she is 18 and he is 41. I understand that he is married to her as an adult when these encounters occur, but that doesn’t make it less creepy? It’s like Jacob imprinting on Reneesme in Twilight.
Can we say that Claire and Henry fall in love? When Claire is a kid, Henry tells her that they’re in love. When Claire meets Henry in real time, she tells him that he’s her husband. But do we ever see them fall in love? Or is it a catch-22 of telling each other that they are in love?
Also, not one of these characters are good people. Henry is a thief, a groomer, runs around with multiple women at a time, dumps a girl he’s dating when Claire comes and says you’re my husband and never seems to care about her struggle with being dumped. Claire cheats on Henry (by the standard that she was in a relationship with him when they went their two year without seeing each other) with the boyfriend of her best friend, and never seems to feel bad about it, nor does anything to keep herself out of potentially compromising scenarios with him. Gomez, who is one of Henry’s best friends, sleeps with Claire and never tells Henry, then tries to have sex with Claire again while being married with children to her best friend while she is mourning the loss of her husband. We also have times where Claire and her father know things about Lucille that neither of Claire’s siblings know about, and would be good information for them to have.
Lastly, the traumatic events that occur for absolutely no reason. We have graphic descriptions of miscarriage, a woman being killed in a graphic way in front of her child, traumatic injuries after being left in the cold (which served no purpose to the plot), and a woman committing suicide in front of another character. The gore descriptions rival Stephen King, and honestly wouldn’t bother me if I was reading a horror story, but alas, this book is not marketed as such.
Overall, there is too much gross content for me to have enjoyed this book, and I echo my statement above that I would not recommend it.
emotional
lighthearted
mysterious
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I love that is supernatural. Loved this book!
One of the things I enjoyed most about this book was the unique style of writing Niffenegger employed. It was successful in drawing me into the novel, and I felt as though I could connect with the characters, even though I have never been in the same situation, for obvious reasons. I loved how the narrative jumped from one time to another, mirroring how Henry lived his life. I also appreciated how every part of the book was important, and I felt that no paragraph was gratuitous.
Finally read this book last week after seeing the previews for the movie on TV. Very interesting book and sad at the end. A love story that you can feel. At times it is hard to read because it jumps back and forth- the whole traveling thing...
I would recommend it.
I would recommend it.
emotional
hopeful
medium-paced
Creative premise but wished some of the characters were more fleshed out.
So here is my (drunk) review of Time Traveller's Wife!
I liked this book a lot! The only problems with it are the Humbert Humbert-ish overtones of the relationship between Claire and Jamie? No. Not Jamie. That was Cross Stitch. Man what was his name again??
Oh well. I belive this is my year of Humbert, as Jane Eyre was kind of Humbert-ish too. Man Humbert is interesting! I feel like reading Lolita now! I curse my library for owning the copy I like.
Well. Was Clare and Whatshisnames love predestined or not? I believe he kind of sort of forced her into the relationship, since she was always knowing they'd be married and such. Yet he was a man whore until he realised she was his one and only true love forever and ever amen. She never even got a choice to marry someone else after he died, seeing as he might just come back, which he did.
Argh. Remind me to rewrite this later.
Overall, it's a good book. Read it, but dont really expect rainbows and fireworks like I did, since it fell a bit short. 'Her Fearful Symmetry" is good too!
I liked this book a lot! The only problems with it are the Humbert Humbert-ish overtones of the relationship between Claire and Jamie? No. Not Jamie. That was Cross Stitch. Man what was his name again??
Oh well. I belive this is my year of Humbert, as Jane Eyre was kind of Humbert-ish too. Man Humbert is interesting! I feel like reading Lolita now! I curse my library for owning the copy I like.
Well. Was Clare and Whatshisnames love predestined or not? I believe he kind of sort of forced her into the relationship, since she was always knowing they'd be married and such. Yet he was a man whore until he realised she was his one and only true love forever and ever amen. She never even got a choice to marry someone else after he died, seeing as he might just come back, which he did.
Argh. Remind me to rewrite this later.
Overall, it's a good book. Read it, but dont really expect rainbows and fireworks like I did, since it fell a bit short. 'Her Fearful Symmetry" is good too!