Take a photo of a barcode or cover
3.93 AVERAGE
3.93 AVERAGE
I'm a pretty big fan of this novel. It is about time travel, yet it doesn't feel as sci-fi as it could have. For the most part, everything feels pretty normal (as normal as a novel about time travel could feel).
There are a few things that bothered me about this book, however:
1. Clare is a bit of a 'flat' character. It always bothered me that she was an artist, yet she never really seemed all that interested in art until the second half of the novel. I also don't like how when she's an old woman she seems to just...exist. It makes me feel like she only kept herself alive to see Henry one last time.
2. The Gomez situation. I couldn't decide whether I liked him or not throughout the entire novel. He made it incredibly obvious that he had a thing for Clare, yet Charisse does nothing about it other than marry him and have three kids with him.
3. The way Henry and Clare are in love from the moment they meet. I expected a sort of reaction like that from Clare, since she has been in love with the older version of Henry for years. Henry, on the other hand, already has a girlfriend and has never seen Clare in his life, yet he jumps right into a relationship with her.
4. Henry's past. He is an alcoholic and sort of a player, yet once Clare is in his life he never really drinks or wanders once. And she has no problem with his past, simply because Older Henry told her she was the one he'd end up marrying.
While there were a few things that bugged me about this book, there were many more I liked. I actually enjoyed all the punk band name-dropping, and the fancy food descriptions. It helped me sort of 'categorize' the characters. I liked the fact that Henry's coworkers thought he was weird and his boss nearly fired him.(Not sure how he made a decent amount of money as a librarian, but oh well.) I like how he ends up having to share his secret with other people. The fact that he went to a dozen different doctors makes sense. After years of time-traveling trouble, I'm sure you'd be willing to do anything to make it stop, or at least to try to understand it--even if that means looking like a crazy person trying to explain it to a doctor.
This book left me with a vague feeling of existential dread. I believe that is how Henry felt, as well. Is everything pre-planned? Do we have any say in how our future plays out? This is one of the central ideas in any time-travel story, and I think this is one of the better ones. All in all, I think this is a unique and enjoyable novel.
Graphic: Body horror, Death, Gun violence, Infertility, Miscarriage, Panic attacks/disorders, Suicide, Terminal illness, Blood, Grief, Medical trauma, Car accident, Death of parent, Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Infidelity, Mental illness, Rape, Toxic relationship, Pregnancy, Toxic friendship
Minor: Homophobia, Vomit