Reviews with content warning for Gun violence - The Time Traveler's Wife

You know in Twilight when Jacob imprinted on Renesmee, and it’s all icky and weird because it was bound to be romantic despite him being a full-grown adult and her a wee baby? I guess this makes me one of the people who doesn’t like how Henry and Clare met in The Timetraveler’s Wife. I didn’t mind that they got together, then I wouldn’t have read the book in the first place — it’s already in the title: WIFE. It just baffles me how they couldn’t just be both kids or at least the same age when Henry time-jumps to her. They meet in the present when Clare is 20 but for her, it has always been Henry. Henry is the person she knows she’ll dedicate her whole life to.

That’s what it felt like. It is as though Clare’s life revolved around Henry. Even in the two years they were apart, she was shattered and messy for him. Everything is for him.

Except the premise of the book had such great potential to make an interesting plot. Instead, we deal with characters I couldn't care less about or at least root for. Clare’s struggles and loneliness with a husband who constantly and unwillingly disappears have an appeal as a subject. That only materialized in the second half, I should not have to fight this much to enjoy a book!

I have a bone to pick with the writing: Ingrid’s ending, Gomez’s character, but specifically Henry’s POV. I hate that he constantly tells us that he knows what will happen and that he’s a time traveler. Like okay? We know too, damn, no need to spell it out. Let the readers be thrilled too and just show us.

Also, there were too many unnecessary mentions of breasts and r*pe. Especially for the latter, as if humans do not commit a plethora of wrongful deeds for a person to cite.

I admit that there were moments I was moved, shedding a few tears here and there, hence 2.75. Still, I had to let that semi-rant out. But to be honest, I would have DNF’ed this if I wasn’t annotating it for my best friend. I have been looking forward to talking to her about this, and I can’t if I only know a small percentage of the material.

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banksonman's review against another edition

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emotional inspiring mysterious sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.25

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riverofhorton's review against another edition

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I had to take a couple of days to cool off after deciding to stop reading this book, I just found there to be too much homophobia, racism, and misogyny to continue.

The final straw for me was getting jumpscared by an utterly needless homophobic slur (as it was until very recently) less than 100 pages in. Given the 'past' parts of the book are set in the 60s, 70s, and 80s, I could have deal with some casual prejudice, so as the world was at that time, especially if it were there to make a point and/or portray that character as being a negative person. But these prejudices are not only blatant, but could have been removed from the story without it losing anything.

And there is also the moral weirdness surrounding the relationship between itself. From Claire's perspective, she first met Henry at the age of ~5 years old, when he was in his 40s. He visited her regularly growing up, even waiting for her to turn 18 so he could have sex with her on her birthday. Sounds creepy, right? From his perspective though, he first her in his late 20s, her being early 20s, and the relationship proceeded somewhat normally to begin with, only a couple of mentions of how long she has known a future version of him. It's just kind of a mess, and considering he could time travel as a child as well, I don't quite understand why he couldn't have been a child of a similar age, or even have the whole thing contain within their respective adulthoods.

It's such a shame, the basic premise of two people falling in love out of sync because of time travel has the potential to be incredible, but this was just a disappointment. It's the first book I've ever DNFed, and it saddens me that it's a Sci-Fi book (one of my favourite genres) that can claim that title.

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zunn's review

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emotional medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.0

I feel very weird about this book. I enjoyed the writing style and the concept behind the time travelling, especially questioning the idea of determinism. But the book is problematic in many ways. There is a romantization of a grooming situation and lots of racist stereotypes.

I also think there is criticism on Clare's position in the book, with her waiting for Henry all the time. I think it does also show how men are allowed to be adventurous and not zomen, but i couldn't really tell wether the author was being purposely exaggerated in that direction, or willfully unaware..

Similarly, I was appalled by Henry's behaviour in many ways : I found him to be grooming Clare and rapey, both when Clare is a child and when she is an adult. He is very manipulative, and their over achieving sex life clearly poses a problem to Clare, that is brushed off as him being passionate. I also am wondering about his description as a womanizer suddenly turned quiet library boyfriend. As if he always was a man to be feared, as Ingrid warned, but that it would only appear at the end. I wondered throughout the whole book wether the end would have some kind of moral showing the wrongs of his behaviour.
Towards Alba, I find that his fondness for her isn't as authe tic as Clare's, again foreshadowing a huge gender bias imo. She sees Alba as her child, he seems to see her as an annoyance and an object.

I think this book would have been up to my alley if the end would show some kind of twist : Clare realising she's never been free, both of her 'destiny' and Henry. I think the theme would have been of great interest, and the book ends up being just problematic.

I also was annoyed about the racist stereotypes in the book, and the fact that no real character is important besides Henry haha...

Also I hated Gomez with all my heart.
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passionatereader78's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Wonderfully written book! I enjoyed this exploration of time travel. I loved the relationship between Claire and Henry. There is so much heat in theses pages! I love the way the story was easy to follow. The time jumps were uncomplicated and I could follow the plot. I loved everything about this book!
This is Henry and Claire's beautifully complicated love story!

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