Scan barcode
riverofhorton's review against another edition
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.
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.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Blood, Child abuse, Death of parent, Sexism, Kidnapping, Sexual harassment, Torture, Classism, Mental illness, Gaslighting, Hate crime, Pedophilia, Sexual violence, Alcohol, Abortion, Sexual content, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Grief, Bullying, Racism, Misogyny, Racial slurs, Car accident, Confinement, Death, Gun violence, Homophobia, Injury/Injury detail, Toxic relationship, Addiction, Body shaming, Physical abuse, Ableism, Sexual assault, Miscarriage, Rape, Stalking, and Violence
valeria_balzan's review against another edition
reflective
relaxing
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.5
This book was alright. It had an awesome setup but I think it was missing some plot. I understand the book mostly centers about Claire and Henry and their "love story" but I did not care about them or the other characters at all (or what happened to them, for that matter.)
I feel like the author had great opportunities to push the limits of time travelling and how it can impact a person's Henry's life but he is just boring and hates this ability.
I feel like the author had great opportunities to push the limits of time travelling and how it can impact a person's Henry's life but he is just boring and hates this ability.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Miscarriage, Infertility, Death, Adult/minor relationship, Medical content, Injury/Injury detail, Alcoholism, Bullying, Rape, Pregnancy, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Death of parent, and Grief
Moderate: Blood and Schizophrenia/Psychosis
Minor: Abandonment and Mental illness
souvraya's review against another edition
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
I quite liked the first half of the book up to the wedding, but then enjoyed it less and less. It's a really interesting concept, often well-executed and the non-linear storytelling worked well. It was particularly interesting to see characters interacting in a variety of stages of their lives.
Now for the problems. The second and third part of the book get increasingly depressing in a way that felt like traumatising events were being being piled on for no reason. The characters barely have time to react to each of these events so they don't feel fully developed, just added in for shock value.
It was very disappointing how little agency and personality the titular wife had. Clare was interesting to read about as a child, then she became much more bland as an adult. It was really all about Henry, so naming the book after Clare is not representative of the role she takes.
Another disappointment was that a lot of characters' shitty behaviour has no repercussions whatsoever, Gomez and Celia especially rubbed me the wrong way. It doesn't get called out, nobody reacts to it, and it often doesn't cause any problems. When that happens too often, it feels very unsatisfying to me and when it happens with the main characters it calls their romance into question.
Even worse, there was a major part of the story later on, that consumed some of the characters completely for a long time, and then it suddenly turned into an afterthought. It seems that the author didn't know what to do with Alba as a character, so she was simply turned into a Mary Sue that's somehow immune to all of the aforementioned trauma. It's very unrealistic to think of what she goes through, yet no one seems to care about her and she continues to be quite happy-go-lucky.
Some of the time traveling concepts fell apart towards the end, with several aspects that should have been relevant being swept under the table. There's no real or implied resolution to what might be causing it, whether there will be more time travelers in the future, how society treats them, etc. With these topics ignored, it only barely fits into the sci-fi genre. It's really more a romance with a quirky setting.
Finally, there was some really out-of-touch racism and social commentary at times. POC, queer and disabled characters were handled terribly and I was especially weirded out by the term "Auschwitz thin" and a character's insistence that an adopted child wouldn't really be theirs, especially because nobody offered an alternative opinion on that statement. The book really needed more editing to cut out all of that.
Now for the problems. The second and third part of the book get increasingly depressing in a way that felt like traumatising events were being being piled on for no reason. The characters barely have time to react to each of these events so they don't feel fully developed, just added in for shock value.
It was very disappointing how little agency and personality the titular wife had. Clare was interesting to read about as a child, then she became much more bland as an adult. It was really all about Henry, so naming the book after Clare is not representative of the role she takes.
Another disappointment was that a lot of characters' shitty behaviour has no repercussions whatsoever, Gomez and Celia especially rubbed me the wrong way. It doesn't get called out, nobody reacts to it, and it often doesn't cause any problems. When that happens too often, it feels very unsatisfying to me and when it happens with the main characters it calls their romance into question.
Even worse, there was a major part of the story later on, that consumed some of the characters completely for a long time, and then it suddenly turned into an afterthought. It seems that the author didn't know what to do with Alba as a character, so she was simply turned into a Mary Sue that's somehow immune to all of the aforementioned trauma. It's very unrealistic to think of what she goes through, yet no one seems to care about her and she continues to be quite happy-go-lucky.
Some of the time traveling concepts fell apart towards the end, with several aspects that should have been relevant being swept under the table. There's no real or implied resolution to what might be causing it, whether there will be more time travelers in the future, how society treats them, etc. With these topics ignored, it only barely fits into the sci-fi genre. It's really more a romance with a quirky setting.
Finally, there was some really out-of-touch racism and social commentary at times. POC, queer and disabled characters were handled terribly and I was especially weirded out by the term "Auschwitz thin" and a character's insistence that an adopted child wouldn't really be theirs, especially because nobody offered an alternative opinion on that statement. The book really needed more editing to cut out all of that.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death of parent, Infertility, Suicide, and Miscarriage
Moderate: Sexual violence, Alcoholism, Adult/minor relationship, and Infidelity
reading_christine's review against another edition
This is not the sweet but sad love story I was expecting. Why does no one talk about how creepy this book is? How disturbing some of the sexual content is? I think people pick this up expecting a story like The Notebook and they get something completely different. Reader beware!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Alcohol, Sexual content, and Sexual violence
Moderate: Adult/minor relationship and Sexual assault
Minor: Fatphobia
mrs_reading_runes's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
tense
slow-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? Yes
3.0
The Time Traveler’s Wife
By: Audrey Niffenegger
⭐️⭐️⭐️
Trigger Warnings⚠️⚠️⚠️⚠️⚠️
Suicide
Pedophilia
Sex & Violence
Many have watched the movie and show.
This is the origin, this is NOT a love story as expected in my opinion its a tragedy.
Henry is a time traveler, that witnesses death and sadness at a young age. This creates his path of a life of drugs and alcohol.
Clare is 6 when she meets Henry who is already middle aged. This is Clare’s present and Henrys Past, Present and Future.
As they are already married in Henrys present with his belief he cannot change the pst and future he in a way grooms her to love him. First as a person and friend then romantically.
See she’s not given a choice but this is debatable. Henry is the first and only man she loves besides her father.
AT AGE 6!!
The story is confusing in the aspect of dates and times because how old is he in his present, the past and future as he time travels I eventually skipped over the dates.
You will meet Gomez, Henrys “best friend” he makes me sick.
This book really is about Clarethe girl with no free will, tortured by love and time.
I cried when I finished this read because it was exhausting. This is no happy ending it is all very sad.
Deep down in the plot,between each line of text there is a love story however if I didn’t LOVE the movie and the show, this book would have been 1 star or DNF which I have never done.
I appreciate the authors imagery and the development with so many moving parts but I am sad that the movie and show was better then the book. 😒
By: Audrey Niffenegger
⭐️⭐️⭐️
Trigger Warnings⚠️⚠️⚠️⚠️⚠️
Suicide
Pedophilia
Sex & Violence
Many have watched the movie and show.
This is the origin, this is NOT a love story as expected in my opinion its a tragedy.
Henry is a time traveler, that witnesses death and sadness at a young age. This creates his path of a life of drugs and alcohol.
Clare is 6 when she meets Henry who is already middle aged. This is Clare’s present and Henrys Past, Present and Future.
As they are already married in Henrys present with his belief he cannot change the pst and future he in a way grooms her to love him. First as a person and friend then romantically.
See she’s not given a choice but this is debatable. Henry is the first and only man she loves besides her father.
AT AGE 6!!
The story is confusing in the aspect of dates and times because how old is he in his present, the past and future as he time travels I eventually skipped over the dates.
You will meet Gomez, Henrys “best friend” he makes me sick.
This book really is about Clarethe girl with no free will, tortured by love and time.
I cried when I finished this read because it was exhausting. This is no happy ending it is all very sad.
Deep down in the plot,between each line of text there is a love story however if I didn’t LOVE the movie and the show, this book would have been 1 star or DNF which I have never done.
I appreciate the authors imagery and the development with so many moving parts but I am sad that the movie and show was better then the book. 😒
Content Warnings
Graphic: Suicide and Pedophilia
Moderate: Miscarriage
Minor: Sexual violence
readintherain's review against another edition
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death of parent, Miscarriage, Injury/Injury detail, Car accident, and Death
Moderate: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Suicide, Sexual violence, and Pregnancy
hotkoolaidpotato's review
dark
emotional
hopeful
sad
medium-paced
1.0
If Henry wasn't such a creepy pervert I would like this book more. When they're both adults, it's a sweet book, but too much adult/minor relationship for me.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Sexual content, Grief, Miscarriage, and Death of parent
Minor: Drug use, Sexual assault, Alcoholism, and Sexual violence
bekah445's review against another edition
emotional
reflective
sad
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
4.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Alcoholism, Alcohol, Blood, Car accident, Confinement, Death, Death of parent, Gore, Grief, Gun violence, Infertility, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Miscarriage, Physical abuse, Pregnancy, Suicide, and Violence
Moderate: Sexual violence, Sexual assault, and Rape
More...