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mergwenthur's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
0.5
First of all, the time travelling doesn't make sense to me, it's always confusing for me anyway.
It's understood that Henry first met Clare when he was 28 and they were both adults but for Clare, she's known him since she was 6 and Henry was early 40s.
It was actually quite sad to see that Clare literally spent her whole life surrounded by Henry, waiting for him, loving him, wanting to be with him etc etc.
Atleast Henry was able to live his own life and go down his own routes and paths. Clare was not able to do that.
It made me uncomfortable for Henry groom Clare in that way. He was attracted to her when she was in her early-mid teens. He quite roughly kissed her when she was 15/16 and then slept with her on her 18th birthday.
Not only this but other problematic aspects within the book. The way the writer was 'descriptive' also made me uncomfortable.
What was the need to know the nurse was Black (and it was written in what felt like a passive aggressive way). Or to know 'an Indian doctor called Sue.'
To the author...erm.... the doc said nothing about their ethnicity but you wrote 'Indian' because you wanted to portray them as brown? Surely South Asian would make more sense. This just made your characters look stereotypical.
Also insensitive sentences about rape which added nothing to what the characters were saying. There are much better ways to say those things.
And the antisemitism ?? Yeah that was also not okay.
The film did a lot better in regards to being less problematic and harmful but overall, yeah. This book is not good.
Graphic: Sexual content, Adult/minor relationship, Death, Death of parent, Suicide, Car accident, Medical content, Grief, Miscarriage, Alcohol, Antisemitism, and Cancer
uranaishi's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.75
Graphic: Car accident, Grief, Infidelity, Injury/Injury detail, Miscarriage, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Death, and Death of parent
Moderate: Drug use, Sexual content, Classism, Medical content, Abandonment, Drug abuse, Misogyny, Pregnancy, Terminal illness, Toxic friendship, Blood, Cancer, Cursing, Physical abuse, Toxic relationship, Violence, Adult/minor relationship, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Gun violence, Infertility, Mental illness, and Torture
Minor: Addiction, Child death, Classism, Self harm, Homophobia, Rape, and Vomit
bekah445's review against another edition
- 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
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
camillesuzannes's review
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.75
Graphic: Medical content, Miscarriage, Pregnancy, Blood, Death of parent, Death, Drug use, Car accident, Confinement, and Body horror
Moderate: Sexual content, Infidelity, Hate crime, and Adult/minor relationship
Minor: Vomit and Cancer
onion's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
Graphic: Car accident, Death, Grief, Miscarriage, Pregnancy, Sexual content, and Adult/minor relationship
Moderate: Alcoholism, Blood, Death of parent, Gun violence, Medical content, Suicide, and Violence
Minor: Ableism, Cancer, Eating disorder, Homophobia, Sexism, and Violence
ladiwallace's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0
Graphic: Addiction, Car accident, Death of parent, Grief, Infertility, Medical content, Miscarriage, and Suicide
Moderate: Alcoholism, Infidelity, Confinement, and Violence
katsbooks's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
"It's hard being left behind... It's hard to be the one who stays... Why is love intensified by absence?"
I had a lot of feelings about this novel. I originally thought I would give this 4 or 5 stars because when I initially finished reading, the story evoked a lot of emotion for me and I felt so melancholic at the end of the novel. However, now that I've had some time to sit with it, I also have some critiques. First off, I loved the writing. It was emotional and really packed a punch. I also liked the format. The dual perspectives and multiple timelines were interesting but not overly confusing. I also really enjoyed how Henry and Clare's characters were not perfect and I found the fact that their flaws were not downplayed very refreshing. Now a few things of which I wasn't a huge fan. The scenes where older Henry visited young Clare made me cringe. It was very clear that Henry didn't want to cross any lines but every scene just felt a bit like grooming to me. I applaud the author for exploring the implications of that part of the plot but the scenes just didn't quite sit well with me. I also really disliked the representation of some of the side characters. It was written almost 20 years ago but having both Henry and Clare grow up with women of color as pseudo-mother figures felt incredibly tokenistic to me. It felt very much like the author was trying to have some kind of diverse representation but didn't know how to do that authentically. The last thing I really hated was Gomez. His character was the worst! And I still don't really understand what the purpose of his character was to begin with. It really feels like he was just there for me to hate. Overall, this book was just okay for me.
Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Car accident, Sexual content, Miscarriage, Medical content, Infertility, Grief, Gore, Drug abuse, Death of parent, Death, and Cursing