Reviews tagging 'Grief'

The Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger

33 reviews

potsnpots's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful sad medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5


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cloudbooks's review against another edition

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emotional reflective sad slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

My love for this was endless. Then I realized this was just a love story with time travel, and it all fizzled out. 

The good:
The concept of time travel as a condition rather than a power was really, really interesting.
Getting to know the two main characters was such a big part of the experience!
I absolutely loved Alba. I think this story would have been better had it followed her. 

The bad:
When you think about it, the characters grow more and more flat. They have characteristics and interests but not really personalities. Outside of Henry, we're never told what Clare is like. Her whole existence is to love him and to want him.
Henry is a bit more fledged out. He has interests beyond Clare and a work life as well. But if he didn't have time travel as a condition, he'd be a rather boring character.
Their relationships to other people are built around experiences we're not told about. Henry's best friend dislikes him the first time he meets him, then carries on being his best friend afterwards for no apparent reason. The same for Henry's father. We're never told how he makes it out of his grief, let alone how Henry manages to repair his relationship to him. 

The book, in the end, seems to try to handle too many issues at once which prevents it from going into detail about anything. I'd have loved to hear more about Henry's genetic disease, about Clare's relationship to her mother, about Alba's childhood. Instead we get excessive descriptions of music, art and books that somehow define the characters but don't give much in terms of who they are and what their life is like.

I'm glad I listened to it. I probably won't read it again though.

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taylormadespines's review against another edition

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This story has not aged well. Henry is a groomer through and through. 

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flowers_and_cows's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful inspiring mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? N/A
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0

The story of Clare and Henry was surprisingly easy to follow, even with all of Henry's time traveling. A great story, and the ending left me wanting and wishing that there was more. 

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fishgulper's review against another edition

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emotional 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


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justinelilyh's review

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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? It's complicated

5.0


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crashiebang's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional mysterious sad medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.75


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delvie's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional hopeful reflective sad medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

I went in blind, and I wasn't ready. 

If not for some unfortunate stereotypes and slurs used and the gratuitous sex, it would have been a slam dunk five stars- the audiobook specifically. I think I would have hated this book in print. 

Check TW's; I would not recommend this book if you use reading to escape. 

The last 40 minutes hit so hard, I had to take my headphones out because I was on the threshold of tears. 

I get why it's been adapted twice; I imagine you could do some pretty cool stuff via film with this premise. 

I'm not gonna get over this for a while. Sheesh. 

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kadtide's review

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emotional reflective medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0


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cleeboo's review against another edition

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emotional tense slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.0


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