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beatrizdizon_'s review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.5
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.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Sexual content, Drug use, Death, Medical content, Pregnancy, Blood, Rape, Death of parent, Grief, Body shaming, Infertility, Suicide, and Adult/minor relationship
Minor: Gun violence
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
ems_rxlibrary's review against another edition
emotional
reflective
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
1.5
The actual writing of this book was beautiful. The content…was pretty uncomfortable at times.
There is a moment when Clare is in distress and asks Henry to tell her something nice. He tells her about a time when they were swimming and Clare was wearing this bikini (that he describes in detail) and back then she told him about getting her period. The problem? She was 12. I know that they were going to be married in the future, but they weren’t at that moment. AND THAT IS THE MEMORY HE THINKS OF???
A nurse that is literally only in one small sentence in this entire novel is described as “a fat blond nurse”. Why? Why is that the way we have to describe her?
I hated Gomez. He NEEDED to be cut out of Clare’s life. What a skunk.
When Clare was growing up and Henry kept time traveling back to her he says that he was often aroused- again, she was young and he wasn’t and it just made me cringe.
Their relationship had a lot of buildup when Clare was young and then the moment she turns 18 I feel like their relationship was built upon sex and the fact that they were always supposed to be married. I was just expecting more from a book that is touted as some magnificent love story.
There is a moment when Clare is in distress and asks Henry to tell her something nice. He tells her about a time when they were swimming and Clare was wearing this bikini (that he describes in detail) and back then she told him about getting her period. The problem? She was 12. I know that they were going to be married in the future, but they weren’t at that moment. AND THAT IS THE MEMORY HE THINKS OF???
A nurse that is literally only in one small sentence in this entire novel is described as “a fat blond nurse”. Why? Why is that the way we have to describe her?
I hated Gomez. He NEEDED to be cut out of Clare’s life. What a skunk.
When Clare was growing up and Henry kept time traveling back to her he says that he was often aroused- again, she was young and he wasn’t and it just made me cringe.
Their relationship had a lot of buildup when Clare was young and then the moment she turns 18 I feel like their relationship was built upon sex and the fact that they were always supposed to be married. I was just expecting more from a book that is touted as some magnificent love story.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood, Miscarriage, Pregnancy, Terminal illness, Alcoholism, Suicide attempt, Adult/minor relationship, Cursing, and Sexual content
Moderate: Suicide attempt
Minor: Body shaming and Fatphobia
mireyadiaz's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Main problem as a genz reading this was actually the entire plotline with Gomez. I felt it wasn't really needed, at least not at the end like yikes. Other than that not a bad read, but then again I'm a sucker for time travel tropes just for complexities of the thought and possibility of it. Also, like the author is clearly white woman, because any person of a minority most likely would not continuously describe a person's ethnicity or weight whenever they see a new person. But luckily for me my default description of people is Latine like meself 🤓. But yeah... it just depends on your cup of tea. Also, I really found the Catholics kinda funny like in general.(as a catholic🤣) By that I mean there do be crazy ones like that, unless like my family, sin is expected and whatever.🤷🏽♀️
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual content
Moderate: Sexism, Violence, Suicide, Vomit, Toxic relationship, Torture, Pregnancy, Medical trauma, and Miscarriage
Minor: Addiction, Alcoholism, Body shaming, Death of parent, Death, Religious bigotry, Car accident, Classism, Dementia, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual assault, Incest, Infertility, Infidelity, Mental illness, and Cancer
davidbythebay's review against another edition
emotional
slow-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
1.0
1) Okay, I lied. My biggest, number one, issue was grooming. The entire story is about Henry periodically stopping into Clare's life and telling her how she's going to make a good wife for him some day. This is a 20-40 year old man (depending on which time jump he is on) telling a girl ages 6-18 that she will be his wife one day. I don't mind age differences in romantic relationships, but I do mind grooming and underaged relations. It is IMPORTANT to note that Henry and Clare never have sex until she is 18 and he's 42 (on her 18th birthday).
2) Henry is the most manipulative, authoritative, controlling man throughout this! I get that he has to be a quick thinking, fast talking con man to get away with time travel shenanigans with the public at large, but with his family and the woman he loves he is so controlling of everything. He's such an egotistical prick at times I really just wanted him to time jump into a brick wall. He gets so jealously upset when she dates someone, or just goes on a simple date, and yet he's out screwing women and having a real dodgy reputation. He actually tries to say that he's running through women and liquor to "pass the time" as he waits for Clare.
3) On a simple plot note: the time jumps can be so confusing to understand where we are, what age people are, and what the whole situation is. Like, there were several times I thought there was some under-aged hanky panky going on, but there wasn't because they were in their 20s or something.
4) The POV jumps around so much without any clear definition of who is speaking it just gets jumbled.
5) There are periodic tangents, especially early on, into such philosophical and sometime religious discussions that are just so boring and elitist feeling. Like they are the annoying hipsters who speak of "Marx's Communistic systems" instead of simply "communism".
6) Okay, back to some specifics... Back in Clare's past she is assaulted by a boy she went on a date with. Henry shows up and she (aged like 15 I think) shows the older Henry her bruised breasts and Henry wants to make this kid pay. Now, assault is absolutely intolerable and should be punished; however, Henry and the youthful Clare are pressing an unloaded gun into this kid's face, stripping him naked, and tying him up to leave him in the woods. It's just a bit much, especially given the Bonnie and Clyde way Henry and Clare go about it. It just feels like they are about to knock the kid out and have sex on his body.
7) Henry kisses a child. It may or may not be a sexual kiss, but it is described in an almost sexual way. Also, Henry is constantly on the brink of not being able to control himself around the prepubescent and teenage Clare. Get. Your. Hands. Off. The. Child. Henry!
8) Every now and then, randomly, there is a simple sentence that is just randomly inserted with an overly wrought word. It comes across like a high school spelling lesson where the kid has to make a sentence with one of the vocabulary words. "Just as they were drinking their milk, the car horn blared across the atramentous night."
9) There is a LOT of problematic language and stuff in here. A beehive hairdo is described as the kind only a Black woman can wear. Clare's family is rich with Black servants. Mrs. Kim is a racist stereotype that's even described as "flat-faced Korean woman". Much of the dialogue from people of color is stereotypically tinged, to say the least. There is a lot of body shaming, fatphobia, homophobia, racism, misogyny (by the ton!), and sexism.
10) One of these homophobic moments is when Henry is telling us how he was like 15 and his 15 year old self from 4 months in the future is in his bedroom so they start to get naked and fool around because "anyone would when they are a teenaged boy all horny and in their room with themself, but that doesn't mean he's gay! No he's not gay! Ugh." I paraphrase, but that's basically how it goes.
11) I got the ick when Henry and Clare discuss in their 20s/30s that they have too much sex and how sore she is down there. So he then tells her to tell him "not tonight" when she wants a break and how he will "respect" that but how she should know that he's absolutely dying, as a man would, to have sex with her and can barely control himself and will continue to respect her decision to not have sex until he dies of lack of nookie. Ick! He says shit like this a lot, in fact. He is almost constantly talking about how much he wants to jump the teenaged Clare because she's coming into her breasts and how he imagines the fully grown version he knows.
12) At one point, I kid you not, Clare tells Henry that she wanted him to have sex with her when she was underage, so it wouldn't have been rape because she wanted it. NO! NO! ABSOLUTELY NOT!
13) The phrase "ripen like a flesh melon" should NEVER be used to describe a pregnant woman or a pregnancy.
14) Clare seems to say that adoption is pretend and that it means less than a biological child. That's just bullshit and completely disturbed thinking.
15) Clare's 18th birthday she sets up a lovely picnic with wine even so that when the 42 year old Henry travels in time to her she can have sex with him as she is now of the legal age of consent. At this time, yes it is legal but after all this "I can't control myself around her" and the grooming, it just feels wrong. What's also wrong is when Henry says he can't drink because of doctor's orders, but he tells the 18 year old to drink the wine (she is under 21, the legal age for alcohol in the US) and when she drinks it he comments about how "obedient" she is.
16) Henry is the epitome of douchey frat bro. He is constantly referencing how great he is at cunnilingus or sex. How he would definitely medal in the Olympics of oral. How he is amazing at it! The only one who brags more that Henry is Supreme Court Justice Boomer.
17) Clare actually slept with someone else between her passionate 18th birthday and first officially meeting Henry. She holds onto the secret for so long and is in so need of being punished for doing this heinous act that she practically begs Henry for forgiveness, but is perfectly fine with Henry's half-assed "Yeah I was schtooping a few women between your 18th birthday and when we first met because I was "waiting for you".
18) They just come across as an insufferable hipster pair of asshats. Like going on with quoting authors and poets in the original French or German, talking about reading Proust in a name drop, name dropping operas and books and music, and commenting on how Wagner's operas are a lesser opera that they don't care for but they have season tickets to the opera.
Just generally, how Clare is pining for Henry and waits for him like some pathetic waif of an individual while Henry can go and have this life and, yes, die young by what I can only imagine was not an accident but a concerted effort to save Clare by her family via killing the mysterious creep who keeps popping up in the woods by their house and grooming their child, whom she eventually marries anyway and then sits alone for the next 40+ years of her life after he dies, after the first 40-or-so years of her waiting to finally officially meet him and have sex with him. I just can't.
I wanted to read this in anticipation for Theo James (such a fine man!) and the new series coming out, but woah! I don't think even Theo James' sweet...assets and eyes can save this trainwreck of a plot.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death of parent, Homophobia, Infertility, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Blood, Cursing, Gaslighting, Adult/minor relationship, Addiction, Car accident, Death, Body shaming, Body horror, Domestic abuse, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Grief, Medical trauma, Miscarriage, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Stalking, Torture, Toxic friendship, Toxic relationship, and Violence
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