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A review by bethanechol
The Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger
4.0
Book 4 of Summer '09
So... I'm slightly ashamed to have read this. And to have liked it so much. It's chick lit, it really is, and every time I see a preview for the movie (which appears to majorly amp up the chick-flickiness even above and beyond the book), I cringe a little that I used this for my mass summer of literariness, since it hardly seems to belong in the literature category.
But... it was fun! A lot of fun. Really, really, really fun. It was sweet and suspenseful and had a take on time travel that was really unique to me (and I do love a good time travel story), so I sped through it in about two or three days. The main problem with it is, the ending of the book doesn't really fit the interesting promise of the beginning. The beginning really hooks you: the premise is genuinely interesting, the characters seem interesting, and the time-traveling premise is just built for some really great suspenseful foreshadowing... but then by the time you get toward the end of their lives together, it just feels sad and sappy and there's been so much foreshadowing that you already know exactly what's going to happen and it's all just playing out. While I've never read or seen The Notebook, that's how it feels to me toward the end. Which is really a shame, cause the beginning was really very interesting.
Anyway, it's really a shame that I'm giving this 4 stars while giving poor Charlotte Bronte only 3... basically what happened is I was in the mood for a nice, sugary treat that I could gobble up really quickly but has no nutritional value whatsoever (the Little Debbie of literature), and so enjoyed it infinitely more than the complex, fiber-filled salad that I was served initially.
Anyway: it's a good book, just not good literature. A terribly excellent diversion. And don't think that just because I criticized the sappy ending means I didn't tear up during it... it's a well done sappy ending, at least.
Though watch out for the sex scenes: they try to be sexy, but they're just awkward. Shudder.
4 down... probably no more than 2 to go. Sigh.
So... I'm slightly ashamed to have read this. And to have liked it so much. It's chick lit, it really is, and every time I see a preview for the movie (which appears to majorly amp up the chick-flickiness even above and beyond the book), I cringe a little that I used this for my mass summer of literariness, since it hardly seems to belong in the literature category.
But... it was fun! A lot of fun. Really, really, really fun. It was sweet and suspenseful and had a take on time travel that was really unique to me (and I do love a good time travel story), so I sped through it in about two or three days. The main problem with it is, the ending of the book doesn't really fit the interesting promise of the beginning. The beginning really hooks you: the premise is genuinely interesting, the characters seem interesting, and the time-traveling premise is just built for some really great suspenseful foreshadowing... but then by the time you get toward the end of their lives together, it just feels sad and sappy and there's been so much foreshadowing that you already know exactly what's going to happen and it's all just playing out. While I've never read or seen The Notebook, that's how it feels to me toward the end. Which is really a shame, cause the beginning was really very interesting.
Anyway, it's really a shame that I'm giving this 4 stars while giving poor Charlotte Bronte only 3... basically what happened is I was in the mood for a nice, sugary treat that I could gobble up really quickly but has no nutritional value whatsoever (the Little Debbie of literature), and so enjoyed it infinitely more than the complex, fiber-filled salad that I was served initially.
Anyway: it's a good book, just not good literature. A terribly excellent diversion. And don't think that just because I criticized the sappy ending means I didn't tear up during it... it's a well done sappy ending, at least.
Though watch out for the sex scenes: they try to be sexy, but they're just awkward. Shudder.
4 down... probably no more than 2 to go. Sigh.