Reviews

The Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger

las2912's review against another edition

emotional funny inspiring 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

3.75

kessler21's review against another edition

4.0

I watched the movie many years ago and though the premise was really cool. In a time where it is hard to find truly original stories. The romance of boy meets girl and and they fall in love and face an adversity is not original, but this particular adversity, how they meet and how they fall in love is original.

For this, I give this book a lot of points. Being original is definitely the largest plus for me.

In this story, the man is a time traveler. He has no control over when and where he travels nor can he take anything with him. He tends to visit major life events and visit important people in his life. His wife first meets at future version of the time traveler when she is 6. The story is told from her perspective in original order of her life and from the time travelers perspective.

I wish there were half ratings because I really want to rate this book 3.5 stars. Life I mentioned before, originality is a huge for me. I loved that this idea was thought up and, to my knowledge, not explored before in this way.

However, there were two main negatives of this book. I did not like the writing nor the story telling at times. I felt the writing to very short nondescript sentences. It almost felt like the original story was not long enough so they went back added sentences like, "she walked to the fridge. She pulled out the ingredients. She made a sandwich." (not actually from the book) Because of this, there are portions of the book that do not continue or add to the story. Its a list of mundane actions of the characters. I didn't bother me at first but as the story when on, it killed momentum.

There is a large creep factor in this book.

Spoiler

An older version of himself dating/kissing an underage age version of his wife. When his wife finally gets pregnant, its a younger version of himself and they have sex next to the sleeping present day version of himself. and of course the insinuation of homosexual activity when two teenager version of himself are together.

There is definitely some creepiness.

littl3lau's review against another edition

adventurous emotional funny sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No

3.25

lynelle125's review against another edition

emotional reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

kadentodd05's review against another edition

emotional medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

kmv1035's review against another edition

emotional sad tense 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

montoyacat's review against another edition

5.0

A must read reflection on love and loss!

theahirsi's review against another edition

challenging emotional lighthearted mysterious sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

I thought this was OK but didn't really live up to expectations. I struggled to connect with what felt like actually quite a problematic and disturbing relationship, especially at the beginning of the book where she was a child and he was much older.

Even though not much really happens between them when she's a child there were a couple of scenes that made me uncomfortable, like the angry kiss when she's 15, the playing with her feet, remembering her in her bikini at 12 and the 'is 12 too young?' thought, but also it felt like she was completely groomed and there was never any way it could have gone differently (duh, time travel). He also wouldn't have been able to have it any differently, they never really chose to fall in love with eachother - they were both told by the other that they would be married in the future - and I think that's one reason I just didn'tfeel it

I did like the dual POV and how they first met at different times. 
There were some touching moments, but overall I felt like it dragged quite a bit and because I didn't connect much with their relationship, it didn't have the emotional gut punch I was hoping for. I was also quite disappointed in the ending

I thought it was more upsetting than sweet that he told her would see her again and she waited - her entire life revolved around him and he died when she was quite young so I wish she would have finally been able to live a full life without him

I did like the time travel element and found it quite easy to understand here, so overall an interesting and OK read, but wouldn't necessarily recommend. 

harrisontown's review against another edition

mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? N/A
• Loveable characters? N/A
• Diverse cast of characters? N/A
• Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A

3.5

amelia16's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25