Reviews with content warning for Drug use - The Time Traveler's Wife

I am not usually a tough critic, but I did not love this for several reasons.

1. This story (in my opinion) was told backwards, and would last the test of time better had it been told the other way around. Being about time travel, the story bounces around quite a bit. However, I would argue the story more closely follows Clare’s linear timeline. Before we actually get to know the two main characters as a couple, the first half of the book is about how Clare knew Henry as a child and teenager. We learn about Henry’s lustful thoughts about her even when she is underage, even when she is prepubescent, which made me very uncomfortable. In my opinion, had we learned about their adult relationship first by strictly following Henry’s timeline, and had Henry just straight up not had inappropriate thoughts about a CHILD, I think the relationship would seem less creepy (but let’s be honest, some of what happened would be creepy, inappropriate, and sick regardless).

2. About 200 pages of the 536 pages I read weren’t relevant. I don’t understand why certain scenes were necessary as they didn’t contribute to the plot, character development, or context of the story. The whole infidelity thing? For what.

3. INCONSISTENCIES. And inaccuracies. Some of this book just straight up didn’t make sense. I found myself wondering SO many times, “did the author do literally ANY research??” Yes, probably with certain art pieces and music mentioned in the story, but certainly not how pregnancy, miscarriage, birth, hypothermia, and other medical things work. Furthermore, so many times the book would mention something like “they decided to leave the kids at home!” And on the next page, “the kids were playing quietly in the corner.” Like did no one proofread this? I’m lost.

4. Sometimes it was really hard to understand who was speaking. The book bounces between Henry’s and Clare’s perspectives, but in sections of the dialogue there are long stretches with no indication of who is speaking. Several times I had to go back and reread to understand the context of what was happening and what the characters were feeling.

I felt like this was a great concept that was so poorly executed. This could be a fantastic, timeless love story, but it just fell flat for me. The writing combined with the characters who weren’t just flawed, but horrible people, ruined it for me.

Content Warnings

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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aurinkotuulia's review against another edition

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emotional 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

4.5

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sari_lavender's review against another edition

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challenging emotional sad slow-paced

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

3.0

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wordsaremything's review against another edition

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emotional mysterious 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

5.0

"But don't you think," I persist, "that it's better to be extremely happy for a short while, even if you lose it, than to be just okay for your whole life?"

I first read this book in high school, sometime around the time I read the Shiver series. In my mind, they are two halves of the same coin, but one of them is a YA novel about a boy who turns into a wolf and therefore is always leaving his girl behind, and the other is an adult novel about a man who can slip through time and tries as hard as he can to get back to the love of his life. Shiver also makes frequent use of quoting Rilke. I wonder if Stiefvater was trying to reference this novel.

I have seen the movie adaptation of this book (with Rachel McAdams, who is perfect for the more dramatic-but-soft tone the movie has) at least a dozen times, and I cry every time at the ending. Even knowing what's going to happen, it gets me Every Single Time.
Recently, HBO decided to do a TV adaptation of this novel, and of course I have been keeping up with it. I was surprised at their casting choice — McAdams is so soft, firm while being delicate, but Rose Leslie's Clare is sharp, and aggressive. Rereading the book, Leslie's Clare is I think more truthful to how Niffenegger wrote her. And thus far (three episodes in), the adaptation has been fairly truthful to the book. Yes, some things have been shifted and changed, but not really, and those that have give it a magical, wonderful quality.

Which I think works because while this is a love story, it's also a tragedy. Niffenegger plays this up, often referencing tragedies or at least sad love stories — Penelope and Odysseus, Orpheus and Eurydice. You would think all of these classic and mythological components mixed in with characters who speak French and German and recite Rilke and are huge into punk and name drop bands every chance they get would feel disingenuous. But I was struck, reading this as an adult, by how impressively realistic the dialogue is. Between adults, between parents and children, between siblings, and especially, especially, especially, between a couple who knows everything about each other, even if the other doesn't know it yet because it's further along in their timeline.

I really didn't end up marking too many passages in this because I was so buoyed by the story and the prose on every page that to begin marking would be to essentially mark every line. This book is 536 pages and went by much too fast, which is astounding considering how much is packed in here. As I mentioned above, this is packed with punk rock, with poetry, French, German, going forward in time, backward in time, friendships, domestic spats, strained parental relationships, cooking — the trappings of a life (minus the time travel), and it all unspools so neatly, so beautifully, that even though you're being jerked around through time, you always feel grounded in the characters.

What a treat to reread this having forgotten most of it. Wouldn't we all like to start again at the beginning of something we know is wonderful?

Content Warnings

ravensalwaysreading's review against another edition

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challenging dark 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? It's complicated

2.5

I can finally say that the movie was better, and that's because they left out or altered 75% of what was in the book.

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hotkoolaidpotato's review against another edition

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dark emotional hopeful sad medium-paced

1.0

If Henry wasn't such a creepy pervert I would like this book more. When they're both adults, it's a sweet book, but too much adult/minor relationship for me.

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daysanchez's review against another edition

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emotional reflective sad slow-paced

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

3.5

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