manpreetakaur6's review against another edition
5.0
"His forty-third year. His small time's end. His time-
Who saw infinity through the countless cracks
In the blank skin of things, and died of it."
The time traveler's wife is a metaphysical romantic story. The story is about Henry who meets Clare, when she was 6; when he himself was 36. Henry happens to travel time (due to a genetic disorder, as he perceives), yet lives all the moments not acting about knowing of what is going to happen.
The story turns out to be a romantic one as Henry keeps meeting his girlfriend, Clare over and over, coming from past or future and by also being in the present at the same time. However, sometimes he disappears for days. It is amazing to unfold how Clare adjuts to this unstoppable fate or interesting ride; however you may call it.
The book is written in accordance to Clare's age, where Henry keeps bumping from across the time. The overall story is mindblowing and I happened to read something like this for the first time and it was worth the time.
The ending did make me emotional, but at the same time the use of poetry in small gaps of the book is what I completely fell for.
My first magical read
jjgrl55's review against another edition
4.0
I do, indeed, have very mixed feelings regarding this book. I liked it for the story, for the emotions it evoked and for the thoughts it inspired regarding destiny, free will and love. In the end, I have to say I enjoyed the book, because I closed the novel feeling content with my choice to read it and that I had, in some way, come away from the novel with a new understanding of life- something only good novels can do.
That being said, reaching said conclusion about the book required me to ignore a few details about it. These details did nothing, IMHO, for the story, and simply caused me to realize that I probably would not like Niffenegger and her pretentious ways if I ever met her in person.
Because yes, Henry and Clare are VERY pretentious. Sometimes it reads as character development, but most times it's just VERY ANNOYING. I rolled my eyes more than once at the constant tirades against the evils of television, the incessant worship of punk rock (and the subsequent contempt felt for young kids who "weren't there" and thus don't "really get it"), and the pointless name-dropping. Yes, Audrey, we get it, you're very smart and hip- now tell the goddamn story! Also, she enjoys throwing in quotes in German and French and doesn't bother to translate them- I'm assuming this was meant to purposely snub her readers not intelligent enough to be trilingual.
So, if you can turn a blind eye to Niffenegger's constant hipster swaggering, you may be able to spot the beauty of the tale and possibly learn a thing or two about your feelings regarding destiny and time. If not, skip it- it'll just severely piss you off.
I just hope Niffenegger chooses to leave her ego out of her next novel.
That being said, reaching said conclusion about the book required me to ignore a few details about it. These details did nothing, IMHO, for the story, and simply caused me to realize that I probably would not like Niffenegger and her pretentious ways if I ever met her in person.
Because yes, Henry and Clare are VERY pretentious. Sometimes it reads as character development, but most times it's just VERY ANNOYING. I rolled my eyes more than once at the constant tirades against the evils of television, the incessant worship of punk rock (and the subsequent contempt felt for young kids who "weren't there" and thus don't "really get it"), and the pointless name-dropping. Yes, Audrey, we get it, you're very smart and hip- now tell the goddamn story! Also, she enjoys throwing in quotes in German and French and doesn't bother to translate them- I'm assuming this was meant to purposely snub her readers not intelligent enough to be trilingual.
So, if you can turn a blind eye to Niffenegger's constant hipster swaggering, you may be able to spot the beauty of the tale and possibly learn a thing or two about your feelings regarding destiny and time. If not, skip it- it'll just severely piss you off.
I just hope Niffenegger chooses to leave her ego out of her next novel.
natgoe's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual content and Miscarriage
Moderate: Violence
Minor: Suicide
loveavery's review against another edition
1.0
I’m convinced this book was actually written by a man (derogatory).
Problematic, offensive, boring, tries way too hard to be deep.
Problematic, offensive, boring, tries way too hard to be deep.
ebun_reads's review against another edition
1.0
Trigger warning: abuse, s**ual assault, r**e
I was looking forward to reading this book because I watched the film many years ago. Whilst I don't look forward to watching the film again, its virtues seem to all stem from the fact that we cannot read the thoughts of Henry for ourselves. All women in this book experience trauma, or their characters are shadowed by the male gaze, especially Clare. The book simply gets worse the more you read and the few moments when I can appreciate the choice of words or imagery get rarer as you near the end, prompting me to stop at around the 70% mark.
By far the worst thing about this book is that Clare is clearly the victim of abuse and grooming from a very young age. The first time she sees Henry, as a 30/40-something year old naked time traveller, she is 6 years old. We are expected to believe he cares for her but this is how Audrey Niffenegger narrates their first time kissing (when she is 15 and he is 36):
“Tell me.” Her face is inches from mine. I kiss her, very roughly. She is resistant. I release her, and she turns her back on me. “That wasn’t very nice,” she says in a small voice.
When they are eventually married and Henry describes seeing her in the future he demonstrates a clear example of how women's bodies are commodified in this book.
"I wasn’t close enough to you to see how old you were. I thought you were pretty young, but maybe you were just well-preserved. "
Henry mistreats all the women in his life, is an self-proclaimed alcoholic, disappears randomly and these are all presented as romantic qualities that sex (personified through Clare) will fix. Ideally, I would read to the end and give a holistic review but when he travelled into the future and r***d her, as she was sleeping next to the future version of him, in order to conceive a child after 6 miscarriages, I had to put the book down.
This is supposedly a book about appreciating all the things that staying in the present can give us but all I appreciate is the pain Clare endures being forced to abide by an abuser from the age of 6, and she believes it is love.
I was looking forward to reading this book because I watched the film many years ago. Whilst I don't look forward to watching the film again, its virtues seem to all stem from the fact that we cannot read the thoughts of Henry for ourselves. All women in this book experience trauma, or their characters are shadowed by the male gaze, especially Clare. The book simply gets worse the more you read and the few moments when I can appreciate the choice of words or imagery get rarer as you near the end, prompting me to stop at around the 70% mark.
By far the worst thing about this book is that Clare is clearly the victim of abuse and grooming from a very young age. The first time she sees Henry, as a 30/40-something year old naked time traveller, she is 6 years old. We are expected to believe he cares for her but this is how Audrey Niffenegger narrates their first time kissing (when she is 15 and he is 36):
“Tell me.” Her face is inches from mine. I kiss her, very roughly. She is resistant. I release her, and she turns her back on me. “That wasn’t very nice,” she says in a small voice.
When they are eventually married and Henry describes seeing her in the future he demonstrates a clear example of how women's bodies are commodified in this book.
"I wasn’t close enough to you to see how old you were. I thought you were pretty young, but maybe you were just well-preserved. "
Henry mistreats all the women in his life, is an self-proclaimed alcoholic, disappears randomly and these are all presented as romantic qualities that sex (personified through Clare) will fix. Ideally, I would read to the end and give a holistic review but when he travelled into the future and r***d her, as she was sleeping next to the future version of him, in order to conceive a child after 6 miscarriages, I had to put the book down.
This is supposedly a book about appreciating all the things that staying in the present can give us but all I appreciate is the pain Clare endures being forced to abide by an abuser from the age of 6, and she believes it is love.
jackimurphy's review against another edition
5.0
This book continued my trend of unknowingly and completely accidentally selecting extremely sad books to read on planes. I end up being the strange girl wiping away tears by the window while my neighbors wonder just what on earth is wrong with me. Read this, though, I'm telling you. Ending up crying like a child is a GOOD thing when you are reading! Heartbreakingly beautiful.
petamac's review against another edition
emotional
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
scarlettsens's review against another edition
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
wombat_88's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
reflective
relaxing
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.0