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valeria_balzan's review against another edition
- 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
I feel like the author had great opportunities to push the limits of time travelling and how it can impact a person's Henry's life but he is just boring and hates this ability.
Graphic: Miscarriage, Infertility, Death, Adult/minor relationship, Medical content, Injury/Injury detail, Alcoholism, Bullying, Rape, Pregnancy, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Death of parent, and Grief
Moderate: Blood and Schizophrenia/Psychosis
Minor: Abandonment and Mental illness
passionatereader78's review against another edition
- 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
This is Henry and Claire's beautifully complicated love story!
Graphic: Abandonment, Sexual content, Pregnancy, Alcoholism, Grief, Infertility, Car accident, and Death of parent
Moderate: Alcohol, Gun violence, Miscarriage, Self harm, Adult/minor relationship, and Toxic relationship
tessa52's review against another edition
- 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
3.0
Graphic: Pregnancy, Miscarriage, Sexual content, Car accident, Alcoholism, Adult/minor relationship, Drug use, Infertility, Suicide, Violence, Death of parent, and Infidelity
souvraya's review against another edition
- 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
Now for the problems. The second and third part of the book get increasingly depressing in a way that felt like traumatising events were being being piled on for no reason. The characters barely have time to react to each of these events so they don't feel fully developed, just added in for shock value.
It was very disappointing how little agency and personality the titular wife had. Clare was interesting to read about as a child, then she became much more bland as an adult. It was really all about Henry, so naming the book after Clare is not representative of the role she takes.
Another disappointment was that a lot of characters' shitty behaviour has no repercussions whatsoever, Gomez and Celia especially rubbed me the wrong way. It doesn't get called out, nobody reacts to it, and it often doesn't cause any problems. When that happens too often, it feels very unsatisfying to me and when it happens with the main characters it calls their romance into question.
Even worse, there was a major part of the story later on, that consumed some of the characters completely for a long time, and then it suddenly turned into an afterthought. It seems that the author didn't know what to do with Alba as a character, so she was simply turned into a Mary Sue that's somehow immune to all of the aforementioned trauma. It's very unrealistic to think of what she goes through, yet no one seems to care about her and she continues to be quite happy-go-lucky.
Some of the time traveling concepts fell apart towards the end, with several aspects that should have been relevant being swept under the table. There's no real or implied resolution to what might be causing it, whether there will be more time travelers in the future, how society treats them, etc. With these topics ignored, it only barely fits into the sci-fi genre. It's really more a romance with a quirky setting.
Finally, there was some really out-of-touch racism and social commentary at times. POC, queer and disabled characters were handled terribly and I was especially weirded out by the term "Auschwitz thin" and a character's insistence that an adopted child wouldn't really be theirs, especially because nobody offered an alternative opinion on that statement. The book really needed more editing to cut out all of that.
Graphic: Death of parent, Infertility, Suicide, and Miscarriage
Moderate: Sexual violence, Alcoholism, Adult/minor relationship, and Infidelity
val_theburrowofstories's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Alcoholism, Medical trauma, Cancer, Infidelity, Suicide, Medical content, Gun violence, Miscarriage, Death of parent, Sexual content, Adult/minor relationship, Grief, Death, Infertility, and Pregnancy
potsnpots's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Graphic: Miscarriage, Infertility, Infidelity, and Pregnancy
Moderate: Alcoholism and Adult/minor relationship
Minor: Car accident, Death, Death of parent, Drug use, Homophobia, Grief, Medical content, Infertility, and Infidelity
rvareader's review against another edition
Graphic: Body horror, Cancer, Medical trauma, Panic attacks/disorders, Car accident, Chronic illness, Death of parent, Grief, Infertility, Medical content, Stalking, Adult/minor relationship, Blood, Pedophilia, Police brutality, Vomit, Death, Gaslighting, Pregnancy, Alcoholism, Emotional abuse, Miscarriage, Murder, Religious bigotry, Sexual content, Suicide attempt, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, and Violence
ejoymiller11's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
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.
Graphic: Miscarriage, Car accident, Adult/minor relationship, and Suicide
Moderate: Toxic relationship, Sexual harassment, Medical content, Infidelity, Death of parent, Violence, Injury/Injury detail, Infertility, Alcoholism, Addiction, Toxic friendship, Pregnancy, Medical trauma, Drug use, Chronic illness, and Cancer
fishgulper's review against another edition
- 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
Graphic: Grief, Infertility, Pregnancy, Sexual content, Child death, Alcohol, Gun violence, Medical content, Drug abuse, Death, Drug use, Medical trauma, Mental illness, Death of parent, Miscarriage, Car accident, and Suicide attempt
vannahcabana's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
3.5
Graphic: Suicide and Sexual content
Moderate: Injury/Injury detail, Infertility, Death of parent, Death, Miscarriage, and Alcoholism