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Does anyone hate The Time Traveller's Wife?

61 replies

CreeperBoom · 21/10/2023 15:59

I have just read this for the first time after noticing that it was available on kindle, and I am so annoyed at the characters I need to speak to someone about it!

Henry was just so selfish and self-absorbed. He loved Clare best when she was a child who worshipped him, and was irritated when grief meant he wasn't her only focus.

Clare's only personality quirk seems to be not being able to cook. She is desperate for a baby, but then doesn't seem to bond with the child. She sleeps with her best friend's husband, and encroaches on Henry's ex's friendships, after stealing her boyfriend.

At one point, I hoped she was going to walk away from Henry. I think that would have been a more satisfying ending - she should have learned to set her own path in life, and Henry should have learned to form relationships without having manipulated them with future knowledge.

I was expecting a similar feel to the film Eternal Sunshine of a Spotless Mind, in terms of the out of sequeuence relationship aspect. But no stage of this relationship was relatable to me. When I got to the end of the book, I thought that I must have been mistaken and there is no way that Clare could have been written by a woman - but no.

That's not even getting into the age gap ick.

The general opinion on this seems to be positive though. Am I the only one who feels like this?

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DrCoconut · 23/01/2026 20:30

The book doesn't read well and I couldn't get into the story.

leaflikebrew · 16/01/2026 14:31

Echobelly · 21/10/2023 16:12

It was entertaining but I didn't think it was very well written and couldn't really feel much for the characters.

This - but without the entertaining part...

Didn't finish it as life is too short. However, lots of people love it, so it could be a 'me' problem.

TheOtherParker · 10/01/2026 22:06

It would have been interesting if he became a kid or old man etc or broke space time like Kurt Vonnegut described

DrCoconut · 22/10/2023 17:11

It didn't read well, was very hard to follow.

BringMeTea · 22/10/2023 17:09

Yeah it's utter bollocks. Why so hyped?

Mackeroo · 22/10/2023 13:26

I read it years ago when everyone was raving about it and thought it was massively overrated.

YireosDodeAver · 22/10/2023 13:20

I think the book is a work of genius but it would be a mistake to view it as a positive depiction of a desirable relationship. Clare muses on how her life and agency is subsumed into waiting for Henry and how she can't engage with life outside him. Even after he has died she knows she will see him again when he travels forward and is still waiting for him. It's not a good fate. Yes he groomed her. A good man would have insisted that there could be no physical relationship until they met in his real timeline when not travelling (probably ok for older-Henry to shag younger-Clare once she had already met and started shagging non-timetravelling Henry, but it's a totally fucked up relationship to be not really that into your actual lover because the older version of him is actually more attractive to you)

Oblomov23 · 22/10/2023 13:17

Keep trying to read it but just can't.

undery · 22/10/2023 13:07

Zwicky · 21/10/2023 20:38

I read it years ago for book club. I remember it being very polarising. I was on “team hate” which was the minority but we were right.

I think attitudes have definitely changed.

Spidey66 · 22/10/2023 11:56

sunshineandshowers40 · 21/10/2023 16:04

I read it years ago; I didn't enjoy it, took forever for me to finish it.

This. Couldn't give a resume of it except I hated it while everyone else seemed to love it. I had the same reaction to Life of Pi. Hated it with a passion (still do) but it seemed I was on my own there

followingthebreath · 22/10/2023 11:51

Hated it - how can it not be grooming?! Horrible book.

CreeperBoom · 21/10/2023 22:11

Onthelongroad · 21/10/2023 21:17

I read it when my first DC was a baby and remember being really disturbed by the pregnancy. Didn’t she keep she keep miscarrying because the foetus would time travel? And she wanted to make it through to birth so that it would all be ok. But the idea of a tiny baby time travelling was awful - it would die so easily. How could she have a baby under those circumstances?

Yes, and also, how could she leave her young child alone with Henry, ever? I feel like the character really lacked a maternal instinct.

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SoundTheSirens · 21/10/2023 21:21

It's one of the few books I couldn't finish, thoroughly disliked it.

Didn't think that much of TLB either, although I did manage to finish that (and wished I hadn't bothered, the end was weird).

Onthelongroad · 21/10/2023 21:17

I read it when my first DC was a baby and remember being really disturbed by the pregnancy. Didn’t she keep she keep miscarrying because the foetus would time travel? And she wanted to make it through to birth so that it would all be ok. But the idea of a tiny baby time travelling was awful - it would die so easily. How could she have a baby under those circumstances?

Pocketfullofdogtreats · 21/10/2023 21:15

I hated it too. Didn't finish it.

CarrotSoupwithCheese · 21/10/2023 21:10

I found Henry’s constant quoting of poetry (in different languages) very irritating. Does Clare do that too? I can’t remember as it’s so long since I read it. But it struck me as so conceited and try hard.

CreeperBoom · 21/10/2023 21:07

OhBeAFineGuyKissMe · 21/10/2023 21:02

Not fully the point but I struggle that Henry can't travel far geographically but hops from summer to winter no bother!

This is 186million miles away as the whole Earth has moved around the sun. Even in 1 day the Earth has moved 1.6 million miles.*

First time jump and he would end up in the cold vacuum of space.

*Not taking into account the whole solar system is on the move at a massive 450,000 mph.

Good point. I'm adding that to my list of reasons to hate.

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JayAlfredPrufrock · 21/10/2023 21:05

I enjoyed it.

CatOnAHotShedRoof · 21/10/2023 21:04

highlandcoo · 21/10/2023 18:59

I don't like books that jump around in time - can barely cope with the clocks going back/forward an hour twice a year Grin so I was too stressed getting my head around the time travelling to notice anything else about the book. Won't be rereading it that's for sure.

Same here. I struggled through to about half way but remember getting very muddled with the changing ages and losing the thread of the story. I had to give up. There are better, more enjoyable, books out there.

OhBeAFineGuyKissMe · 21/10/2023 21:02

Not fully the point but I struggle that Henry can't travel far geographically but hops from summer to winter no bother!

This is 186million miles away as the whole Earth has moved around the sun. Even in 1 day the Earth has moved 1.6 million miles.*

First time jump and he would end up in the cold vacuum of space.

*Not taking into account the whole solar system is on the move at a massive 450,000 mph.

PlantDoctor · 21/10/2023 20:53

Loved it as a teen. Thinking back I think I would feel like you do reading it now with an adult's perspective!

AmyJohnsonsplane · 21/10/2023 20:51

I started this book but couldn't finish it...am glad now sounds awful

lljkk · 21/10/2023 20:51

On balance I think I liked it. None of the statements here change my mind. I'm not like Clare & wouldn't have made her choices, but that doesn't matter. I found her choices extremely believable, what most women would have done. I liked the mind meld of Henry's awful choices, how he lost his feet, eek...

I didn't relate to her nympho character but again... some women truly are like that.

the part that puzzled me is WHY did Henry stay living in a cold place. He knew that he never physically jumped far (in space) so it would have made so much more sense for him to choose as an adult to go live somewhere with a benign climate. He feared cold more than anything. So why stay living near Chicago??!!

Portakalkedi · 21/10/2023 20:47

Yes it was crap. I usually like anything about time travel but it was dull, creepy and boring.

Zwicky · 21/10/2023 20:38

I read it years ago for book club. I remember it being very polarising. I was on “team hate” which was the minority but we were right.