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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?

OP posts:
PangramAddict · 21/10/2023 20:36

I read that book like 16 years ago and that still really fucks me off! Made worse by the fact that everyone was raving about it and I felt like something was wrong with me for finding it a pile of creepy wank.

CesareBorgia · 21/10/2023 19:53

PangramAddict · 21/10/2023 19:47

Doesn't Claire grow up to be a paper artist or something? I nearly threw the book away at that point but carried on to see what the fuss was about. Waste of time.
I haven't even attempted the lovely bones as I can't see what could be good about reading that.
I do find the books that go "viral" quite odd. All those "child called it" books that were wildly popular for years just seem like awful topics to fill your brain with.

Yes, naturally Clare has a quirky sort of job, because she's so different and special 🙄

PangramAddict · 21/10/2023 19:47

Doesn't Claire grow up to be a paper artist or something? I nearly threw the book away at that point but carried on to see what the fuss was about. Waste of time.
I haven't even attempted the lovely bones as I can't see what could be good about reading that.
I do find the books that go "viral" quite odd. All those "child called it" books that were wildly popular for years just seem like awful topics to fill your brain with.

Justleaveitblankthen · 21/10/2023 19:40

Loved it.
Also loved the series that was recently repeated (could still be available) The Actors were superbly chosen, down to Henry and Claire as children.
Hated the film of several years ago.
Also hated the Lovely Bones.

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.

CesareBorgia · 21/10/2023 18:27

What I liked about it was the realistic approach to time travel - not being able to take anything that wasn't organically part of the body, not being able to alter the past.

Clare was an annoying character and much of her romance with Henry read like adolescent fantasy (him rescuing her from the boy at her high school, for example). She had 'idealised version of the author' written all over her. Henry came across as selfish.

I enjoyed the plot and ending, so overall a mixed bag.

Joolsin · 21/10/2023 18:23

I detested it. Both main characters were completely unlikeable, so much so I didn't care what happened to them. I'm not sure I even finished it.

Snoeberry · 21/10/2023 18:00

I loved it. Really enjoyed reading It!

verdantverdure · 21/10/2023 17:56

I hated it too. I still get angry when someone mentions it Grin

dayswithaY · 21/10/2023 17:54

I loved the Time Traveller’s Wife but now I questioning everything about it!

I also loved Her Fearful Symmetry - which was universally ridiculed.

undery · 21/10/2023 17:50

Crikeyalmighty · 21/10/2023 16:35

I hated the lovely bones too which it seemed everyone went wild for

I didn't like that at all either.

undery · 21/10/2023 17:49

Yes, that's it @IncomingTraffic

Creepy really. When you're wondering if it's a form of grooming then that's not great really. Romantic? No!

undery · 21/10/2023 17:47

But when he first met her, they were both adults.

But when she first met him she was a young child and he was comparatively quite old.

CreeperBoom · 21/10/2023 16:46

It wasn't even just the age, when it came to the grooming. He conditioned her to accept that he needed constant sex, so she sleeps with him right up to the end of a high risk pregnancy, and also while his other self is asleep beside her (without her even noticing at first).

I was half expecting him to shag her at 86, since that appeared to be her only function to him.

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MadeOfAllWork · 21/10/2023 16:45

CarrotSoupwithCheese · 21/10/2023 16:24

I read it about 15 years ago and loved it, but I was quite young and idealistic. Thinking about the relationship now it is indeed very problematic. I still find it all an interesting concept though.

Same here. I read it when it came out and was quite popular. I liked it at the time but now I feel differently.

modgepodge · 21/10/2023 16:41

Crikeyalmighty · 21/10/2023 16:35

I hated the lovely bones too which it seemed everyone went wild for

Yes I HATED this, found the ending deeply unsatisfying.

Crikeyalmighty · 21/10/2023 16:35

I hated the lovely bones too which it seemed everyone went wild for

CreeperBoom · 21/10/2023 16:33

Tellmeallthestories · 21/10/2023 16:01

No, I didn't like it either. Regret even being reminded of it tbh!

Sorry about that!

Glad to see I am not the only one. There was so much hype around it, I wondered if I was completely missing something.

OP posts:
CarrotSoupwithCheese · 21/10/2023 16:24

I read it about 15 years ago and loved it, but I was quite young and idealistic. Thinking about the relationship now it is indeed very problematic. I still find it all an interesting concept though.

IncomingTraffic · 21/10/2023 16:20

Getting married at some point in the timeline doesn’t somehow make him less of a creep. It’s like the ridiculous notion that getting married somehow undoes statutory rape.

nocoolnamesleft · 21/10/2023 16:18

It felt uncomfortably like grooming. I did not like it.

IncomingTraffic · 21/10/2023 16:18

ElleLeopine · 21/10/2023 16:13

But when he first met her, they were both adults. He only started travelling back to her childhood much later, when they were married.

It’s still grooming.

He met her as a young adult. Then started travelling back to her early childhood to groom her so that she’d already be in love with him when she came across him in the normal passage of time. Urgh.

Having no control over the time travelling doesn’t mean he had no control of his actions in whatever time he currently found himself.

And the whole thing that she basically spent her whole life waiting for him is dire.

Tronkmanton · 21/10/2023 16:17

I read the book years ago, hated it. It just didn’t flow. However I loved the film, it all made sense.

Forgotmycoat · 21/10/2023 16:15

I hated it. he waited until she was 18 ( or was it 16?) before sleeping with her. That was gross.

ElleLeopine · 21/10/2023 16:13

undery · 21/10/2023 16:08

I felt uncomfortable with the fact he befriended her as a child then became romantically involved later on. Not quite grooming, perhaps, but didn't sit comfortably either.

But when he first met her, they were both adults. He only started travelling back to her childhood much later, when they were married.