Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. Only the apps you allow.

Meet the Other Phone.
Only the apps you allow.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
What we're reading

Find your new favourite book or recommend one on our Book forum.

Original poster

The time traveller's wife - is it any good (40 pages in, not convinced)?

96 replies

CristinaTheAstonishing · 05/10/2006 11:44

I know it's had good reviews. I think the idea is interesting. I'm 40 pages in and it's just very samey. Does it lead to anything, is it worth persisting? Thanks.

OP posts:
hatwoman · 05/10/2006 19:36

didn't like it. It's a clever plot device but the love story is one dimensional, unconvinving and the characters are boring. Take away the time travel and there is very little else to it imo. I came away wondering why and in what way these two rather boring people loved each other. If I couldn't answer those questions then I think it has failed as a love story.

MsBionic · 05/10/2006 20:01

I loved it but hey its all subjective....

FatThighs · 05/10/2006 20:12

loved it - you need to give it a while before you stop thinking 'god thid time travel thing is rubbish' as suddenly the story and characters take over.

Loved it - thought it was clever and well written adn sad.

But as someone else said - each to their own.

Hey - long thread about one book.

marymillington · 05/10/2006 20:22

i thought the end was DIRE.

the idea/device of it was very ambitious, but the author's writing just wasn't up to it.

so there.

MrsSpoon · 05/10/2006 22:24

I thought it was pants.

Gillian76 · 05/10/2006 22:26

I enjoyed it but it did take me a while to get it.

me23 · 05/10/2006 22:56

I'm reading this at the moment, I wasn't sure at first either but now just over half way through I'm loving it. I think the love story is convincing only thing I would like is it would delve a bit deeper into the personalities of the characters.

catsmother · 05/10/2006 23:06

I really enjoyed it but found it quite hard work. I bet I'm not the only one who's got through it who had to keep turning back to check I'd got things straight in my head.

I cried at the end.

fuzzyfelt · 09/10/2006 20:53

I read this book last year and loved it. Haven't read a book since that has moved me so much.

I've lent it out to friends and IMHO my pragmatic friends don't really get on with it but my 'navel gazer' friends (like me) love it.

venusinfurs · 09/10/2006 20:55

Christina
I hated it. I'm afraid I'm Cowmod and others. It is, in fact, shite.

Oh dear, I'm far too much of a hand-wringer to be so controversial. Think I will slink off now...But I did really hate it. Cheesy, cheesy and awful. Eww. Horrible book.
Yuk.

venusinfurs · 09/10/2006 20:56

Meant to say 'with' there, of course.

expatinscotland · 09/10/2006 20:56

It's a cheesy romance novel trying to masquerade as literature.

Pants.

beansprout · 09/10/2006 21:02

I loved it. I thought it was about love, acceptance of someone, sticking at relationships, all sorts of stuff that resonates. Cried at the end. Nothing wrong with a good love story and this is a good loves story!! But hey, if you don't like it, try something else. As others have said, life is too short to read books you are not enjoying.

Sheraz · 09/10/2006 21:02

I loved it, it was really moving and i am not in the least sloppy. I thought it was clever and different..one of the bedt books I have ever read.

bottomburp · 09/10/2006 21:09

oh my god i loved this book, am so happy to find a book thread!didnt know they existed

my top tip for books that you feel you need to persevere with is to have them by the loo, i am so desperate to read something on the loo that i will always read what is there!

Sheraz · 09/10/2006 21:17

Lol bottom burp! Is that why my DH spends so long in the loo!

fuzzyfelt · 09/10/2006 21:18

Brad Pitt has bought the film rights to it apparently and has cast himself as Henry.

MrsMuddle · 09/10/2006 21:32

Oh, I hated this book so much. Lots of people I know and whose opinions I respect loved it, so I spent a lot of time wondering if there was something I just didn't get. But my conclusion was that it's just overrated shite.

janeite · 09/10/2006 21:52

I thought it was very good; flawed, so not a perfect novel, but pretty damn close. Much better than The Lovely Bones but not as good as Jane Austen!!!

bottomburp · 09/10/2006 23:47

Sheraz what books are you putting in there?!!

Sheraz · 10/10/2006 21:17

He's reading something about Stalingrad - far too intellectual for me! The Lovely Bones was really disappointing, loved The Accidental though.
Am putting Margaret Attwoods new book on my Xmas wish list

UnquietDad · 10/10/2006 23:31

I gave up on this book after about 40 pages too.

Kif · 10/10/2006 23:39

It does get more exciting - but if you;re not convinced by the style and concept by 40 pages perhaps youre just not that into it? I loved it - but in your postioin I'd give up.

expatinscotland · 10/10/2006 23:50

I went to 50 pages.

The 50 pages rule.

It's a good one.

I scammed it off an amazon.com reviewer.

Clary · 11/10/2006 00:17

I adooooooored it.

But lots of people I know did not.

I think by 40 pages you've got the idea. A colleague of mine said she just coulnd't get her head round it.
Basically she meets him as a child and he's her husband; then when she meets him in real life he has no idea who she is (because he hasn't gone back to meet her yet). Head spinning? Give it up. Fascinated? Keep going.