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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:
Tellmeallthestories · 21/10/2023 16:01

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

sunshineandshowers40 · 21/10/2023 16:04

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

MyBedIsMySpiritualHome · 21/10/2023 16:05

Yeah I hated it. Weird and uncomfortable power dynamic.

Tilllly · 21/10/2023 16:06

Tellmeallthestories · 21/10/2023 16:01

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

Same

Neilsfavouritechilli · 21/10/2023 16:06

I got as far as two of him in his teenage bedroom and it broke my brain enough to have to stop.

IncomingTraffic · 21/10/2023 16:07

I hated it. Everything about the relationship is awful.

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.

saltnpepper2000 · 21/10/2023 16:09

Sorry - no - I absolutely loved it 😂

ElleLeopine · 21/10/2023 16:11

I absolutely loved it, and still do!

PangramAddict · 21/10/2023 16:12

Nope, I hated it. It was weird and creepy. I didnt find it romantic at all!

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

nocoolnamesleft · 21/10/2023 16:18

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

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.

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.

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:
Crikeyalmighty · 21/10/2023 16:35

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

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.

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.

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.

OP posts:
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.

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!