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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:
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.

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.

verdantverdure · 21/10/2023 17:56

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

Snoeberry · 21/10/2023 18:00

I loved it. Really enjoyed reading It!

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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 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.

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.

Portakalkedi · 21/10/2023 20:47

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

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??!!

AmyJohnsonsplane · 21/10/2023 20:51

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

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!

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.

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.

JayAlfredPrufrock · 21/10/2023 21:05

I enjoyed it.

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.

OP posts:
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.

Pocketfullofdogtreats · 21/10/2023 21:15

I hated it too. Didn't finish it.

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?

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).

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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