Sign in with Facebook
Cecily's Reviews > The Time Traveler's Wife
The Time Traveler's Wife
by
by
Cecily's review
bookshelves: miscellaneous-fiction, scifi-future-speculative-fict, usa-and-canada, time-travel
May 30, 2008
bookshelves: miscellaneous-fiction, scifi-future-speculative-fict, usa-and-canada, time-travel
This is a very old review (2008), of a book I read a year or two before that. It doesn't necessarily represent what my opinion would be now, 12+ years later.
(I fixed a typo, and unchecked the option to send the review to my feed, but that doesn't always work, so I got a new comment (thanks!) and now feel I need to edit the review again to make this disclaimer. I will, again, uncheck the option to send it to my feed...)
A longish but quite easy read: a charming and unusual mix of time travel paradoxes/free will versus determinism/coincidences that aren't etc, coupled with a non-soppy love story.
It handles some of the potentially dodgy situations very sensitively (eg when adult Henry visits young Clare).
I'm not sure I'd write the ending the same way, and got to the point where I almost didn't want to read on in case I didn't like it.
ACCIDENTAL TIME TRAVEL
Now that I've read Kurt Vonnegut's Slaughterhouse Five (review here) and Octavia Butler's Kindred (review here), I realise the central idea of an occasional, accidental time traveller is not hers. Although that detracts from what I thought was her originality, her book is very different, and still an excellent read.
FILM
I avoided the film, as it looked horribly sentimental, in a way the book largely avoids, but also because the dodgy age issue would have seemed far worse with actors on a screen.
SHARED LIKING
This is one the very few books my husband and I have both read and both enjoyed (with the exception of some proper sci-fi).
(I fixed a typo, and unchecked the option to send the review to my feed, but that doesn't always work, so I got a new comment (thanks!) and now feel I need to edit the review again to make this disclaimer. I will, again, uncheck the option to send it to my feed...)
A longish but quite easy read: a charming and unusual mix of time travel paradoxes/free will versus determinism/coincidences that aren't etc, coupled with a non-soppy love story.
It handles some of the potentially dodgy situations very sensitively (eg when adult Henry visits young Clare).
I'm not sure I'd write the ending the same way, and got to the point where I almost didn't want to read on in case I didn't like it.
ACCIDENTAL TIME TRAVEL
Now that I've read Kurt Vonnegut's Slaughterhouse Five (review here) and Octavia Butler's Kindred (review here), I realise the central idea of an occasional, accidental time traveller is not hers. Although that detracts from what I thought was her originality, her book is very different, and still an excellent read.
FILM
I avoided the film, as it looked horribly sentimental, in a way the book largely avoids, but also because the dodgy age issue would have seemed far worse with actors on a screen.
SHARED LIKING
This is one the very few books my husband and I have both read and both enjoyed (with the exception of some proper sci-fi).
Sign into Å·±¦ÓéÀÖ to see if any of your friends have read
The Time Traveler's Wife.
Sign In »
Reading Progress
Finished Reading
May 30, 2008
– Shelved
June 9, 2008
– Shelved as:
miscellaneous-fiction
June 9, 2008
– Shelved as:
scifi-future-speculative-fict
August 9, 2009
– Shelved as:
usa-and-canada
January 21, 2020
– Shelved as:
time-travel
Comments Showing 1-25 of 25 (25 new)
date
newest »
newest »
The film of TTTW looked horribly sentimental, judging by the trailer - far more than I remember the book being. Am I wrong?Shining Girls looks intriguing (and a little grim), but it's unlikely to push to the top of my TBR any time soon. Thanks, though.
Cecily wrote: "The film of TTTW looked horribly sentimental, judging by the trailer - far more than I remember the book being. Am I wrong?..."You are never wrong ;) Speaking of time travelling Neil Gaiman has this to say:
Cecily wrote: "Ha!"Live long and prosper :'(
Agree with your comment on Slaughterhouse 5 which is stunning but very different.
Probably a good decision to skip the movie - I found that it removed a lot of the unusualness, and replaced it with soppiness.
There's a film? Oh great googly moogly, as much as I loved this book (a lot) I'd rather wash my eyes with bleach than watch it be butchered by a filmic sensibility.
Lily wrote: "Probably a good decision to skip the movie - I found that it removed a lot of the unusualness, and replaced it with soppiness."Thanks for the reassurance.
Campbell wrote: "There's a film? Oh great googly moogly, as much as I loved this book (a lot) I'd rather wash my eyes with bleach than watch it be butchered by a filmic sensibility."LOL. Keep your eyes safe!
I liked the bit about Violent Femmes; saw them play once at our local festival, early 1990s (which is one of the Finland's oldest still-going rock festivals, if not the oldest). Got a t-shirt, and they were great :)
7jane wrote: "I liked the bit about Violent Femmes; saw them play once at our local festival ..."I wish I remembered that bit!
Cecily wrote: "7jane wrote: "I liked the bit about Violent Femmes; saw them play once at our local festival ..."I wish I remembered that bit!"
When the main couple go to a VF gig, and dance, and the women meets another version of the man, who gives advice. This is when the woman is still living with Gomez and G's girl; the time when the woman is still a student. Close to the middle of the book.
Thanks. Still doesn't ring a bell!:(
Cecily wrote: "Thanks. Still doesn't ring a bell!:("
I'll look the page tonight!
Thanks, that's very kind, but please don't put yourself to any bother.
Cecily wrote: "Thanks, that's very kind, but please don't put yourself to any bother."Found it! It's around pages 154-55. 8) *hugs*
Amazing. Thanks, 7jane. I need to go home and find my copy....
I saw the film and came in expecting this to be a sappy love story. Glad to hear it’s a better read than that.
Tanvi wrote: "I saw the film and came in expecting this to be a sappy love story. Glad to hear it’s a better read than that."I read the book and wrote this review so long ago, it's possible I wouldn't think quite the same now.
I was a little disappointed with this book. I felt it was a run of mill romance novel hung on a time travel concept to give some additional time marketing appeal. And I've had run ins with fans of the book because i think the line between predestination and grooming with young Clare is dubious at best: sure, he never dies anything wrong with her, but ultimately his actions as an adult with her as a child leads to their mature relationship.
Phil wrote: "I was a little disappointed with this book. I felt it was a run of mill romance novel hung on a time travel concept..."From my recollection, I think that's about right.
Phil wrote: "... i think the line between predestination and grooming with young Clare is dubious at best..."
I was uneasy about it twelve years ago, despite the mitigation you mention. I suspect that were I to read it now, I'd have a bigger problem with it.
Cecily, never watch that horrible movie they came up with for this book! They killed every bit of magic this book had.
Tatevik wrote: "Cecily, never watch that horrible movie they came up with for this book! They killed every bit of magic this book had."Thanks for the warning, though I have no intention of watching the film and would actually be wary of rereading the book.
I didn't mind The Time Traveler's Wife movie all that much, nothing so wrong with it that a sonic screwdriver couldn't fix.