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2 of 6 found the following review helpful:
 Seriously Overrated Aug 25, 2010
I grew tired of this book about half way in. It was almost mentally exhausting jumping from Henry to Clare, skipping years, and trying to cope with the fact that a 41 year old man went back in time and had relations with an 18 year old version of Clare.
I heard a lot of praise for this novel before I read it, and I was quite excited to start. However, I was more than disappointed at the end. I do not consider myself a "prude", but the love scenes could have been described in a more "polite" manner. Nicholas Sparks writes in a more "romantic' way, and he is a man. Niffenegger however, writes more like a man....and she a woman. Women are supposed to be more clean about it, more romantic about love scenes, yet she writes as if a sailor wrote it. Is this "romantic"??
Maybe that is just me, but it turned me off. It seemed most of the book was dedicated to the weird sexual relationship he had with the younger Clare, than it did about his relationship with Present Clare, or about the struggles present Clare had with him disappearing all the time.
The one thing I did enjoy about this novel was the end. (no sarcasm) Henry's demise was actually touching, but I enjoyed the moment where they saw each other again when Clare was older. That to me, exhibited the true love within the novel.
1 of 1 found the following review helpful:
Frustrating. Aug 23, 2010
I get annoyed and frustrated when my husband travels for work. I worry about him and wonder what he's doing. And, of course, there is no one to help with the kids or housework. That's nothing compared to Clare's situation in The Time Traveler's Wife. She's waiting for her husband for the great majority of her life.
I got frustrated with the first 75 pages because I was too caught up in figuring out the ages and dates for Henry and Clare. After a while, the dates didn't matter all that much and all I needed to know was whether Henry was time traveling or not. The book was more enjoyable after that point. I was so caught up Henry and Clare's life that I absolutely hate the ending. I wanted to put the book down and not pick it up again when the author even hinted at the ending. =( I won't read this book again because of the way it ends, but I will remember it for a long time.
1 of 1 found the following review helpful:
Time well spent Aug 19, 2010
"The Time Traveler's Wife" is a quirky, creative and at times frustrating first novel. The concept is lots of fun. Henry DeTamble is a chrono-displaced person (CDP, of course) who finds himself traveling forwards and backwards in time, generally against his will and to places and times that he has no control over. His wife suffers through his comings and goings, finding stability in her art and in the thin cast of friends and family around her.
Chances are you've never read anything quite like this book. The herky jerky movements in time keep you on your reading toes. And I thought the author does a very good job keeping things reasonably organized and easy to follow. Stuff that happens early in the book sometimes isn't explained until you read a later chapter (occurring earlier in time). There's some interesting tension towards the end, and a bittersweet conclusion to wrap it all up.
My main frustration with the book is that the story slows down and gets a bit bloated with tedious details in parts. The novelty of the time traveling dude wears off after a handful of chapters. It's not until later in the book, when the plot starts to pick up some steam, that my interest recovered. But stick with it. You'll find that this story is well worth riding it out to the end.
Ending was sad. Aug 19, 2010
This is one of those books that everyone reads and you love it or hate it. I am not sure if I loved it, but it is a very good book! For me, it was a bit hard to follow at first, because I didn't understand all the popping back in forth in time, and what was `the present' and why it was happening. Henry spontaneously time-travels. He seems to only travel to places in his past that he is familiar with. He meets his future wife when she is six, and he is middle aged. In reality, he is eight years older than her, but Clare grows up with him her entire life. About 180 pages in, everything clicked for me, and the story grabbed me and sucked me in. I won't go into much of a story synopsis, since there are so many better ones here on GR. I recommend it to everyone--you just have to have an open mind. I read some reviews comparing Henry to Humbert Humbert, but I never really got that feeling. He never does anything inappropriate when Clare is a child.
I was disappointed in the ending, but it doesn't make my `end pissed me off shelf', because I wasn't really mad, just sad. I felt sad for Clare and for Henry both.
 Good entertainment, bad writing Aug 18, 2010
I gave this book two stars because the topic of the book was a great idea. Also I applaud the author for getting her first book published. But... The characters have no depth to their personalities, they are not flawed or personable which makes the book quite hard to get through. There was nothing about the book that made me want more, which saddens me because I was quite looking forward to reading it. I would honestly compare the writing style to that of the Twilight series, (which yes, I admit I did read.) This book would be better geared to younger readers.
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