The Time Traveler's Wife (edition 2015)

by Audrey Niffenegger

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quirkx's review

The Time Traveler’s Wife is one of those books that should have never been written and to be honest, I don’t know how it was published in 2003 with so much problematic messaging.
First of all, when anyone sees time traveling in the title of a book, the first thing you think is that this will be a sci-fi - this could not be further from the truth. The time traveler Henry’s time traveling abilities are never explained.

Instead, this novel is presented as a star-crossed romance between Henry and Clare, where their lives keep intersecting due to Henry’s time traveling. What a waste of an extraordinary ability.

Here’s the thing: Henry loses his clothes when he time travels, and he has zero control over his time traveling ability. Future Henry first meets Clare when she is a literal child, and he recognizes her as the person that he would marry in the future. She has to fetch clothes for him, and he continuously time travels to her to hang out when she is still a child. If that is not grooming behavior, I don’t know what it is.
When Clare grows up and eventually meets Henry, he has not met her in this timeline yet so she has to fill him in. However, younger Henry kind of sucks as a person and partner.

They eventually marry and Clare has at least six (or seven?!) miscarriages because their fetus keeps time-traveling out of the womb. Henry undergoes a vasectomy because Clare is desperate for a baby and insists on trying again…when another Henry time travels to this timeline, he is still intact and Clare seduces him. This read as some form of messed up, time-traveling spousal rape (as present Henry is shocked and not happy when she is once again pregnant since of course he would not give consent to this).

Don’t waste your time with this one. (

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quirkx | Jan 6, 2025 |

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Showing 1-25 of 1234 (next | show all)

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quirkx | Jan 6, 2025 |

Incredible love story that helps you gloss over the main part of the book ~ the fact that he time travels!!! It is a really good book! (

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Trisha_Thomas | Nov 13, 2024 |

I knew from the first page that I would love this book. Implausible, and yet it completely works because it is the clear characters and not the fantasy that drives the story. I cannot imagine a more realistic treatment of the effects of time travel. It sent me into a mini-funk over the idea of inevitability. (

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crsyshfr21 | Nov 11, 2024 |

I really disliked this book as I found it dreary and boring and each chapter seemed to drag on and I found the whole story repetitive, I did not warm to the characters and never had any connection with the story. (

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DemFen | Oct 31, 2024 |

I don't like the Time Travel aspect of this. It's def. not SF. I reread it for TT group spring 2021 and am still conflicted about how I feel about it. And apparently I did not write a review. Ah well. It's not like I have anything much to say about a pretentious romance that still manages to charm. (

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Cheryl_in_CC_NV | Oct 18, 2024 |

How did I miss this for so many years??? I loved every page. How on earth did the author manage to provide so much detail and keep the dates in any sort of system that made sense?? But it worked. Beautifully written. (

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nyiper | Oct 14, 2024 |

I cried, a lot. And read it in small chunks.

It was that good.

A book to be savored. (

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nclithing | Oct 8, 2024 |

I only need one word to review this literal automobile wreck of a novel. Ick. (

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RBeffa | Sep 26, 2024 |

I'm enjoying reading this book especially because from time to time I have to stop to think about when the characters are, instead of where.
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renatalea | Sep 10, 2024 |

Time Traveler's Wife is definitely an extraordinary fusion of sci-fi and love, in this example study through a man named henry; who goes back and forth between periods whereas a lady called clare remains behind. The flow of this book reflects both randomness involved in time travel as well as addressing some fundamental concepts such as affection, bereavement and determinism. When we think about these individuals so closely they really emerge because such deeply explored personalities: henry still strives with his malady while Clare adopts devotion as well patience.

The emotional value is further amplified because Niffenegger’s writing has a musicality even if others consider it confusing since passages have little relation to science concerning traveling through time. In summary, it is thus a beautiful and insightful story about love that withstands to the challenges of time. (

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Preetika27 | Aug 14, 2024 |

Book 82
Time Travellers Wife
Audrey Niffenegger.
This book is probably in my top 3 ever. I read it. We then (as Peter's a slow reader) listened to it as a talking book. We were in Valencia at the time and when we go out in the morning it's rare that we go back till bedtime. But that's a long day in Spain so at 4pm we laid down in the park, our ears full of tears. Absolutely fantastic. Then we watched the film... Twice...
10/10
Pam Martin have you read this? (

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janicearkulisz | Aug 2, 2024 |

I enjoy a good romance now and then. The love story part of this book I liked- the violence, I liked less.
One thing to mention is that for a person (such as myself)who knows and loves Chicago, this book is a real treat. (

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beaudaignault | Jul 14, 2024 |

I had to re-listen to the very beginning of this book once I figured out what was going on. It was worth it. Great idea, well done. (

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Flowercreek | Jun 24, 2024 |

A long read (it took me 3 weeks to finish), but worth it. Much of the writing about the lead character, Clare, is grounded in art and creative endeavours, with epic themes of love and death, matched with excitement and tension. Some very impressive writing about male/female desire, including tender yet graphic descriptions of a miscarriage. Not to my taste, but still a definite "tour d'emotion". (

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SunnyJim | Jun 24, 2024 |

DNF.

Trust your instincts y'all. I knew it was a bad idea trying this again after having donated my original copy about... 5 years ago?

Just not a fan of the writing style & story. I am, however, very excited to see the new adaptation will have Kate Siegel in it.

escapinginpaper | May 18, 2024 |

I really despised the characters and the premise was poorly executed. Time traveling in the nude to meet your future wife when she is six is just not a great plot premise. Some of the twists and turns are hard to follow. Henry is a shallow sociopath. Some of the dialogue seems stilted. The writing wasn't bad overall, but the author name- dropped in all to obvious attempt to be both cool and cultured.
I was tempted to abandon the book but I kept hoping that it would get better. I doesn't. I would not recommend it to anyone. I gave it two stars because I found some events in the latter part of the book fairly interesting. (

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Chrissylou62 | Apr 11, 2024 |

I read this for the "A Book About Time Travel" part of my 2019 reading challenge. I enjoyed it, but sometimes it was hard to follow the timelines and Henry could be a bit annoying. (

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Linyarai | Mar 6, 2024 |

This book is terrible. I can't believe there is so much hype about it. Once I started, I was determined to finish, however. Sadly, as the book goes on, it only gets more ridiculous. The only good thing I can say about this book is that I'm finally finished reading it. (

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thatnerd | Mar 2, 2024 |

Strange and sad story of man who time travels uncontrollably .

bentstoker | Jan 26, 2024 |

I sort of swear off contemporary books (less than 20 years old) as a child. Many were autobiographical fiction and had little structure, assuming their own factual importance. I read this because I did not have any time to find a book for my 3 month trip to Europe and my mom had this lying around. However, since I was trying to find broaden my literary genres and venture into romance, this science fiction blend seemed like a proper compromise.
I loved it. There certainly are a few minor structural problems due to the time changes, but it altogether brilliant and original. Too bad more people do not appreciate it. (

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MXMLLN | Jan 12, 2024 |

"The Time Traveler's Wife" is one of the most interesting, powerful books I've read in a long time. Audrey Niffenegger did a beautiful job taking some of the most complex ideas - time travel, marriage, love, children, friends, literary and artistic allusions, religion, death, drugs, childhood, growing, loss, and what it means to be human - and weaving them together poetically and with amazing clarity. Her characters are wonderful, "real" people with strengths and flaws, and I really grew to adore them. Despite skipping around time at the same rate as Henry, the time traveler, the events are sequenced in such a way that you still witness each character's growth as a person, as well as discover many surprises along the way. Clare and Henry's story is one of the best love stories I've read in a very long time. This book also echoes important modern-day questions about the appropriateness of gene therapy, and what it means to be a human being. I highly and enthusiastically recommend this book. (

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b00kdarling87 | Jan 7, 2024 |

Great book, great idea. (

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Hello9876 | Jan 6, 2024 |

The story is a little dis-jointed, as a time travel novel might be. I liked it, but liked the HBO show better. Listened to it on Audible. (

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Caspaulding | Dec 26, 2023 |

Even better the second time around and so much better than the movie. :) (

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DKnight0918 | Dec 23, 2023 |

I don’t know….it was fine. Too many words. I understand the author is a paper artist but making Clare a paper artist added very little. I didn’t need any of those tedious details. The story dragged with some of that detail, and it lumbered to it’s end. It had its charms but I won’t really miss it that much. I’m not sure I really liked the characters that much, as smart and…smug as they were about themselves. And some of the minor characters? I don’t know, man.

BookyMaven | Dec 6, 2023 |

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