I'm only adding this book because it annoys me that it popped up on the "most popular reads." People, this book is terrible. Do yourself a favor and pretend you'd never heard of it. My short answer is that it's just no good, the long version is in the following list, which I call "The Problems I Have With The Time-Traveler's Wife."1. The author is indecisive. Rather than accepting that this is a science-fiction novel, she tries to write a social commentary, romance, and art and music novel all r...

I recently read The Time-Traveler's Wife and was pretty disappointed---the author somehow manages to turn such an awesome premise (the dude actually time travels!) into something pretty flat and dull. The first hundred pages really hooked me, but after a while I started to get irritated by:1. All the name checking of hipster-approved bands in an attempt to establish Henry's supposed "punk" cred. He liked the Violent Femmes in 1991. That's why he's so badass? Seriously?2. The food porny descripti...

Why can't there be a negative star rating? I hated, hated this book. And yes, I did finish it. All way-too-many pages of it. But, in my defense it was (foolishly) the only book I brought with me when I was hospitalized for 24 hours after wisdom tooth surgery, and when your options are daytime soaps or this wretched book...well, at least I got to read the ending and conclude definitively that it wasn't worth it. Okay, now that I've gotten a bit of a rant out, let me be a little more organized abo...

Warning: Spoilery review. Short version: Hurry up and read this. Holy crap. Someone should have warned me about reading this book at work. I have been sitting here bawling my eyes out, tears streaming madly down my cheeks, flooding my eyes until the words swim into fields of glistening black lines. This book is so beautiful and anguishing to read I can't even be objective about it, because it was one of those stories that just burrowed a lot closer to home than you could ever feel comfortable wi...

Let me start this by saying I was very excited to read this book. I thought it was going to be good. It is not in any way good. It could have been good, the idea could have soared but in Niffenegger's hands it was destroyed by laundry lists of grocery bag contents, street directions, and punk bands until I even said, out loud, more than once, "okay, I get it." He bought groceries, he knows how to get around in Chicago, Clare likes to clean her studio, he is not just a punk rock poser but the rea...

I've been putting off writing this review for days because I knew that this would be a struggle for me. There aren't enough words in the English language that could accurately convey my feelings for The Time Traveler's Wife. If you haven't read this book, I urge you to do so. You can expect a literary experience unlike one you've ever had.What did I love most about this book? The love story. It was truly enchanting. The two protagonists, Henry and Clare were not only meant for each other, but it...

This is my 400th book review for Goodreads. Wow. I am either one sick or one inspired woman (or both). Apparently when I reach my 500th review, Goodreads will put a little encouraging "button" on my profile (they might as well just give me a bookmark), but 400 feels big, too, so I wanted to review a book that I love but have never reviewed here.The Time Traveler's Wife is a controversial novel, and when my book club discussed it, there were burning pitchforks, buckets of hot tar and glasses of P...

i hate reading books that everyone keeps bothering me to read. first there are the gushing reviews from the media, complete with intelligent sound clips: "it's so awesome! so titillating! the way the author captures that thing where the girl says that stuff and then they go to that cool place.. you know? even oprah says so!" and then there are the crowds of friends who carry around their freshly bought "it" book (ok, i'm bitter, i can't afford to buy new books) who can't wait to share their newf...

I am conflicted about this book. Do not let my 4 stars fool you, they are an emotional rating.I'll start with the things I really liked about it:Loved all the foreshadowing. The knowing something was going to happen, and maybe even a little bit of what it was, but never knowing or understanding fully until both characters had experienced the moment. And then all the foreshadowing of the tragic end. Once I started putting the puzzle together I really couldn't put it down. And I had several moment...

The Time Traveler's Wife, Audrey NiffeneggerIt is a love story about a man (Henry DeTamble, a librarian at the Newberry Library in Chicago) with a genetic disorder that causes him to time travel unpredictably, and about his wife, an artist, who has to cope with his frequent absences and dangerous experiences.Henry begins time traveling at the age of five, jumping forward and backward relative to his own timeline. When he vanishes, where he goes, and how long his trips will last are beyond his co...

Very unusual for me but DNF, so I did not give it a rating. It's the story of a couple in love where the man comes back at various ages before and after he initially met his wife. When that happens we get the perspective on what's going on from both him and her. I'm not a fan of romance or sci fi, so I guess the combination of the two turned me off. I always give a book at least 20 pages and this one had so many good reviews, I went back and gave it another twenty pages but just couldn't get int...

I have a serious love/hate relationship with this book. The good stuff:I really liked the jumps back and forth in time - surprisingly, the author was able to keep it all straight and I never really felt so terribly confused that I just wanted to give up.I loved the Henry character. I really loved him. He was flawed, he tried so hard to be a good man, etc etc. I just really loved this character.I liked the love story - I felt that the feelings between the two of them were real and so deep. So oft...

Just because something is popular does not mean it's good. Mass "taste" is often incredibly bad. Such is the case with this book, only it's not incredibly bad, just not worth the hours it takes to read it.It seems like every fiction book I've read in the past couple of years is highly depressing, this one included. My life is full enough of it's own challenges and disappointments that I'd like to read to escape. Yes, if novels are full of heartache and struggle, they are realistic and more accur...

I adore this book. I love it with all my heart. The first few pages were a delight, a surprise, and from then on it was a sweet love affair. I wanted both to have read the book all at once and also to have it all yet unread so I could savor it. I simply didn't want it to end.The story is about two people, the time traveler and his wife. On the surface, they are like any two people who love each other in modern times, except for the fact that he travels through time. You'd think that fact would m...

If I had to define "The Time Traveler's Wife" by Audrey Niffenegger in two words they would be: poignant and excessive—two words that also illustrate my mixed feelings about Niffenegger’s first novel.“The Time Traveler’s Wife” is about many things. Obviously time travel is an important feature, but this novel is also about librarians, artists, punk rock, and alcoholics. It’s also about love.Henry meets his wife, Clare, for the first time when he is 28 and Clare is 20. Clare met Henry for the fir...

I am not a romance reader by nature. That's not to say that I don't enjoy them from time to time, but I just don't usually gravitate toward romance. And to be completely honest, I had absolutely zero intention of reading this book, ever. But then it was chosen as my October Bookclub book, so my intentions just became irrelevant. So, now that I've read it... Umm... Well. I think that this book did have an interesting premise, and in another author's hands, could have been fantastic. But most of t...

For whatever reason, when I stared reading The Time Taveler’s Wife, I was in possession of two copies. I opted to leave a copy at work and the other at home and I read at least a few pages everyday. This meant that each time I picked up the book I was slightly lost, and wondering were I was, while I searched to find my place within the pages. One copy was older and more worn than the other, with writing in the margins and creased corners. The other book was brand new and living in the present. E...

I almost feel that the author wrote this book in two halves. The first half she wrote while at the pique of her ability and enthusiasm. The second half she wrote while on some very impressive anti-depressants.The first half of this book is sweet, wistful, beautiful and touching. The second half of this book is heart breaking, depressing and sloppily written.I finished this book wondering what the hell I'd actually gotten out of it. My not-so-startling conclusion was: nothing.When I read a book,

Rating this was really hard, because I really liked it (really, really liked it) but I have such qualms with the ending, which could very possibly be a testament to Niffenegger's writing, I'm not sure. Anyway.There were several things I wanted to talk about while I was reading it, more or less having to do with the notion of time-travel in the book. Obviously, there's always the immediate connection between Henry DeTamble and Billy Pilgrim, both of which are unstuck in time, Henry because of a b...

A big no thank you to The Time Traveler's Wife. To the legions of fans of this book, I'd like to know what you enjoyed about it. What did I miss? I see that it's won a pile of awards- I feel like I completely missed something and I would like to understand your point of view.I thought I was in for a sweet romance but all I got was a time traveler who cheated at the lottery, beat people up for clothes, and engaged in sexual hijinks with time traveling versions of himself.I was completely creeped

i feel there is a special circle of hell reserved for authors who make a fortune by blatantly ripping off better--but less mainstream--authors from the past and passing the ideas off as their own. I therefore will not review this book but instead re-direct the curious to a 1976 novel called Kindred by Octavia Butler, ostensibly a sci-fi novel but in fact a lean, precise and totally imaginative book for any alert reader. Avoid bloat, trashiness, sexism, predictability and slowness: don't read thi...

3 stars to Audrey Niffenegger's novel, The Time Traveler's Wife, published in 2003 and later made into a movie. This one is a hard book for me to rate. There was so many great things in it, but there was also a lot that made me step away and think about how it all happened... Overview A young couple are constantly ravaged by the husband's ability to move between time periods, but rarely in a controlled way. They are stuck in a haphazard relationship, never knowing when he may just disa...

(Regular Review) This is one of those very few books that people either really seem to love or seem to hate. I wistfully belong to the latter half.1) The character development of Henry and Claire were deplorable, especially after they became adults.2) The narration and the plot were too complicated to follow, mainly due to switching to multiple periods via time travel. After finishing this novel, I was exhausted like a flight attendant who had continuous work for 36 hours on different flights t...

What I love about THE TIME TRAVELER'S WIFE is that Niffenegger absolutely nails the relationship between Henry and Claire. For all the book's faults (in particular a draggy middle), I haven't read a book yet with such chemistry between the two main characters. Add to that Niffenegger's beautiful use of language and dry sense of humor and this is a book I keep going back to. ***wondering why all my reviews are five stars? Because I'm only reviewing my favorite books -- not every book I read. Cons...

"Obviously she knows me, and I don't know her...The girl sort of breathes "Henry!" in this very evocative way that convinces me that at some point in time we have a really amazing thing together. This makes it worse that I don't know anything about her, not even her name." There was plenty to like in Audrey Niffenegger's The Time Traveler's Wife beginning with the concept of Henry slipping in and out of time to meet his wife (or wife to be, Clare) at seemingly random points in her life. The beha...

There’s a reason I hate Oprah’s Book Club, and the reason is that I think she does a disservice to the millions of American women who adore her by recommending terrible books. Oprah’s problem is that rather than directing her legions of fans to classic books (or ones destined to become classics) with complex plots and fine writing, she directs them instead to crap like The Notebook. The Notebook and The Time Traveler’s Wife belong to the same genre – you’ve heard the term “chick flick”? These tw...

Very few books have ever made me cry. Off the top of my head, only two really stand out: Charlotte's Web and Thunderwith. I am now adding The Time Traveler's Wife to the list, and to the list of books I can't get out of my head for days after. This is a highly ambitious debut novel. That doesn't mean it doesn't work. I had my doubts, I truly did. And I can never read a book without also noticing typos, editing errors etc., but although they're distracting they can't ruin a good book. The time tr...

I loved this book. It's not perfect, but it made me feel and think and want. It's one of those stories that pulls you into the characters' lives and leaves you wanting more, mulling over the scenes and premise for days after you've reluctantly turned the last page. Rarely is such an original idea portrayed with such vivid language so you believe the time travel possibility and the characters are almost people you know. It's about a guy who involuntarily travels time. He can never predict where o...

Giving up after 22%. I tried but Henry's time travels proved a bit too much for me.

Before Audry Niffenegger wrote The Time Traveler's Wife, she was a art teacher at a Chicago university. Thankfully, Niffenegger believes that art should imitate life, so we get a rip-roaring tour of her life passions: punk music, the Chicago art scene, the Newbery Library, and Chicago itself. These are the core elements that add ambiance to the love story of Henry Detamble - librarian and reluctant time traveler - and his wife, artist Claire Ashbury. Henry has crono-displacement disorder and in