Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

This book gets two stars for being an engrossing page-turner with a surprising amount of coherence, considering the format of jumping back and forth between the past, present, and future. As others have summarized, The Time Traveler's Wife is a love story between a man who involuntarily is transported into the past and future, and the woman he loves. However, in addition to the romantic aspect, this novel raises some interesting questions regarding free will vs. predestination, actions and consequences. Henry, the Time Traveler of the title, interacts with many people from his present life (i.e. his wife, his parents, his friends, even himself), when they are younger, in many cases before they even meet Henry in real time. While this is a little hard to follow at first, Neffenegger does a nice job of tying it together quickly before it becomes too confusing. What is interesting is that during these encounters, Henry makes a conscious effort to avoid saying or doing things that would change the course of the future. But by his very presence, he of course IS changing the course of the future. One such example has Clare as a younger girl drawing a picture of Henry. She begins to sign and date it, when Henry stops her: it's not signed, he tells her, it's on the wall of our house and there's no date. But in an exercise in free will, Clare decides that she WILL sign it. When Henry returns to his present and discovers the picture unsigned still, Clare explains that she erased it shortly after their past encounter, fearing something that small and insignificant could somehow have a catastrophic effect on their future. That being said, the book has some scenes that drag on way too long (Christmas with Clare's parents, the Violent Femmes concert). The main characters are not all that likeable, and there's some really dumb, cheesy scenes (the worst is when Henry's colleagues, upon encountering two Henries for the first time, start to make jokes about Lois Lane and Clark Kent... huh?). Also, the book's denouement was disappointing: the final tragic ending - while not surprising, it's telegraphed throughout the book - ends up being a completely random, accidental occurrence. Ironic, yes, but not as fitting for a book that raises questions of actions and consequences. A more appropriate ending would have been if in his last visit with Ingrid, Henry receives his fatal blow from her instead. The final message of the book seems to veer away from the philosophical implications of time travel (a theme woven through the whole story), and instead focuses on the (in my opinion) lame notion of romantic love as mankind's highest ideal, "woman as salvation", you're destined to truly love only one person in this lifetime, etc. The very last scene with Clare having apparently pined her last 40 years away for Henry was utterly pathetic, and I found myself shedding not a tear for these star-crossed lovers. The one person I was really curious about, their child Alba, is not explained or accounted for past age 10. Is she cured? Does she die young? Where is she in the end of the book, aside from in Henry's past? Disappointing indeed. Now all that aside, I have a few specific problems with the book that I just have to get off my chest. CAUTION: SPOILERS BELOW. * Which Henry is it exactly that's waving to Clare with her dad & brother right after he gets shot, and when is that part explained? * Why doesn't Clare mention Henry's shoulder-to-crew-cut hairstyle change the morning of their wedding day, when his hairstyle is noticed & mentioned by her everywhere else? * If Clare and Henry know for a fact this disease is genetic and may be passed onto their children, how could they be so selfish and irresponsible as to try to conceive a baby who could then possibly time travel as an infant and appear anywhere else in time, helpless and naked, sure to die? (As a mother myself, this one really got to me) * Why, if Henry can disappear any moment, does Clare ever let him be alone with Alba as a toddler anywhere, even if he doesn't drive? * Why is it not explained how Henry has his feet again at 43 when he visits Clare, 82, if he lost them just after (or maybe just before) his 43rd birthday? See, it's dumb things like this that are so unimportant, but if you notice them they can stick in your craw and then it's harder to pay attention to the plot. Anyway, thanks for reading this far, and let me know if you have answers to the above questions!