Even though I had to work this morning, last night I stayed up way past my bedtime to finish The Time Traveler’s Wife. Loveloveloved this book.
Warning! Major spoilers follow, after the jump:
I really enjoyed the time travel element, especially since I’m a huge Outlander fan. At first I was confused by all of the non-linear elements (year xxxx, Clare is age xx, Henry is xx), but after a while it clicked. Also, I thought it was interesting how (unlike Outlander), Henry is able to travel to places within his own lifetime and even interact with himself at another age. That was pretty cool.
I’ll admit, something that confused me when I finished the book was how exactly Henry died. At first I thought Ingrid had shot him and then herself, but that didn’t fit the timeline since he was clearly still alive after her suicide. I figured it had to do with Clare’s brother and father the morning they were hunting, but I didn’t get why they would have shot him. So I googled around and now I get that Henry traveled back to that morning post-feet amputation and hence, couldn’t run away when he “landed” there. So I guess Clare’s bro and dad mistook him for a deer or something and shot him accidentally, right? Soooo sad!
I also read some comments online about the sex content. I didn’t think it was vulgar at all, but then again I’m not really squeamish about sex scenes. Also, some readers were disturbed by the age element, how Henry was in love with Clare even when she was a teenager, but I didn’t see it as creepy or anything since he had initially fallen in love with the adult Clare. I think the only thing that creeped me out was the scene toward the end with Clare and Gomez in the kitchen–ugh, what was with that guy? Creepy Creeperton. I wonder if Charisse had ever cheated on Gomez since she clearly knew that he had always been in love with Clare.
I kind of feel like the story was more Henry-centric, which makes the title of The Time Traveler’s Wife sort of curious in my mind. Clare was a main character, no doubt. I just felt like her story was kind of rushed at the end–Henry died and Clare raised Alba, but what did Clare do all those decades between Henry’s death and his visit when she is an old woman? Did she ever fall in love again? What was her life like? Also, what happened to Alba growing up? Was time traveling easier on her, did she also grow up and fall in love and become a violinist and all the other things eluded to in the story? Need more details!
Anyway, those are my initial impressions–5 of 5 stars. I thought the first couple chapters were kind of slow, but the second half of the book flew by for me. It just sucked me in. Highly recommended. 
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I too LOVED this book. It was one of the first books I read after The Series, looking for something like-minded to read. I too thought it took a while for me to get the hang of the whole “time-travel-Henry, Age-such-n-such”, but I think that really went with the whole craziness and hectic-ness (did I just make that up?) of the story.
BTW, a friend of mine whose an Outlander fan also recommended “The Eight”. Personally haven’t read it, yet, but it seems intriguing.
Thanks for the recommendation! I’ll check that one out.
This book was a GREAT read.
I agree that the story was very Henry centric, but then wasn’t Henry’s life really Clare centric?
Good point–and the reverse is true as well, Clare’s life was Henry-centric. I think the part that I’m stuck on is the ending, how after he died, Clare knew she wouldn’t see him again until she was old…I really want to know what happened to her in all the years in between!
i enjoyed the book, too. i t hink the thing with alba is by the time she was born, and gotten a wee bit older, the time-travelling was a recognized “syndrome” and therefore, more acceptable. may have to see ifthelibrary has it as a booktape!
Oh, I’m so glad you liked it!