Wow, that never occured to me! What an interesting idea. Ok, need to dust off my copy of the Odyssey now.....mmmmm, and check out that Atwood book.

Must remember to archive this one!

BTW, I just finished the Atwood book - its quite good. I guess I can see Clare as the ever suffering wife of a traveler. While in Atwoods book, Penelope is anything but, that certainly is how she's portrayed in the Odessy

I finished this book over a week ago, and I can't yet bear to pick up another because I can't let go of these characters yet. On one hand, I'm aching for a sequel, but on the other hand, it would never be able to measure up (it would probably be as disappointing as when the Outlander series suddenly became all about Brianna and Roger). This story completely took my breath away. I think it's the most powerful and original love story I have ever read, and it wasn't even sappy or cheesy in any way (ie. The Notebook). The main message I got from it is that love is more powerful than the constraints of time, and I think that the premise of time travel is an ingenius way of getting that message across. Like someone else mentioned as well, I did not just cry my way through the end of this book, I was actually full-on uncontrollably sobbing. It probably wasn't the best time for me to read this book, as my partner was (and still is!) away travelling, and it put me right into Clare's shoes. If I can feel this much anguish at his brief absence, just imagine Clare feeling this way her entire life! It is such a tragedy.

I adored this novel! It's on my list of top 5 favorites.

kirsi, your immediate reaction on finishing the book mirrored my own. I was blown away by it. I cried at the end, and then reread it. The second time was just as good, even more so because you know whats going to happen and you can look for bits of clues as to who is where, when.

It seems that most book groups either trashed this book or were at least just luke-warm about it, and yes, I agree that they totally missed the point. My group was stuck on the fact that such time travel would not actually be possible. DUH! Anyway, I made my boyfriend read this book, and even he teared up a little at the end. The thankfulness we felt for getting to be together whenever we choose was awesome.

To quote kirsi:
"I finished this book over a week ago, and I can't yet bear to pick up another because I can't let go of these characters yet. On one hand, I'm aching for a sequel, but on the other hand, it would never be able to measure up (it would probably be as disappointing as when the Outlander series suddenly became all about Brianna and Roger). This story completely took my breath away. I think it's the most powerful and original love story I have ever read, and it wasn't even sappy or cheesy in any way (ie. The Notebook). The main message I got from it is that love is more powerful than the constraints of time, and I think that the premise of time travel is an ingenius way of getting that message across. Like someone else mentioned as well, I did not just cry my way through the end of this book, I was actually full-on uncontrollably sobbing. It probably wasn't the best time for me to read this book, as my partner was (and still is!) away travelling, and it put me right into Clare's shoes. If I can feel this much anguish at his brief absence, just imagine Clare feeling this way her entire life! It is such a tragedy."

My God kirsi! You said everything, every little thing I felt, about this book! My fiance is out of the country, and has been for several weeks, so you can imagine how much I felt I could relate to Clare. The characters are wonderful, well-developed... I feel I know them. I kept reminding myself "It's only a book, it's only a book," but I couldn't help the buckets I wept. I know it sounds a tad (lol) melodramatic, but I just couldn't help myself. The book is beautifully written, Henry and Clare are more my idea of star-crossed lovers than Romeo and Juliet, and their story is at once heart-breaking, enchanting and remarkable. Call it a girl book, I could care less. It touched me profoundly, and I'm afraid to read anything else because I too don't want to leave these amazing characters behind. My favorite of all time right here!

kris, my book group didn't trash it, but most didn't care for it. When asked, I found that the majority of those didn't care for anything sci fi, and so I suspect just having time travel in it colored their perceptions. I thought there were problems with her idea of time travel, but the book was so good that I could live with them.

> My fiance is out of the country, and has been for several weeks, so you can imagine how much I felt I could relate to Clare.

When I suggested to my group that the time travel could be a metaphor for the above,or for dealing with a dying or mentally ill family member, they just blew it off. But then this is a group that doesn't like getting too deep into their books, hence its one I don't plan to attend for a while.

>When I suggested to my group that the time travel could be a metaphor for the above,or for dealing with a dying or mentally ill family member, they just blew it off. But then this is a group that doesn't like getting too deep into their books, hence its one I don't plan to attend for a while.

I had the same thought while reading the book. It was published on the heals of Ronald Reagan's death (from Alzheimer's), I'm sure Nancy can totally relate to it. The book group in my neighborhood is just an excuse for the women to get together. Any deep discussion about the book is secondary, or thirds....maybe fourth...uh...never...

this due to the 43 year old Henry travelling back in time, and then another, younger Hentry travelling back to the _exact_ same time/place? And how? Does he do that at any other points in the book? I thought whenever there were two Henrys, one was 'real' and the other was a traveler? Or am I completely misreading the shooting scene?

I've read the book 4 times now, and I adore it to no end, but am still _so_ confused by that!

jmsca - the way I read it is that Henry tends to time travel to places that are of emotional significance to him. The more significant a moment the more often he appears there. For example, he's at his mother's death in dozens of incarnations. He relives that moment over and over and over from every possible angle at all ages. Of course, his death being significant, he time travels there more than once as well. I hope that clears it up for you.

This is probably my new all time favorite book.... I just finished reading it at 3 oclock this morning and am exhausted from crying. It's such a beautiful, tragic love story. Almost painful as one reader commented.
Question: Does anyone remember when Henry is waiting in the car while a 16 year old Clare is at a party and Helen (I believe) comes out and finds him? She says something (I can't remember what exactly) but Henry said that it explains something Helen says at Henry and Clares wedding?
Anyone remember what she said or what was said at the wedding?
Thanks

jessers, I just noticed this discussion was started way back in Dec 03, so can no longer remember any of the details of who said what to whom or when. You are probably the only person with a copy of the book still to hand.
I certainly found it one of the most unusual books I have read for a long time.
Audrey N. was presented with a prize on UK TV not long ago and seemed very far from the usual modern 'female' author (these things get more like the Oscars every year .. . lots of tears and over-long speeches) She seemed very modest and surprised at all the fuss the book had caused.

jessers, I remember looking for the answer to your question and seem to recall never finding it. Maybe someone else will know. I love the book too!

Mmmm, I have the book on my shelf. I've read it twice. Do I want to read it a third time and break into tears again? :) Lemme do some thinking, it has been a long time. But glad you loved it as much as I did.

Veer, do you know if she has another book coming out?

Cindy, I understand she is working on a 'Victorian Gothic' set in Highgate Cemetery London to be called Her Fearful Symmetry

I'm not big on Gothic, but I've been to Highgate Cemetery and suspect its going to be quite interesting.

I just finished this marvelous book. IÂm thinking about reading it again so I can pick up on the nuances I might have missed the first time.

Regarding HenryÂs letter, I donÂt think he was being selfish. I believe the reason he told her he would see her again when she was an old woman was to insure that she would have a long life. If he wrote it down in the present, then it had to happen that way. He wanted to be sure she didnÂt die an untimely death in a horrible accident like his mother, or commit suicide like Ingrid, or die from cancer like her mother. He wanted this as much for Alba as for Clare. At the same time he tried to set her free by telling her not to wait for him. She had become like the butterfly pinned to the display, or the bird trapped in a box as long as there was the possibility of him coming back. What IÂm not clear about though was whether she was ever able to move on. It doesnÂt seem like it to me but thatÂs just too sad to believe. IÂm going to read it again and look for clues to convince myself that she moved on, and yet was able to be with him again when she died.

Its good to hear from someone who read it recently. The most intense disagreements I have had over the book were with people who thought that Clare was forced to wait, or that she let her life go by. I know it wasn't the former (see letter) and given her personality, I doubt seriously it was the latter. She just didn't seem to be the type to stop living her life.

It helps to have that letter remind us what was really happening. If you do read it again, come back and give us your perspective.

Not sure if anyone is still checking this thread, but I just finished this book yesterday, and I really enjoyed it. I have read all the comments above, and only have a few to add.

As far as Henry only seeing Alba and not Clare after he died, that isn't entirely true. When Henry ran into Alba the first time at the museum and Alba recognized him and told him he had died, they called Clare on the phone and Clare rushed to the musuem and they got to see each other BRIEFLY. Henry said 'I love you so much' and vanished again. I didn't understand Clare's resistence to having Alba's DNA sequenced, especially if it meant having a chance for normality later on for Alba.
I would like to believe Clare got on with her life. Henry's letter to her, and especially the reference to how his father's life was ruined by grief and longing and how his mother would have hated that, could have helped her. I just don't think A.N. fully followed through with finishing Clare's story, because I would have to think it would be more than some creepy sex scene between her and nasty Gomez and fast forward 50 years to the end.

I found INgrid's suicide scene to be very sad. He suddenly realized where and when he was and thought he could keep it from happening, only to realize that it happened because of him. And yes, Ingrid did realize that Alba was Henry's daughter before Henry did.

I didn't find the lottery to be disturbing. He was forever giving stock tips to Gomez, Kimy and Clare, so they all made a fortune in the market.

I also liked how so many people knew about Henry's time travelling, and accepted him, despite that. When he ended up in the cage at the Newberry, that whole chapter was awesome. How he was finally able to bring his coworkers and boss into his life. Very amusing.

I need to pull out Possesion and reread it to see the connections there, as it's been awhile.

All and all, I really enjoyed the book.

I found this discussion by learned folks about the book that others might enjoy.

Here is a link that might be useful: Diane Rehm chat

To answer echap's question (from several years ago.. heh), Henry indeed did not have his feet in the meadow when shot. That's why he was shot: he was unable to run away. I'm guessing that's why there was "rustling." He relied on his feet for survival, and without them, he didn't have much more life to live. If he had appeared in the meadow with his feet reattached, not only would it have disrupted the story's fluency, as echap seems to suggest, but it also would have rendered the entire amputation a pointless event in teh story's plot. It wasn't pointless, as his feet were so important.

There's a conversation that explains this back on page 167. Henry says "I am a beast of the hoof. If anything ever happens to my feet you might as well shoot me." Spooky, eh? I've been searching the internet for anyone else who, upon second reading, caught this foreshadowing but it looks like I'm the only one!

There's a hole in the story that's been bugging me. On page 298, Henry (31) and Clare (23) are sitting in their dining room with Charisse and Gomez when Henry (39) time travels into the house. It's a brief and sort of confusing incident which ends with glass shards and blood everywhere (because glass shattered when Henry entered, but the shards couldn't follow him through time). Niffenegger sort of sets this up as a mystery to be later resolved: "Henry and I stare at eachother. 'That was different, Henry. That was violent and ugly. What is happening to you?' His white face tells me that he doesn't know either" (302). We never actually find out what had happened, or "what was happening" to Henry, as Clare had wondered. In fact, the story skips almost an entire year, and that year is when Henry is 39 years old. He's 38 when Alba was born, and the next time we see him in present time, he's 40 (page 396-410 ish). Just wondering if anyone had thoughts as to what that was all about.

Oh, and there are a few more little holes in the story that really aren't significant but still caught my attention. One is when Henry and Clare have sex in the meadow on her birthday, and Henry produces a condom. She's pretty grossed out by this and asks "Must we?" so I'm under the impression that she did not provide the condoms. Henry couldn't have possibly brought them along, because he was time traveling. Where did the condom come from?

Also, when Henry is in the Monroe Street Parking Garage (the night he develops frostbite and hypothermia), he calls his present-day self from a payphone. You need money to use a payphone, so how did he manage to do that? It didn't mention him picking change up off of the ground or calling collect.

Just a few kind of unimportant logical gaps I picked up on.. haha.

He probably got the condom from the local drug store with money that he probably stole, which is probably how he got the money in the second situation :) There are tons of holes in this book, but it doesn't take away from the whole for me. In other books I would have tossed them with half of the illogic this one contained. But there was something about this that allowed me to suspend belief and just go with the flow.

But I bet I could find a few more like that...Acutally the one that bugged me was when he was taken to the hospital for his feet and the dr wanted to know how he got frostbite in July. I suspect more would have been investigated about that in real life but it was dropped.

hi! i just read the thread of messages and i cant believe that a lot of people were also enthralled by the book. a dear friend of mine recommended the book four years ago (2004). my thoughts back then was it's just a book about time travel. i was dead wrong! I was totally blown away by the book. it was a complete page turner.

every time someone asks me what book should they read i always tell them that this book is the ONE. so far, never heard any complaints. recently, i was surprised that almost all of the people i know who love books already got the chance to read this book.

i don't know if the simplicity albeit the complexity of time travel makes this book special but what i know is that it touched my heart like no other book did.

i still read this book and it still gives me that bittersweet feelings. i heard they made a movie out of it. hope it brings the same intensity that the book did.

AN must be feeling the pressures for her 2nd novel. this one's difficult to top.

all the same..my all time favorite.

I'm really looking forward to the movie also.

Welcome!

> so far, never heard any complaints.

If you go back through those posts above, I think you'll find many. I know in another forum I'm in, there was much discussion about some of the disconnects, and implausibility of some parts. There was also discussion about the relationship between Clare and Henry. I also loved the book but I think some of the complaints had some validity.

I have heard rumors of a movie - anyone know anything about it? I think it would have to be astonding for me to see it - I really did love this book and don't want anything to destroy the images I have of it.

I was one who expected to be blown away by this novel, after so much hype. Instead, I was disappointed, and distracted by all the inconsistencies and disconnects in the storyline. Thus, I cannot imagine a film being made of this. Wonder if it would be somewhat like "Somewhere in Time", or "What Dreams May Come."

Looks like it comes out this November. I don't recognize any of the cast (I guess Bana is also King Henry in Bolyn, another one I don't plan to see if its anything like the Gregory book). Anyway - I wonder how they are going to handle the early nude scenes....

Here is a link that might be useful: Time Traveler's Wife

I'm happy with Eric Bana and Ron Livingston tremendously but not Rachel McAdams. I liked her in The Notebook but she's not how I pictured Clare.

I think Rachel McAdams is the perfect choice to play Clare. Anyone who has only seen her in The Notebook should check out some of her other work (Slings and Arrows, the Family Stone ) I think she's lovely.

Does anyone have any thoughts about the Cage in the library? Henry is terrified of being trapped in it ...

Spoilers

Hey all,

I picked up Clare's story last saturday and finsihed it last night. It's an incredible achievement for a first time novelist.

I'm afraid that i haven't been able to read all your comments but I've skimmed through a few.

I enjoyed how the plot stuck pretty much to our version of time as opposed to Henry's, though it may have made for interesting reading.

Somebody mentioned that the secondary characters were badly drawn, it seems to me that anything that didn't directly relate to clare or henry's love for each other was mildly irrelevant and only provided to push the narrative along.

I began by feeling sorry for henry and ended up feeling sorry for clare. I do think that a sequel about Alba, though difficult to maintain the wonder of the first novel, has amazing possibilities as she is able to direct where she goes, sometimes.

I had one query, after Clare sleeps with Gomez in 1990, she wakes up and despairs about cheating on henry with her best friends boyfriend and her husbands best friend....up to then there was nowhere in her early life experiences with henry to say that he told her anything about Gomez and his continued 'friendship' with the trouled couple?

My favourite part was when Henry turns up at Alba's field trip and the teacher claims that henry is dead and she says

"Yeah but not continuously dead" with the innocence of a ten-year-old CDP!!

Highly reccommended!!

Ben

Glad you liked it, I couldn't get through it.

I loved this book! I can't stop thinking about it and keep crying when I think about Clare or Henry!

Beanmimo - Clare is upset after sleeping with Gomez because she feels she has cheated on Henry. She doesn't mention him being her husband's best friend at all, indeed, at that point Henry and Gomez have never met, hence Gomez asking who Henry is, as Clare had said his name in her sleep.

There are two Henry's present at the shooting; the Henry that is shot has no feet and time travels back to the present to die (there is just blood left on the grass where he has disappeared). The Henry that is left with Phillip and Mark and the henry that then signals to Clare, is a younger Henry who has also time traveled to that point and witnessed his own shooting. He says (about 3/4 through the novel) "I now know how it happened" and then goes on to describe the shooting. Mark and Philip recognise Henry when they meet him for the first time because they saw him at the scene of the shooting (the Henry that does not get shot). They are at the New Year's Eve party when Henry time travels back and dies, but have no idea that they killed him.

Bookmom41 - You talk about it being strange that Henry travels in time to be with present Henry and that you can understand him traveling to his past or future but not traveling to be with his present self. You have explained the answer to the question in the question itself - if Henry travels forward and backwards in time, then as we are following his present timeline, there will be times when his future or past self will be there (times when he has traveled forwards or backwards).

Pat and Cheryl, I completely disagree with you on the sex scenes being gratuitous - Clare and Henry are star-crossed lovers who are everything to each other. I believe that when two people love each other this much, then the sex has to be mind-blowing. The sex scenes add another dimention to their love - indeed, Henry says that he feels incredibly connected to Clare after they have made love - I completely understand what he is saying here. The only thing that did grate with me regarding sex, was Clare's use of the C word twice. In my opinion, this was unecessary and out of character - especially the comment she makes about pain after giving birth to Alba.

I also disagree with the person who said that Henry avoids being with Clare in the future after his death - he says himself to Alba when they are both time travelling and meet t the beach, that if there was anything he could do to be with Clare then he would do it - he has no control over his time travel and since most of the traveling takes place before he knows he will die then he definitely has no choice.

I agree with the people who think that Clare is dying when she sees Henry for the last time at 82 years old. I got that impression because Hery says that she is incredibly still, looks tired and moves slowly. Also, what else would be the significance of her having...

I was going to bring up this thread anyway, because according to the NY Times, a movie of this novel will open in the U.S. August 14. I plan to see it. Stars are Eric Bana and R. McAdam.

I'm a little apprehensive about the movie...the book is one of my favorite comfort reads and I'd hate for my images of it to be replaced by mediocre (or actively bad) film scenes.

For Xmas, The Wife got me Niffeneger's illustrated novel The Three Incestuous Sisters; quite charming in an Edward Gorey-ish way.

Here is a link that might be useful: The Three Incestuous Sisters on Amazon

So. Did anyone go see the movie this weekend? Any reports?

One review I read liked it, with a few reservations. Ebert apparently did not like it at all, but he tends to dislike romantic films.

I have not seen the movie and really don't think I will - I just loved the book too much. I have only read it once but don't even feel like I need to re-read it yet - I still feel like I remember every word (even, as mentioned above, Clare's use of the c-word after giving birth to Alba which I found out of place/jarring too) And I agree with you balrog1954: I too would hate for my images to be replaced by mediocre film scenes. I don't want to say this so closely to the author's untimely passing, but the movie of Angela's Ashes completely ruined the book for me; or perhaps more accurately, it ruined my remembrance of my COMPLETE CAPTIVATION with the book. I had such high expectations.

Hello everyone
I reluctantly began reading this after my girlfriend insisted I catch up to her and we read this together-- however as she would fall asleep I secretly continued reading and 2 nights ago I couldn't put it down and stayed up until 3:30 to finish it. I actually thouroughly enjoyed it, and ended up explaining to my girlfriend that my watery eyes were due to an eyelash in my contacts.
I did have a tough time with some inconsistencies in the time-travelling device used by the author though- but it could simply be my inability to figure this out. Here's one instance:
The wedding scene. I realize that the older Henry materialized at the church and "stood in" for the younger Henry who was, just prior to the service, transported back to 1978 (this is fine so far with regards to the integrity of how Niffenegger employed time travel). However, my question/problem is: What happened the first time around? Some event, something had to have taken place in real time (the first time the wedding scene occured) when the young Henry was zapped to 1978. Since he wasn't physically there, no marriage took place, and his absence should have caused some kind of scene (with all the guests and Clare having to explain to someone why Henry wasn't there). Secondly (assuming what I just said is true), this seems to fly in the face of the "rule" that is stated throughout, that Henry cannot change anything that originally happened. It would seem to me that by the older Henry showing up and "standing in" for the younger Henry, he's violating that rule of changing what originally occured.
I'm open for any feedback, including explaining to me that I've got it all wrong. Thanks!

I did go to see the movie, and was not blown away by any means, but also not completely disappointed by it either. I was curious how they were going to apply the book so it made sense in a film version and I think they did the best they could. I went with two friends who did not read the book and both of them really enjoyed the movie. I explained to them that it was a "candy-coated" version of the book. Everything portrayed in a much lighter way than in the book. It lost a lot of the charm of the book but I wasn't upset by it like I usually am after reading a book and watching the film adaptation. I've seen far worse than this.
Johngalt: As far as your issue with the wedding playing out with the older Henry, I think you forget that even when his future self is present in the past, that is the way the past happened, even if he isn't aware of it at the time. Remember that as Clare grows up she knows Henry without the present Henry being aware of it. He doesn't meet her until their 1991 meeting although she knows him intimately. So, even the first time around, the wedding occurred with the future Henry stepping in for the present Henry. Which is why Henry has no free will outside of what is happening to him at the moment. His future is decided as well as his past.

Johnngalt asked:

>What happened the first time around?

What first time? From your question, I'm assuming that you're thinking that there was a botched wedding, and older Henry, regretting that he'd caused his wedding to fall apart, took advantage of a time-travel episode to correct it.

But in Niffenberger's universe there is only one time stream. The wedding...the sole, unique wedding...occurs just as given in the book. Henry I vanishes, there's a moment of panic, and then Henry II providentially appears just in time. Nothing is changed because there was nothing to change.

Directly after the wedding, Henry I returns and discovers that his wedding was not brought to a screaming halt by his disappearance. Thus, when, in the future, he is dropped back in time to his wedding day, he knows that this is his opportunity to complete the time loop by making sure that the wedding goes on, not as planned but as it happened.

Hope this helps.

I'm not sure if I'm getting my brain around that, or see that as Niffennegger's universe. Just as there were multiple perspectives surrounding the shooting in the meadow, there's one event that makes me not able to comprehend the "one time stream" solution: Ingrid's suicide.
Henry lived through this, Ingrid did commit suicide, alhtough Henry didn't have the details (the first time around)-- however, then, at an older age, he was zapped back to her apartment. He knew she was going to commit suicide (actually was afraid she might turn the gun on him at one point (different discussion altogether)), but now as the older Henry, he was able to be in person for the suicide. He even comments about it making sense "now"; at an older age.
Hazel-dove, I understand your references to meeting up with Clare at an earlier age, but I make the distinction of when he interacts with periods of time and events that he would have been involved with during his younger age.
Like I said, I'm willing to see the errors of my thinking, and I rarely venture into discussions of time-travel, so forgive my ignorance here.

>He knew she was going to commit suicide

That can be read in two different ways. Future Henry knew that Ingrid had committed suicide. He also knew that she had attempted suicide before, more than once IIRC.

But until he actually saw her pull the trigger, he did not know that he was at the time and place where she would finally succeed in killing herself. He didn't know the date he had come to. Nor did he know that his presence would precipitate her successful suicide.

Hope this helps. I've read a lot of scifi time-travel novels, so my reference to "Niffennegger's universe" is merely to differentiate her version of time travel with, e.g., David Gerrold's (The Man Who Folded Himself), in which each trip in time creates a new world that did not exist before.

I saw the previews for the movie and wanted to read the book first. I loved the book -- so romantic. I loved the sex scenes and wished they had been more graphic! Some guys (and gals) just love sex and, particularly Henry, because it made him feel more "grounded." One point I haven't heard mentioned is that I thought the book was in part about how a man can change when he meets the woman he will eventually marry. Henry sobers up, tries to be a better man when he meets Clare because he wants to live up to her expectations. And women often ignore the signs that their boyfriend are screw-ups because they see the better man inside who is the man of their dreams.

>One point I haven't heard mentioned is that I thought the book was in part about how a man can change when he meets the woman he will eventually marry.

Excellent point, Nicole. Each time I reread it, I notice more how screwed up Henry was by the time he met Claire. I missed it the first time around because the novel starts with H meeting C, and Henry doesn't visit Claire in the past until after that point. So we don't see much of the drunken punk Henry except through some of the secondary characters who knew him when.

One of my favorite romantic tropes is the Rake Reformed, which is part of my fondness for this book.

I just saw the film and found it barely "OK." It lacked the power of the novel, which I found quite confusing. Of course, the movie left out quite a lot of the plot of the book. The film was romantic and a tear-jerker, which is about all I can say for it. Maybe my expectations were too high.

Many readers are finding TTW to be a non-linear read. Which from Henry viewpoint it isn't linear. But this is about the Wife, from the time Clare meets him at age 6, til she see's him that last time at age 82, it is linear for her. I believe the problem is most of the book is in Henry's viewpoint. We see it happening from Henry's perspective, which makes it very jumbled, hard to understand what happened.

Something to think about.

I have just "shelved" this book for the time being. I was not enjoying it at all. Well, not really shelved, I threw it on the floor last night after a few days of struggling, and reached for Russo's new book on my bedside table.

Finished reading The Time Traveler's Wife, over a decade after most people who posted above read it. It didn't grabbed me until around halfway. By then, I knew that Henry was going to die, so that was not a surprise, though it was still sad. For me, it was sadder when he lost his feet.

There were some confusing circumstances, scenes, details of "wait a minute... how, when, why?", but I didn't let those ruin the book for me. I don't think Clare was dying when Henry comes to visit her when she is in her 80's, and I'm not interested in reading a sequel of Alba's life as a time traveler. It would undermine TTW.

It is a very good book, but, unlike some readers posted above, it is not my favorite book of all time, not even of this year.

I wonder why is it called The Time Traveler's Wife, when most of the story is about the Time Traveler himself and told from his point of view.