This book tells an improbable tell of two people who are entertwined by faith and by fate. Henry DeTamble has an extraordinary gift that allows him to travel through time yet despite his caution and resolve to lead a seemingly ordinary life, he can not escape what is destined to happen both in his life and the life of his friends and family. His gift brings him to meet his true love, Clare Abshire, and tracks their story over the course of her lifetime.

The author does a remarkable job of... (show more)

This book tells an improbable tell of two people who are entertwined by faith and by fate. Henry DeTamble has an extraordinary gift that allows him to travel through time yet despite his caution and resolve to lead a seemingly ordinary life, he can not escape what is destined to happen both in his life and the life of his friends and family. His gift brings him to meet his true love, Clare Abshire, and tracks their story over the course of her lifetime.

The author does a remarkable job of moving the story through time despite the fact that Henry jumps throughout time. In the beginning, this can be a little distracting but eventually begins to fall into a rhythm that allows the reader to appreciate and empathesize with the blessings and curse of his gifts both from Henry's perspective as well as Clare's. In the telling of the tale having both characters as a protagonist allows the reader to truly identify with the emotions that are so deeply felt in this novel. It gives the reader a 360 degree perspective and provides insights in a way not possible with the telling of a tale from one character's point of view.

This books relays the joy and happiness a gift can bestow on ones life as well as shows how it can bring heartache and tragedy. The story is both poignant and painful because the reader experiences the grief of loss from many angles. In the end it does leave the reader with a sense of hope and a feeling that the love story has not ended. Henry's ability to time travel as well as the gift he and Clare have passed onto their daughter, Alba, gives the reader hope that their love and their family can live on even if in an untraditional manner.

For those of us in this world who can not time travel, this book evokes emotions and questions within the reader begging us to search within ourselves regarding how we would live if we knew our time together was short. It asks if it is it worth it to have something truly great for just a short period or something okay over the course of a lifetime. It implores us to search our strengths, our passion, the peson who is right for us and hold on even if it doesn't last. (show less)

I picked this up randomly one day and thought I'd give it a shot. It is rare that I read fiction...and this book reiterated precisely why. With non-fiction, even if I don't particularly enjoy the read, at least I generally learn something or am given something to think about. This book felt like a complete waste of my time. I actually found myself trying to hurry to the end just to get it over with. The characters felt utterly contrived and I found myself not caring anything about them. ... (show more)

I picked this up randomly one day and thought I'd give it a shot. It is rare that I read fiction...and this book reiterated precisely why. With non-fiction, even if I don't particularly enjoy the read, at least I generally learn something or am given something to think about. This book felt like a complete waste of my time. I actually found myself trying to hurry to the end just to get it over with. The characters felt utterly contrived and I found myself not caring anything about them. There was truly nothing interesting about Henry except that he can time travel and his travels are never particularly interesting or exciting. How many obscure literary, art and musical references does one need to throw in before we get that these characters are smart, clever, sophisticated, educated individuals? And how many ways can you describe the light in the morning or the hues of the sunset? If I wanted to know all about the process of paper making, I'd just read a book on that sans all the annoying characters. And I think we all know what percolating coffee sounds like without revisiting the subject repeatedly. It seems that someone thinks very highly of their prose. Basically, too much ink was wasted describing the minutiae of everything around these people and not enough on creating characters that are actually interesting and inspire empathy. Maybe there's some method to the style of writing that I'm not getting, but I really just did not care for this book. Looks like it's back to non-fiction for a bit. (show less)

I've wanted to read this book for a while now - time travel, romance, librarians - what's not to like? And I won't say that I was disappointed, although there were things about this book I did not like at all. The characterization of the two lovers is at times annoyingly idealized. Clare in particular suffers for being far too perfect, an aggravatingly Mary-Sue-ish type whose every thought and action seems calibrated to be the writer's idea of "cool". However, the structure and ... (show more)

I've wanted to read this book for a while now - time travel, romance, librarians - what's not to like? And I won't say that I was disappointed, although there were things about this book I did not like at all. The characterization of the two lovers is at times annoyingly idealized. Clare in particular suffers for being far too perfect, an aggravatingly Mary-Sue-ish type whose every thought and action seems calibrated to be the writer's idea of "cool". However, the structure and the romance of the story are incredibly engrossing, and the book has some ideas about love that I found intriguing. At times Clare and Henry's feelings for each other exist in a vacuum, with one being aware of them while the other is not. Can "love" exist without any context? The time travel aspects are fairly standard, but Niffenegger does a good job of not breaking her own rules, no matter how heart-breaking the consequences.

Definitely worth a read if you have a taste for unabashed romance and painful goodbyes. Probably not for the more pragmatic at heart. (show less)

I'm confused on how I feel about this book. I love how different it is and how I never knew what was coming next BUT now that I'm finished reading it... I just don't know. What I loved is how intense these two people loved each other - the committment, the longing when apart, the love you could see jump off the page. It made me think about how I would react to a man in my life that could leave at any moment and his return unknown. It's hard to wrap my mind around certain parts and I think... (show more)

I'm confused on how I feel about this book. I love how different it is and how I never knew what was coming next BUT now that I'm finished reading it... I just don't know. What I loved is how intense these two people loved each other - the committment, the longing when apart, the love you could see jump off the page. It made me think about how I would react to a man in my life that could leave at any moment and his return unknown. It's hard to wrap my mind around certain parts and I think this book will keep me thinking long after tonight. I do want to see the movie & how it compares to the book:

Will the movie leave me in the same state as the book? Uncertain?
Will more come together by watching the words come to life?

I guess i just need more closure than this book offered...

P.S. The leading man will probably be nude ALOT... (show less)