Best Books of the Decade: 2000's
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book data
91,336 ratings,
4.08
average rating, 15,229 reviews
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published
January 1st 2003
by Harcourt, Inc.
binding
Paperback, 518 pages
characters
literary awards
Winner of the 2006 British Book Award, Nominated for the 2004 Locus Award for Best First Novel, Third place in the 2005 John W. Campbell Memorial Award
isbn
0156032872
(isbn13: 9780965818674)
description
Audrey Niffenegger's innovative debut, The Time Traveler's Wife, is the story of Clare, a beautiful art student, and Henry, an adventuresome librarian...more
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other reviews (showing 1-20 of 129,008)
All ratings
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5 stars (40485)
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4 stars (28497)
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3 stars (14401)
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2 stars (5228)
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1 star (2714)
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avg 4.08
editions: all | this edition
editions: all | this edition
Read in July, 2007
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 prosaic 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? Ser...more
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? Ser...more
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yes
(168 people liked it)
45 comments
01/24/08
Erin
added it
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 bu...more
"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 bu...more
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yes
(107 people liked it)
16 comments
12/21/07
Andrea Schaaf
added it
Read in December, 2005
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 commen...more
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 commen...more
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yes
(105 people liked it)
28 comments
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it,
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Like this review?
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(48 people liked it)
6 comments
Read in February, 2007
recommends it for:
EVERYONE
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 f...more
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 f...more
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(38 people liked it)
7 comments
Read in October, 2007
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...more
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(37 people liked it)
7 comments
Read in July, 2007
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 ...more
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 ...more
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(27 people liked it)
5 comments
Read in October, 2007
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 2...more
“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 2...more
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(24 people liked it)
1 comment
Read in April, 2008
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 do...more
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 do...more
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(19 people liked it)
5 comments
Read in May, 2008
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 re...more
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 re...more
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(19 people liked it)
3 comments
recommends it for:
lovers of scifi, fantasy, or intelligent romance
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 diso...more
Henry has crono-displacement diso...more
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(15 people liked it)
1 comment
Read in February, 2008
recommends it for:
people who like to jump on band wagons, sheep and lemmings
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 pos...more
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(20 people liked it)
2 comments
Read in March, 2008
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 ...more
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 ...more
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(13 people liked it)
1 comment
Read in January, 2005
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 ...more
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(14 people liked it)
4 comments
Read in October, 2007
I wish that this book was a Choose Your Own Adventure, so that when Henry starts yapping off at the jib about seventies punk to that high school kid at the Christmas party, that you could choose, instead of having the kid listen in rapt gratefulness while Henry lists off all the bands this schmuck has to find out about, to have the kid kick him square in his unbelievably pretentious punkrocklibrarian balls.
People like this book???!
I know I threw my credibility out the win...more
People like this book???!
I know I threw my credibility out the win...more
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(10 people liked it)
5 comments
Read in January, 2007
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....more
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....more
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(10 people liked it)
4 comments
Read in February, 2008
I want the option of 1/2 stars. I give this one 4 1/2.
I’m always afraid of two things when I’ve been as captivated by a book as I have been this one. The first is that no one else will feel the same way I do about it. What if it’s actually horrible, and for some reason I love it? I’m no literary genius, after all. But I suppose we are all entitled to our own opinions, and there are certainly plenty of “great” reads out there that I am sure I did not love, or would not lo...more
I’m always afraid of two things when I’ve been as captivated by a book as I have been this one. The first is that no one else will feel the same way I do about it. What if it’s actually horrible, and for some reason I love it? I’m no literary genius, after all. But I suppose we are all entitled to our own opinions, and there are certainly plenty of “great” reads out there that I am sure I did not love, or would not lo...more
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(9 people liked it)
2 comments
Read in November, 2008
recommended to Palsay by:
Syl
Hm, bagaimana rasanya?
Bagaimana rasanya jika baru semenit yang lalu kau bersama-sama suamimu di dapur, memasak makan siang, dan suami mu sedang memotong-motong bawang, dan tiba-tiba..zapp! dia menghilang, secepat itu, meninggalkan dirimu sendirian bersama irisan bawang dan pisau tergeletak di atas meja dapur?
Kau mencoba bersikap seolah-olah itu hal yang wajar, dan berusaha melewatkan hari itu sendirian, menunggu dan berharap ia akan pulang untuk makan malam.
B...more
Bagaimana rasanya jika baru semenit yang lalu kau bersama-sama suamimu di dapur, memasak makan siang, dan suami mu sedang memotong-motong bawang, dan tiba-tiba..zapp! dia menghilang, secepat itu, meninggalkan dirimu sendirian bersama irisan bawang dan pisau tergeletak di atas meja dapur?
Kau mencoba bersikap seolah-olah itu hal yang wajar, dan berusaha melewatkan hari itu sendirian, menunggu dan berharap ia akan pulang untuk makan malam.
B...more
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(9 people liked it)
39 comments
Read in August, 2008
OK, to be honest, I'm having a hard time reviewing this book. I had a mixed feeling that sometimes I like this book and sometimes I dislike this book. There were moments when I just want to throw this book and moments when I suddenly realized that I'm having a hard time putting it down. It's difficult to write the review cause somehow I want to tell you everything.
Henry has chrono-displacement disorder, and he will be sucked backs and forth in time (mostly when he was stressed). He ...more
Henry has chrono-displacement disorder, and he will be sucked backs and forth in time (mostly when he was stressed). He ...more
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(8 people liked it)
32 comments
Intriguing premise, but ultimately more fatalistic than romantic.
Henry (like Billy Pilgrim in Kurt Vonnegut's Slaughterhouse Five, to which this novel bears some striking resemblance) is a Chronologically Displaced Person: starting when he's six years old he periodically vanishes with a flash and reappears at some other point in time, disoriented and stark naked. He stays there for up to 72 hours and then returns to his present. (Henry's condition is eventually diagnosed and studie...more
Henry (like Billy Pilgrim in Kurt Vonnegut's Slaughterhouse Five, to which this novel bears some striking resemblance) is a Chronologically Displaced Person: starting when he's six years old he periodically vanishes with a flash and reappears at some other point in time, disoriented and stark naked. He stays there for up to 72 hours and then returns to his present. (Henry's condition is eventually diagnosed and studie...more
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(8 people liked it)
3 comments
What book would you like for the April Month? I know it's a little early but I wanted to get a jump on it. :-) My recommendation would be for #1 but it's a Historial Fiction and I'm not sure everyone likes those.
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quotes from this book
"It comes out so quietly that I have to ask her to repeat it: “It’s just that I thought maybe you were married to me.”"
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