The ending. SPOILER!

[Natalie]

i don't understand the ending. did she die, is that why she was able to see Henry again?

[Mindy]

I think he traveled forward in time and had that visit with her before he died. So he lived the visit before he died, but she didn't catch up to it until she got old. It is a young Henry that is visiting her as an old woman.

[Natalie]

that makes sense...thank you! :)

[Bart]

In the letter that Henry wrote to Claire, which she opened after he died, he told her that he had visited her in the future when she was an old woman so she knows whether or not she will ever see him again (and he didn't want her to just sit around waiting, always hoping he'd come back when he didn't).

This isn't stated in the book, but I kind of think that Henry was seeing Claire in the future just before she died. She was there with him in his final moment and he was there for her at her final moment. But that just me adding to the story. :)

[Teryl]

That is a good theory about her dieing after she sees him. Because in the letter he said something happens, but he wasn't going to tell her what.

[Vanessa]

I was a little disappointed in the ending and didn't really get it either, but your expalinations seems to seem logical. I think I wanted to story to keep going even though I knew they died. It was such a nice love story but so sad. I was in tears near the end! I really felt Henry and his torment. I don't know that I could have been as clam and even as Clare. Nice story.

[Chris]

i didn't get something in the book. when henry meets 10 yr old alba in 2011(pg371), doesn't he meet clare as well? clare is 40yrs old at that time. so wouldn't that mean that clare wont have to wait until she's 80yrs old to meet henry again? so clare would have to wait 5years seeing as she is 35yrs old when henry dies. does this make sense? lol i am confused. explain please.

[Robert]

I believe he was there to see her when she died. Through the book he kept showing up at the time of death, including his own.

[Sarah]

I think that when Henry met Alba at 10, Clare did show up, but Henry disappeared before they could really say anything. Henrey just says he loves her, and then is gone. I think the ending is the only time they are actually able to be together after his death.

[Chris]

thanks for that. u noe the movie is coming out in december in australia? yay

[Kathryn]

Chris, Clare never got to see Henry when Alba did. There was a scene in the book where Clare admitted she had the dates that Henry would visit Alba, but Clare herself couldn't ever get to him in time until that very last one.

[Maya]

I thought Henry saw clair again prior to her death, But I like the Idea that he was there waiting when she died

[Jessica]

She saw him just fleetingly then, as he was disappearing. He showed up at Alba's field trip and called Clair, but she only got there in time to see him disappear, and didn't spend any time with him.

[Alya]

I don't think Henry came to visit 80 yr old Claire as she was dying. She was always waiting for him after he died, and he told her that he would visit her one day when she was old. (Before he died, he visited Claire's future self) and when it finally happens, it happens to Claire's present self. so she wasn't dead. She was just waiting for that moment.

AND Since someone brought up the subject of the list of dates, can someone explain to me how Henry was able to give Clare the dates that he will arrive at the Meadow whereas in the book, it appears as if Henry gets pulled back (or pushed forward) in time without him knowing or anticipating - unless he gets really stressed, etc. I really didnt understand how he gave her the dates.

[Jo]

When Henry visits Clare in the meadow, he tells her to bring a diary with her so he can tell her the dates that he will visit. She does. Then when they meet, on their first date, Clare gives him the book to memorize. It all plays into the theory that it is a circle. It just keeps coming back to the same place.

[Arlette]

I really like the idea that he visited Clare just before she died. You can just imagine that she dies in his arms. The reasons Teryl and Felonious mention, make it plausible as well.

I have another question about the ending, though. It's not clear to me whether Clare has just been spending the rest of her life waiting for that final moment with Henry. I get that "waiting" is a big theme in the book, but the idea makes me sad and it's also not what Henry wishes for her in his letter.

(I see now that it's been three years since the last post in this thread, but I only recently read the book. I hope someone still wants to discuss the topic.)

[Liza]

I just finished reading this book yesterday. After that sex scene with Gomez (who would have thrown away everything for her) I got the feeling that Clare did the exact opposite of what Henry wanted.

I thought it was so weird how they kept setting it up to seem that maybe Gomez and Clare would end up together after Henry is gone, but that doesn't seem to be the case at all.

I do find that whole waiting aspect to be very depressing. I was thinking she was going to move on, but instead the last entry makes me think that Clare sort of gave up on love and life after Henry left.

[Maria]

I read this book sometime ago. I agree that the idea that she would wait for him and never remarry is rather depressing. This was such a confusing book to read, although very well written.

I was somewhat confused as to how Henry actually died. I recall that Clare and her father and brothers were hunting and they accidentally shot someone. They wouldn't let Clare see, but wasn't it an "older" Henry? That's what I recall. I think that he got shot while time traveling, and then immediately went back to "regular time", or the future when Clare was a grown woman and they were already married. They were having a party and he knew he was going to die on that day. Anyway, that was pretty confusing to me. And so is the whole idea of time travel!

[Ashlyn]

that is probably the worst ending ever, to be honest. i mean, henry and clare's life is already heard enough, why have him die and take away all of clare's hapiness?

[Laura]

Liza wrote: "I just finished reading this book yesterday. After that sex scene with Gomez (who would have thrown away everything for her) I got the feeling that Clare did the exact opposite of what Henry wanted..."

I completely agree. The impression that Clare wasted the rest of her life waiting around for one more glimpse of Henry really turned this into a downer for me. I wanted it to be more Titanic-ish (where the photos at the end make it clear Rose went on to live a full life after Jack froze; that, in fact, it was knowing him that enabled her to live bravely).

[Scott]

I think she just read the book The Time Traveler's Wife and decided she had nothing to live for.

[Andrew]

OMG! I hated the sex scene chapter with Gomez. It may have been significant in its own way, but I still didn't like it.

As far as the ending, I'd like to think in my own mind that she continued to live her life and did not just waste away aimlessly waiting for them to "meet" again. I'd like to believe that she also had her hands full with Alba and her travelings. I do believe she did not remarry because she felt Henry was the only one for her and not soley because she spent the rest of her life waiting for him.

Henry's death is very sad, but it is necessary since this is more of a romantic-tragedy versus a happily-ever-after story. I don't think his death really destroys her happiness overall. I thought it was a poignant moment (in the movie, not in the book) when Clare tells Henry out on the porch that she wouldn't change anything. Despite what she knew was going to happen that night, she was happy with her life--their life together.

(Just my thoughts on a couple points.)

[Tash]

I can't imagine Claire doing anything other than waiting the rest of her life to see Henry again. He was her everything and all she had ever known.
I'd wait, for my soul mate, just to see them one last time.

[Irene]

(contains spoilers)
I just read the book and enjoyed it very much but I am confused about the time travel on the day of his death. Clare is sleeping in the house and hears Henry shouting her name. When she goes outside to look for him she finds her father and brother staring at something in the grass. They don't let her see what it is and make her go back inside, however, another Henry is alive there. She waves at him before she goes back inside. If the older Henry is in his "right chrono" gets shot goes back to the NY eve party where he dies, where did the other Henry come from? Aren't there only 2 Henry's? The one that is in the right chrono time and the one that is traveling? This makes it seem that there are 2 Henry's traveling at different times?

[Brad]

I agree with this interpretation. It fits the romance of the book - and that's what this book is, a romance.

Bart wrote: "In the letter that Henry wrote to Claire, which she opened after he died, he told her that he had visited her in the future when she was an old woman so she knows whether or not she will ever see h..."

[kafka]

i feel like the movie is much better cuz there is a scene where henry and clare meets again