Henry and Clare's Relationship

[Kate]

Did Henry and Clare's love story work for you? How did the time travel affect it - either how it unfolded or how you felt about it? Did you think it problematic that Henry met Clare as a child when he was an adult?

[Lieselotte]

I don't think it was very problematic that Henry met Claire when she was a little girl. In his present he was already married to her and this way he could get to know her even better and learn more about her life as a little girl. I see it as only fair for him to know her as a little girl since he won't be able to know her as an old woman. It wasn't like he was trying to seduce her, it was Clare who wanted more.

I admire Clare as well for being so understanding. Henry knows almost everything about their future and ofcourse this is hard for him but for Clare, who gets the time travelling but also doesn't get it at times (since she can't do it) it must be hard to admit that her future is already set in stone. Whatever choice she makes it won't change a thing about the life she will lead.

As a conclusion, I love their relationship and they make each other a better person. They are meant for each other in my opinion.

[Bailey]

Late to this discussion by a few days, but pondered this question the entire time I was reading. I even went so far as to summarize the plot to my husband, and make him discuss their various meeting points.

First, it is interesting that they do have two distinct meeting points: the first for Clare, when she is six, and the second for Henry, when is twenty-eight. So while Henry holds Clare's future, a switch happens after their "present" meeting & Clare holds Henry's past as much as he holds his future. This novel is very much dependent on the theory of time that states everything in all of time is happening at once, simultaneously, and therefore neither free will nor determinism have much of an effect on anything other than our perception of time & life. Or something like that. It's a complicated time theory that, frankly, doesn't make much sense to me, but it would allow for a genetic disease such as Henry's.

Is it creepy that Clare meets Henry when she is six, and he is forty-something and naked? Absolutely. Their evolving love story from Clare's timeline remains a strange and uncomfortable one.

It is complicated, I think, that Henry had a robust -- if drunk and high -- youth to date, fall in love, make obvious mistakes regardless of Clare's inevitability, and Clare never really committed to anyone else because she always knew, eventually, there would be Henry. Those are two very different youth experiences that greatly affect how Clare and Henry perceive each other and how they love each other.

In sum total, the time traveling improved the love story for me, and while at times very uncomfortable and strange and alarming, it was beautifully written and appropriately tragic, and I really enjoyed reading it. And as with most love stories, I am so glad it is not mine. I am not nearly as patient as Clare. (Though, I wonder, if that patience was groomed from meeting Henry at such a young age, and always, always waiting on him.)

[Isabela]

I also think that it is a little bit creepy that Clare meets Henry when she was six and he was 40-something. I don't know, but I think it's not really fair that Clare doesn't have the opportunity of having a lot of experiences, like Henry, because she always knew he was "the one" (and also, when she tries to have an experience that isn't related to Henry, things go completely wrong...). But their relationship grew on me after their wedding.

Am I the only one who thinks that the way Clare's friends react when she introduces Henry as her boyfriend completely creepy? Like, they thought it was completely normal a 20 year old guy dating a 12 year old girl...to me, that was pretty weird.

[Laura]

I went from liking there relationship to being creeped out by and back and forth. They love each other and keep coming back to each other but the level of free choice and sometimes age difference makes me concerned. In the end I enjoyed it overall but wondered how it could have been different.