Jayson’s Reviews > The Time Traveler's Wife > Status Update
Jayson
is 10% done
Notes:
(1) There's an awful lot of nudity talk in the prologue, as if to constantly underscore, and drill into your head, at the outset what time travel here entails.
- In this case, it's waking up naked and vulnerable.
- On the plus side, probably not "Naked and Afraid" (like that TV show), since I suppose you'd get used to the feeling pretty quick. I mean, there'd be no fear of the unknown.
(Continued in comments)
— Dec 16, 2024 08:30AM
(1) There's an awful lot of nudity talk in the prologue, as if to constantly underscore, and drill into your head, at the outset what time travel here entails.
- In this case, it's waking up naked and vulnerable.
- On the plus side, probably not "Naked and Afraid" (like that TV show), since I suppose you'd get used to the feeling pretty quick. I mean, there'd be no fear of the unknown.
(Continued in comments)
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Jayson’s Previous Updates
Jayson
is 95% done
Notes:
(1) At this point I've finished the novel. There's a sample chapter from a yet-to-be-released sequel but I won't count that toward my final assessment.
- I'll read it later though. Usually I won't bother and just wait for the book to come out, but it's been more than a decade now and experience has taught me to have an "I'll believe it when I see it" approach with long-awaited sequels.
(Continued in comments)
— Jan 05, 2025 03:10AM
(1) At this point I've finished the novel. There's a sample chapter from a yet-to-be-released sequel but I won't count that toward my final assessment.
- I'll read it later though. Usually I won't bother and just wait for the book to come out, but it's been more than a decade now and experience has taught me to have an "I'll believe it when I see it" approach with long-awaited sequels.
(Continued in comments)
Jayson
is 86% done
Notes:
(1) "She is sitting on the rock, coolly immaculate in a white silk dress, white stockings and shoes, and short white gloves."
- Clare dresses head-to-toe in white to see Henry on her eighteenth birthday. How very virgin-symbolic. Vestal, even.
- Henry jokes that it's not their wedding day. Though, I think part of her believes as much. I mean, she makes him wear a tuxedo and everything.
(Continued in comments)
— Jan 04, 2025 08:30AM
(1) "She is sitting on the rock, coolly immaculate in a white silk dress, white stockings and shoes, and short white gloves."
- Clare dresses head-to-toe in white to see Henry on her eighteenth birthday. How very virgin-symbolic. Vestal, even.
- Henry jokes that it's not their wedding day. Though, I think part of her believes as much. I mean, she makes him wear a tuxedo and everything.
(Continued in comments)
Jayson
is 74% done
Notes:
(1) "I kiss her, very roughly. She is resistant. I release her, and she turns her back on me.
'That wasn't very nice,' she says in a small voice.
What is wrong with me? Clare, at fifteen, is not the same person...'"
- Yeah, what's wrong with you? that's sexually assaulting a minor!
- As emotional and touching as this book can be, toxic scenes like this throw cold water over everything.
(Continued in comments)
— Jan 03, 2025 09:30AM
(1) "I kiss her, very roughly. She is resistant. I release her, and she turns her back on me.
'That wasn't very nice,' she says in a small voice.
What is wrong with me? Clare, at fifteen, is not the same person...'"
- Yeah, what's wrong with you? that's sexually assaulting a minor!
- As emotional and touching as this book can be, toxic scenes like this throw cold water over everything.
(Continued in comments)
Jayson
is 62% done
Notes:
(1) "I got stuck in 1973 and I couldn't get out and I was in Muncie, Indiana, for days living in a barn and I got decked by the guy who owned the barn because he thought I was trying to mess with his sheep."
- Presumably, "mess with" means having sex with the sheep. Can't fault the barn owner. I mean, Henry time travels buck naked, I think most people would come to the same conclusion.
(Continued in comments)
— Dec 31, 2024 01:00AM
(1) "I got stuck in 1973 and I couldn't get out and I was in Muncie, Indiana, for days living in a barn and I got decked by the guy who owned the barn because he thought I was trying to mess with his sheep."
- Presumably, "mess with" means having sex with the sheep. Can't fault the barn owner. I mean, Henry time travels buck naked, I think most people would come to the same conclusion.
(Continued in comments)
Jayson
is 50% done
Notes:
(1) Henry introduces Clare to his dad and Mrs. Kim. It seems clear to me that dinner with Henry's people albeit more awkward and directly confrontational, feels more normal.
- No long, drawn-out, jokey pretense about cannibalism or heroin, like with Clare's people. Everything's out in the open. They can even joke about sex.
- All told, it's a much more successful and desirable outcome.
(Continued in comments)
— Dec 27, 2024 06:30AM
(1) Henry introduces Clare to his dad and Mrs. Kim. It seems clear to me that dinner with Henry's people albeit more awkward and directly confrontational, feels more normal.
- No long, drawn-out, jokey pretense about cannibalism or heroin, like with Clare's people. Everything's out in the open. They can even joke about sex.
- All told, it's a much more successful and desirable outcome.
(Continued in comments)
Jayson
is 41% done
Notes:
(1) Clare: "You're corrupting a minor."
Henry: "Oh, he would get there anyway, without me. Wouldn’t you?"
Bobby: "I've been trying, but it ain't easy, here."
- I know they're joking about exposing a kid to punk music, but Clare may as well be referring to herself.
(2) "'You do have a record player, right?' 'My parents have one,' Bobby says. Henry winces."
- I react the same to CD talk.
(Continued in comments)
— Dec 26, 2024 02:55AM
(1) Clare: "You're corrupting a minor."
Henry: "Oh, he would get there anyway, without me. Wouldn’t you?"
Bobby: "I've been trying, but it ain't easy, here."
- I know they're joking about exposing a kid to punk music, but Clare may as well be referring to herself.
(2) "'You do have a record player, right?' 'My parents have one,' Bobby says. Henry winces."
- I react the same to CD talk.
(Continued in comments)
Jayson
is 30% done
Notes:
(1) "It occurs to me that Clare might prefer to be with this later edition of me, since after all they do know each other better."
- While, she clearly has no problem with older men, the smaller the age difference the better. I mean, the bare minimum's already eight years.
- Turns out, Henry's right. Side-by-side, Clare does prefer older Henry. Young Henry's like domesticating a stray.
(Continued in comments)
— Dec 23, 2024 08:05AM
(1) "It occurs to me that Clare might prefer to be with this later edition of me, since after all they do know each other better."
- While, she clearly has no problem with older men, the smaller the age difference the better. I mean, the bare minimum's already eight years.
- Turns out, Henry's right. Side-by-side, Clare does prefer older Henry. Young Henry's like domesticating a stray.
(Continued in comments)
Jayson
is 20% done
Notes:
(1) Apparently, Ouija boards actually work in this universe! To her own surprise, Clare's childhood friends divine that Henry's her "husband."
- This suggests some omniscient being or spirit is guiding the rollers, an agent of fate unconcerned with disclosing the future.
- It also suggests time travel here isn't strictly science fiction, but more than likely supernatural/magic as well.
(Continued in comments)
— Dec 21, 2024 10:30PM
(1) Apparently, Ouija boards actually work in this universe! To her own surprise, Clare's childhood friends divine that Henry's her "husband."
- This suggests some omniscient being or spirit is guiding the rollers, an agent of fate unconcerned with disclosing the future.
- It also suggests time travel here isn't strictly science fiction, but more than likely supernatural/magic as well.
(Continued in comments)
Jayson
is starting
Notes:
(1) Contrary to popular belief, I will on occasion read books other people might be interested in and/or have actually heard of.
(2) I'm reading this now because one of my goals for 2024 is to read at least one 500+ page book.
- Lucky enough, after being on hold forever, this eBook just became available at my library.
- I don't expect to have a problem finishing before the return date, but the clock's ticking!
— Dec 07, 2024 04:00AM
(1) Contrary to popular belief, I will on occasion read books other people might be interested in and/or have actually heard of.
(2) I'm reading this now because one of my goals for 2024 is to read at least one 500+ page book.
- Lucky enough, after being on hold forever, this eBook just became available at my library.
- I don't expect to have a problem finishing before the return date, but the clock's ticking!
- I wish I had a paper copy of this instead of an eBook. Staring at an electronic screen will never not feel like work to me.
(3) I always have difficulty processing time travel in fiction. Getting the timeline straightened out and getting my mind around the mechanics of it has always given me a headache.
- From first impressions, this doesn't seem any different.
(4) When Clare and Henry meet at the start of this, she tells him she's tried many times to get him to sleep with her over the years but that he's always refused.
- She's 20 years old here, so that gets any worries about potential underaged sex or statutory rape squared away at the very start.
- It's a natural concern given the concept. You know, an adult having a romantic history with a child: knowing they'll be married in the future.
(5) It's interesting that there isn't a time when Clare and Henry meet that one doesn't already know the other. There's no meeting for the first time.
- One of them always knows they'll be together, so it's fated from the very beginning. Neither one of them initiates the relationship from square-one, they just take it as a fait accompli upon hearing it.
(6) The first date at the Thai restaurant gives us a bit of a preview of events, as Clare fills-in a heretofore unknowing Henry of things they've been through.
(7) A lot of this book involves libraries, books and museums, and very detailed talk thereof.
- Aspects, I'm sure, that will endear the main characters to the naturally bookish reading audience.
(8) Henry explains time travel to Clare by using a cassette tape as a metaphor. You will often rewind or fast-forward past where you intend to go.
- I have my doubts that Gen-Z readers will fully appreciate this, if they comprehend it at all.