This is a time travel novel that is a romance with unforgettable characters. It doesn't have the historical background that makes books like Outlander or The Doomsday Book so intriguing. However, it does have Henry who just happens to be...oh well, you'll have to find out why Frieda and I are fighting over him. ;-)

The time travel ability is genetically based in this novel. Whether one goes through standing stones, is zapped by a machine or gets caught in a time warp is irrelevant for me when it comes to plausible explanations. I just tend to go with the flow. I did spend a little time trying to understand the logical flow of time but gave up. It hurt my head and metaphorically speaking it was like unravelling a ball of yarn that the cats had already gotten to.

I'm interested in hearing what others have to say + I don't have a lot of time right now to add on to this. Just wanted to get this started.

PS DorieAnn - to start a thread all you have to do is click on the Post a Message tab and then fill our your Subject of Posting and message. Then click Preview Message and finally the Submit button.

WARNING – SPOILERS!

Can I just say that I cried my way through the last quarter of the book? At one point I was reading in a restaurant and had to force myself to put the book down so I wouldn’t make a fool of myself in public.

Anyway, I thought the two main characters, Clare and Henry, were wonderfully drawn. None of the secondary characters, however, were ever fully defined IMO and that diminished the story somewhat.

What struck me most about this book was that the author resisted the urge to romanticize the idea of time travel. She wrote it as truly dangerous and unpredictable.

The remaining question I had on the book is the night Henry freezes. Now, he’s been there before with Clare looking for himself after the phone call. Why then couldn’t he place himself in a position where he knew he would be found? I might have missed something in the reading. Does anyone have an idea about that?

As I’ve said before, I’m kind of hoping for a sequel featuring Alba. I think it would be interesting to contrast how she grows up with a mother and peer group who is fully aware and supportive of her condition, vs. Henry who grew up isolated and confused with his.

I found the plot details fascinating. I kept looking for inconsistencies but if there were any there, I never found them. The characters were vividly drawn.

While I liked both Henry and Clare as people, I didn't identify with their love story as some others have done. At times I was even a bit uncomfortable with it. I've never liked the theme of an adult man falling in love with a child even though he patient waits for her to grow up. That's not exactly what was going on, of course, but it was close enough to put me at a remove. I found Alba a fascinating child, and really liked the housekeeper from Henry's childhood (sorry, don't have the book with me and I forget her name).

While I'm curious to know how Alba turned out and whether or not she managed to gain a grip on her travels, I don't think I'd want a direct sequel. They rarely work, and often leave me with a sour aftertaste that retroactively spoils my pleasure in the original novel.

All in all, an excellent book. I look forward to reading more from this author.

Paula

One character I didn't really understand at all was Ingrid. Why was this even included in the plot? Did anyone else think she recognized Alba as Henry's child when he didn't?

What do you think happened at the end? It seemed to me that Clare was waiting a long time for his visit...was this her death? That's what I thought, anyway. And why was this the only time he could visit her in the "future". He could see Alba and visit with her.

Did the bit about the lottery just seem plain wrong to any of the rest of you?

I understand the mechanics of the lottery. It is Henry's traveling forward in time to find out what the winning number will be and then going back that strikes me as out of kilter, though, from the rest of Niffenegger's time-travel premise. She's very scrupulous about how she set up what her time-travelers can and can't do, and she stuck with it (and gosh! I admire how she juggled everything) except here she deviated; and it was like a cockroach on white carpet, to me. Gratuitous and really a dead end, as I recall. But maybe I'm still befuddled from trying to keep everything straight -- loved your metaphor, Janalyn: it was like unravelling a ball of yarn that the cats had already gotten to.

Paula, until you mentioned it I didn't realize I was a bit creeped out about the adult Henry and very young Clare sequences.

Janalyn, I'm not sure about Ingrid either. Her suicide made me shake my head: nuh-huh, I don't believe that's necessary.

I need to reread the ending because I was too worked up and emotional for it to make any kind of logical sense.

So many questions! It's been a long time since I've read anything so intricately devised that wasn't of the impenetrable-symbolism variety.

-On a slightly off-topic note, has anyone heard the new Five For Fighting song, "A Hundred Years?" I've been hearing it on the radio lately and it seems so evocative of the book for me. The lyrics are at the band's website (fiveforfighting.com) in case you want to read them. It's a beautiful song.

Frieda, why did you think the lottery winning bent the rules of time travel as set up in the book? I may well be missing something but I thought the author was careful to set up the fact that Henry traveled into the future as well as the past early on. I assumed that he simply took advantage of a future visit to check the paper and find a winning lottery number. It seemed that the reader was only seeing bits and pieces of Henry's life, there were obviously many time traveling episodes that hapened in between the times which were described (which frustrated me at times, I wanted more!)

DorieAnn, I don't have a copy of the book so I can't double check, but as far as I remember Henry traveled from the parking garage to the snowstorm before his present self arrived to rescue him. It wasn't the parking garage he froze in , it was the blizzard. He never knew where or when he was in the snowstorm so he couldn't have arranged for anyone to help him 'when' he got there. That's how I understood it anyway. I hope that makes sense.

I couldn't stand Ingrid's character but on reflection, I think maybe she was meant to represent what Henry's life would have been if he hadn't found Claire. Henry was on a downward self-destructive spiral before he met Claire. He was a miserable selfish person tied to another miserable selfish person (Ingrid) and Claire saved his life and became the haven and the anchor he needed to become a whole person. Both Ingrid and Gomez (maybe I'm too picky but I could not stand him either- stupid cheating jerk!) seemed to only highlight the fact that Henry and Claire had this transcendent bond that made it impossible for them to have been happy, or maybe even to have survived with anyone but each other. The way they found each other was so cyclical- Claire wouldn't have recognised Henry at 28 if she hadn't known him as a child, Henry wouldn't have been drawn back to her childhood if he hadn't known her in his present- that it seemed both impossible and inevitable.

I haven't read Byatt's Possession and there were a number of references and quotes from that novel in this one. I wish I had it in front of me but the particular one I wondered about prefaced a chapter and had something to do with someone dying at 43 (I think).
If any of you have read Possession, can you enlighten me? What did it mean?

Pat

Like the rest of you, I really enjoyed it. I was rather spooked by the idea that Henry knew when he was going to die, and I was also a bit perturbed that Gomez said to call the police when he turned up shot - what purpose would that serve? But on the other hand, how do you explain a dead body like that? Perhaps Kendrick could have signed a death certificate?

Frieda, I wonder if they did actually decide to 'win' the lottery, or maybe if Clare's family helped them out with money. It wasn't stated that they had won (I don't think so, anyway), they just bought the house, and Clare was against the idea.

I thought Niffenegger did a wonderful job in keeping everything straight, and her perception of time travel was believable and somewhat horrifying. The idea of being able to go backwards and forwards in time is intriguing and somewhat seductive to me, but I wouldn't like the lack of control, or the nudity! :-0
One I will have to read again some day (fairly soon).

I did find the ending a little confusing, I understood the frostbite but the actual shooting scene and dying so many years later and the fact that - oh now I get it as I try to explain this-he didn't give Clare that date to expect him because he knew he would get shot-duh!

My one complaint about this book, as well as the Outlander series (which I complained about at that time!) was the very descriptive sex, I have never understood why writers feel the need to give in to that. This book was a great love story and such graphic sex always seems to cheapen it -for me.

I will be looking for more books by this writer.
As for Possession I did not read the book, but did see the movie which I enjoyed.

Pat

I was surprised and delighted with the quotes from Possession. For some reason, I always expect the quotes to be from some book from a century or so ago. I do note that the two central Victorian characters in that novel were the poet, whose middle name was Henry, and the poetess, Christabel. And I submit that Clare and Christabel are really very similar as names. Clare meaning clear and Christabel bringing to mind "clear as a crystal." And Byatt played with names in Possession imbuing them with much meaning. As for the early death, [Spoilers for Possession ahead] The only person that I can think of who might have died at 43 in Possession (it's been a while) was Christabel's roommate Blanche. Blanche was in love with Christabel who was in love with the married respectable Victorian poet. It is hinted in the book that Blanche committed suicide when she realized Christabel's commitment to the poet. [Spoiler end] Now that I think about it, there are lots of parellels in the two books.

I didn't mind the descriptions of the sex. I would have considered using less blatant words than were used; some were just really ugly and vulgar. My question in this particular area is why was Henry in need of so much sex? I thought at one point he must need it so often in order to keep himself from traveling, or it would somehow figure in to his control of traveling. But that never panned out. Did he want sex often because he knew his life would be short, and so he wanted to be sure he got his fair share?

On the topic of the stock market and the lottery tickets, I did not begrudge that they used these questionable tactics. Henry knew Clare was going to need some security, and I felt that was worthy of whatever breach of ethics might have been involved.

As far as the lack of character development of the minor characters, this wasn't a problem for me. It served, instead, to emphasize how wholly focused Henry and Clare were on each other. They lived and breathed each other, and others in their lives seemed to understand that their roles were secondary.

I wonder about Clare's art. I am not artistic, so I don't understand the thoughts an artist goes through in coming up with his/her creations. Clare's art seemed to be birds and angels, mostly? Winged creatures? What are some of your thoughts about this?

I'm going to go to Bibliophil in a little bit to add this book to my library. I will be giving this book 5 stars. Never would I have imagined that I could enjoy a book that sounds so sci-fi. It is not at all "science-fiction-y." It is a totally satisfying story. I appreciate Niffenegger's talent and hope she has more coming soon. I could actually feel important things getting ready to happen with around 150 pages or so to go. It was just a sense of impending momentous events. I applaud AF's effort, and congratulate her on her success.

Thank you for the recommendation, and I enjoyed reading your discussion. I was very surprised and delighted at how much I loved this book, and can hardly hold myself back from re reading it immedaitely. Good luck to whomever tries to make a movie out of it, if someone should dare to.

echap, I think Henry was at the shooting in 2 incarnations - the scene is played out 3 times in the book - once from Clare, once from Henry when he is silent & watching, and the final time when he arrives without the ability to run away.

Like Pat, I got tired of Henry and Clare's sexual adventures, and found myself skipping over parts because they didn't seem to add any extra depth or meaning to the story.

My question on finishing the book (managed it in one day, thanks to waiting in airports) is, Was this merely a romance, or is it an exploration of fate? In addition to the quotes from Possession, there were also a few references and quotes from the Odyssey, and I wondered whether Clare was intended to be a modern Penelope.

cheryl

I am haunted by this wonderful book! Audrey totally convinced me that time travel is possible...(well, not literally!)Except, like others have said, the sex is much more than I wanted to know!

Did you guys know Henry was going to die when we first read the shooting scene? I thought that when Clare saw him talking to her father and brother, that they had found him out in the field and knew he had been around before (Clare's sister found him in the house and her brother knew about it). I thought maybe they found him hanging around the meadow waiting for Clare, and they were getting ready to shoot him, purposely. Sounds terrible...but that is what I was expecting. Especially after the brother was overheard saying Henry was the exact likeness of "him." Why does he remember "him" so well? What else happened in that moment that we don't know about? How did Henry explain his presence to them? By the way, that was creepy foreshadowing, too. I was totally distraught because I knew something bad happened and the poor 28 year old Henry smiled at the comment....poor, poor Henry.

What do you make of the child Clare hearing him call her name and waking her out of sleep? When we saw the scene play out in real time, he cried out for her, but it seemed like he was between time periods. I don't think her brother and father heard anything but a human-like scream. It seems like his cry was trapped in the space between the time, and heard only like a phantom by the sleeping child Clare. Like somehow his cries reached into her dreams from beyond. Spooky.

The ending is so despairing....is that a word? I felt so sad and empty...that just couldn't be the end of this incredible life. I felt in a way that his time travel made him immortal. That he could come back after death to be with his wife and daughter...even though we know he really was dead. But it feels like he is still alive out there somewhere...reaching through time and death to the present. I think this is a really spiritual book, in that way.

I think in the wedding scene, the young Henry had disappeared so the old Henry married Clare. So the young Henry didn't experience his wedding and that is why they had to do it again for him.

It's very intruiging that someone mentioned that they thought Ingrid recognized Alba as Henry's kid. I didn't get why she said he could be so stupid sometimes...maybe that's why she said it??

OK...I wrote way too much, but I can't help it! I really want to talk about this delicious book...I think I would be disappointed by a movie!

Sharrie

It did take me a while to get used to the "non-linear" time travel. In the Outlander series as well as in Timeline or The Doomsday Book, time travel is more predictable (for lack of a better word). Poor Henry never knows when he's going to pop out or pop in. It did sound a little bit painful at times, however, but not as bad as described in the Outlander books.

I'm going to have to go back and re-read the whole shooting thing. I definitely missed something because I'm really confused--especially since Clare's brother and father were at the party when Henry died. (I think)

Can someone with better retention explain this to me?

Cyndi

I don't know if that makes sense to you Cyndi and it's been a long time since I read the book, but I didn't have trouble with that scene. Very poignant.

I was reading that book in bed and when my husband arrived, I just clutched him I was so glad he was alive. I remember him grinning and saying, "Hmmm, what have you been reading?" (Guys, this would make a good Christmas present for your significant other!..wink, wink)

Thanks for your help Janalyn! I'm going to have to re-read some of this to get it clear in my head. Most of the time I can just "go with the flow" but I need some closure for this book. It really affected me. I bought 4 copies this morning on Amazon to give as Christmas presents!

Cyndi

I just finished "listening" to this book on tape & I am struggling with the ending. After Henry dies, reference is made that Clare begins to time travel. She creates an image of herself in paper & states that the image will remain but she will vanish. Does she do so at the end? I love to analyze books after the fact & this one is a good one for doing so but I haven't figured out what actually happens... Thoughts, please...

That's how I remember the book but perhaps some of those who have recently read it may have a different take.

I was disappointed with the ending. I think that your impression is a very good one. She waits for Henry & then she dies. I kinda wish Audrey Niffenegger made whatever the ending was a little bit clearer though...

Thanks for responding.

Loraine (aka lyork)

I don't think the father and brother knew they had shot Henry. Two Henrys were there. One was standing with the father and brother, and the other Henry was the later (or last, I guess) Henry who fell into time in the brush. They shot at him thinking he was a deer, and he vanished before they saw that he was actually Henry. All they saw when they got to where he was, was alot of blood. So the earlier Henry knew what was happening, but the father and brother just thought he was some guy out hunting like they were.

Henry (a fortyish Henry who has traveled back to Claire's childhood) hears the gunshot and arrives to find Claire's father and brother hunting and blood on the ground and he's the only one who realizes that his worst fears must come true in the future. Something has happened to his feet and he can no longer run away and now his future self is dying somewhere because he's been shot. There are definitely two Henrys there because at one point the younger version's POV of that day is described.

Bill

As many of you know, I determinedly divide books into "boy books" and "girl books". This is without doubt a girl book. An excellent read - but a girl book. And yes - a very fine book for a bloke to give to his SO!

(I'm in trouble here. I'd like to recommend it to my wife - but I just persuaded her to read "Three Junes" and she hated it - gave it up after seventy pages. So I've got an uphill battle now....!)

BTW - I thoroughly enjoyed it. I agree without a doubt that Clare died at the end. But I don't quite get him meeting her on July 24th, and then the other short bit (which gives an impression that she's waiting to meet him) ten days later....!

And yes - I thought Gomez was a manipulative so-and-so - which didn't go very well with him also being completely in love with Clare for all that time....

As for the movie version (which is inevitable, given the cinematic qualities of the book) I for one am appalled by the prospect of a Time Traveler's Wife featuring Brad Pitt and Jennifer Aniston - or Brad Pitt as Henry opposite any actress (and I like Brad Pitt). I have seen Hugh Jackman in various movies and I can't imagine a better actor to cast in that role, with Nicole Kidman as Clare.

I just finished the book and loved it, but with some reservations.

spoilers below!

When Clare finally returns to her studio and creates her universe self-portrait, Niffenegger writes:

"I place my finger on her forehead and say, 'Vanish,' but it is she who will stay; I am the one who is vanishing."

That's how the penultimate chapter, titled "Renascence," and the story in the present, ends: with the beginning of the end of Clare's mourning and the rebirth of the self, of the artist.

However, that message is only a thin ray of optimism, delivered swiftly by metaphor. We've been Clare's emotional companion for 500+ pages but we never experience the post-Henry, healthy Clare. We just go straight into that wrenching, minimalist final chapter!

Was Clare a whole person during those decades? According to "Renascence" she recovers. However, Clare's last entry is ten days earlier than Henry's arrival to illustrate Clare's fall into an obsessive routine over which she has "no choice," which she's followed often enough that she "sometimes" wonders if it will prevent the miracle from happening. She continually stages the conditions described in Henry's letter -- hair, sweater, tea, etc. That's realistic and touchingly human, but it's also horrific: a slice of Hades, epic in its cruelty!

The book suddenly switches genres, and I'm not convinced it needed to go there. That and the violence of the final Ingrid chapter -- Henry, in pain, naked, crippled, kicked in the chest, spat upon, blamed for Ingrid's suicide -- makes me wonder if Niffenegger has some anger issues she's working out through her art.

Our memories really start about the time we are 6, so Clare was with Henry her entire life. Could there be a post-Henry healthy Clare?

You'd think, yeah, maybe, if his return wasn't hanging over her head for decades! I'd go absolutely insane in her shoes.

Clare's like a movie geek who spends two hundred hours obsessing over an upcoming sequel, which in the end is just two hours of entertainment ... only in this case it's five decades for two hours (or two days or two minutes).

I'd love to hear Audrey Niffenegger address this issue herself. In an interview (at SuicideGirls?) she says the conclusion was the first thing she wrote, but there's no mention of the peculiar cruelty of it.

The part about Henry dying was very confusing to me. I remember the dad and Mark saying that they recognized Henry when they met him at Christmas...and I remember Clare saying she'd heard/seen henry talking to her parents, but I didn't get for sure that there were two Henry's at his death until I'd finished the book and then read about it here. It makes sense that they were looking at an animal or something that they had shot. It makes more sense than Mark and his dad knowing that they had killed Henry...

I wondered about how they kept Henry from time traveling once he'd lost his feet. I wondered how she would handle it if he left after his feet were no longer part of him. even if they had gotten him prosthesis, he wouldn't have been able to take them with him.

I loved this book up until I realized that henry was going to die. I still enjoyed it after that, but I was so overcome wiht sadness, that it made it hard to finish. I dind't want him to die. I felt like by not reading about his death, he wouldn't die. Of course, that's not the case and I did finish, and he did die.

I didn't like how no one seemed to be able to exist after he died. That really bothered me. I know that she was devastated, and I understand why she was devastated, but the whole first 3/4 of hte book was so light hearted, I thought it was really awful to have such a sad ending. I wanted to know more about the people in the end. I wanted ot know more aobut Alba and how Clare dealth with her own time travel.

I wondered if Henry's sudden aging which preceded his death was the result of something that he and Kendrick did that they never told anyone about. I kept thinking something secret went on there.

I don't know if I want a sequel, but I think she left herself open to one.

Hello, Paul,

I don't know if I'll write a sequel. . . sometimes it's better to leave
things unknown. The movie is underway (Gus van Sant is rewriting the
script
and will direct). I'll be in Sydney next May for their litery festival.

I'm glad you enjoyed TTW.

Cheers,
Audrey Niffenegger

I was blown away that she answered my email, but at leased we now know theres gonna be a movie.....
regards Paul Eastley..

I'm not quite sure I understand the remark " author's world is made up of librarians and academicians make her incapable of protraying real functioning, productive characters." As a medical librarian, I think my colleagues and I are real enough and certainly functioning. And we don't wear our hair in buns (esp. not the men), wear sneakers, or go shush. We also indulge in sex and booze.

Why did Hollywood portray librarians as dull, bespectacled mousy little females of a 'certain age' who were just waiting for big hunky Mr Right to come up behind them, remove one hair pin and say "You know Miss Jones, you could be really pretty" before removing her glasses and taking her swooning form in his manly arms?

I know, from the librarians we have here, how very real and well functioning you are. No offense was intended. And I sincerely apologize for any hurt caused by my unthinkingly repeating the comment.

Chris-in the Valley: I don't think he was hiding out; he was doing a professional job which he apparently enjoyed tremendously. It's very difficult for a librarian to "hide out." We have constant interaction with our users. In fact, those who don't have people skills aren't suited to be librarians, contrary to popular belief.

Incidentally, I saw your introduction on the other forum, and found it amusing. My husband is also a retired engineer and he's just finished Herodotus, the Iliad, the Odyssey, and is working on the Peloponnesian War.

Now, for stereotypes: what IS it with engineers!!!

And just what is wrong with we engineers?

I just finished reading this book a couple days ago and have been thinking about it constantly. One thing I keep trying to find in the book and can't is how did Clare have a photo of Henry before they met in present time? She showed it to Gomez and he mentioned it to Henry when they were in the cafe.

Any help is appreciated. Thanks!

Rereading TTW, while knowing of Henry's death, made this second reading very emotional. I did the "note to self--this is a FICTION book" but it didn't help. Henry's letter to Clare, to be opened after his death, was beautifully written; he writes of death taking him like goblins steal a child, and his love for Clare has more density in the world than he does.

The part I had trouble with in both the first and second readings is Henry traveling to be with himself in current time. I can understand him leaving current time to go forward or backward but not a younger or older Henry showing up to be with present Henry. My inflexible imagination is to blame, I suppose. For the record, I loved the sex scenes, did think Henry came to help Clare as she was ready to die at the end, liked when Ingrid realized that it was a time-traveling Henry's daughter who helped Ingrid and Henry find their lost car and am glad that now I don't have to worry about this book being ruined by a film starring Brad Pitt and Jennifer Aniston!

I would be interested to hear what your group thought. My group really trashed it, or were so-so about it. I think they missed the point, really.

Janalyn, what did your group think of it?

BTW, Chris and Donnamira, I am in the middle of reading Margaret Atwood's latest novel, The Penelopiad: The Myth of Penelope and Odysseus . One of you made a reference to the Odysseus myth in the posts above, and this short Atwood novel gives Penelope's point of view, in a modern voice. It's an unusual book but works for me! I've put the link for you below.

cheryl

My God kirsi! You said everything, every little thing I felt, about this book! My fiance is out of the country, and has been for several weeks, so you can imagine how much I felt I could relate to Clare. The characters are wonderful, well-developed... I feel I know them. I kept reminding myself "It's only a book, it's only a book," but I couldn't help the buckets I wept. I know it sounds a tad (lol) melodramatic, but I just couldn't help myself. The book is beautifully written, Henry and Clare are more my idea of star-crossed lovers than Romeo and Juliet, and their story is at once heart-breaking, enchanting and remarkable. Call it a girl book, I could care less. It touched me profoundly, and I'm afraid to read anything else because I too don't want to leave these amazing characters behind. My favorite of all time right here!

> My fiance is out of the country, and has been for several weeks, so you can imagine how much I felt I could relate to Clare.

When I suggested to my group that the time travel could be a metaphor for the above,or for dealing with a dying or mentally ill family member, they just blew it off. But then this is a group that doesn't like getting too deep into their books, hence its one I don't plan to attend for a while.

I had the same thought while reading the book. It was published on the heals of Ronald Reagan's death (from Alzheimer's), I'm sure Nancy can totally relate to it. The book group in my neighborhood is just an excuse for the women to get together. Any deep discussion about the book is secondary, or thirds....maybe fourth...uh...never...

I've read the book 4 times now, and I adore it to no end, but am still _so_ confused by that!

Veer, do you know if she has another book coming out?

Regarding Henry’s letter, I don’t think he was being selfish. I believe the reason he told her he would see her again when she was an old woman was to insure that she would have a long life. If he wrote it down in the present, then it had to happen that way. He wanted to be sure she didn’t die an untimely death in a horrible accident like his mother, or commit suicide like Ingrid, or die from cancer like her mother. He wanted this as much for Alba as for Clare. At the same time he tried to set her free by telling her not to wait for him. She had become like the butterfly pinned to the display, or the bird trapped in a box as long as there was the possibility of him coming back. What I’m not clear about though was whether she was ever able to move on. It doesn’t seem like it to me but that’s just too sad to believe. I’m going to read it again and look for clues to convince myself that she moved on, and yet was able to be with him again when she died.

It helps to have that letter remind us what was really happening. If you do read it again, come back and give us your perspective.

As far as Henry only seeing Alba and not Clare after he died, that isn't entirely true. When Henry ran into Alba the first time at the museum and Alba recognized him and told him he had died, they called Clare on the phone and Clare rushed to the musuem and they got to see each other BRIEFLY. Henry said 'I love you so much' and vanished again. I didn't understand Clare's resistence to having Alba's DNA sequenced, especially if it meant having a chance for normality later on for Alba.
I would like to believe Clare got on with her life. Henry's letter to her, and especially the reference to how his father's life was ruined by grief and longing and how his mother would have hated that, could have helped her. I just don't think A.N. fully followed through with finishing Clare's story, because I would have to think it would be more than some creepy sex scene between her and nasty Gomez and fast forward 50 years to the end.

I found INgrid's suicide scene to be very sad. He suddenly realized where and when he was and thought he could keep it from happening, only to realize that it happened because of him. And yes, Ingrid did realize that Alba was Henry's daughter before Henry did.

I didn't find the lottery to be disturbing. He was forever giving stock tips to Gomez, Kimy and Clare, so they all made a fortune in the market.

I also liked how so many people knew about Henry's time travelling, and accepted him, despite that. When he ended up in the cage at the Newberry, that whole chapter was awesome. How he was finally able to bring his coworkers and boss into his life. Very amusing.

I need to pull out Possesion and reread it to see the connections there, as it's been awhile.

All and all, I really enjoyed the book.

There's a conversation that explains this back on page 167. Henry says "I am a beast of the hoof. If anything ever happens to my feet you might as well shoot me." Spooky, eh? I've been searching the internet for anyone else who, upon second reading, caught this foreshadowing but it looks like I'm the only one!

There's a hole in the story that's been bugging me. On page 298, Henry (31) and Clare (23) are sitting in their dining room with Charisse and Gomez when Henry (39) time travels into the house. It's a brief and sort of confusing incident which ends with glass shards and blood everywhere (because glass shattered when Henry entered, but the shards couldn't follow him through time). Niffenegger sort of sets this up as a mystery to be later resolved: "Henry and I stare at eachother. 'That was different, Henry. That was violent and ugly. What is happening to you?' His white face tells me that he doesn't know either" (302). We never actually find out what had happened, or "what was happening" to Henry, as Clare had wondered. In fact, the story skips almost an entire year, and that year is when Henry is 39 years old. He's 38 when Alba was born, and the next time we see him in present time, he's 40 (page 396-410 ish). Just wondering if anyone had thoughts as to what that was all about.

Also, when Henry is in the Monroe Street Parking Garage (the night he develops frostbite and hypothermia), he calls his present-day self from a payphone. You need money to use a payphone, so how did he manage to do that? It didn't mention him picking change up off of the ground or calling collect.

Just a few kind of unimportant logical gaps I picked up on.. haha.

But I bet I could find a few more like that...Acutally the one that bugged me was when he was taken to the hospital for his feet and the dr wanted to know how he got frostbite in July. I suspect more would have been investigated about that in real life but it was dropped.

every time someone asks me what book should they read i always tell them that this book is the ONE. so far, never heard any complaints. recently, i was surprised that almost all of the people i know who love books already got the chance to read this book.

i don't know if the simplicity albeit the complexity of time travel makes this book special but what i know is that it touched my heart like no other book did.

i still read this book and it still gives me that bittersweet feelings. i heard they made a movie out of it. hope it brings the same intensity that the book did.

AN must be feeling the pressures for her 2nd novel. this one's difficult to top.

all the same..my all time favorite.

> so far, never heard any complaints.

If you go back through those posts above, I think you'll find many. I know in another forum I'm in, there was much discussion about some of the disconnects, and implausibility of some parts. There was also discussion about the relationship between Clare and Henry. I also loved the book but I think some of the complaints had some validity.

I have heard rumors of a movie - anyone know anything about it? I think it would have to be astonding for me to see it - I really did love this book and don't want anything to destroy the images I have of it.

Does anyone have any thoughts about the Cage in the library? Henry is terrified of being trapped in it ...

Hey all,

I picked up Clare's story last saturday and finsihed it last night. It's an incredible achievement for a first time novelist.

I'm afraid that i haven't been able to read all your comments but I've skimmed through a few.

I enjoyed how the plot stuck pretty much to our version of time as opposed to Henry's, though it may have made for interesting reading.

Somebody mentioned that the secondary characters were badly drawn, it seems to me that anything that didn't directly relate to clare or henry's love for each other was mildly irrelevant and only provided to push the narrative along.

I began by feeling sorry for henry and ended up feeling sorry for clare. I do think that a sequel about Alba, though difficult to maintain the wonder of the first novel, has amazing possibilities as she is able to direct where she goes, sometimes.

I had one query, after Clare sleeps with Gomez in 1990, she wakes up and despairs about cheating on henry with her best friends boyfriend and her husbands best friend....up to then there was nowhere in her early life experiences with henry to say that he told her anything about Gomez and his continued 'friendship' with the trouled couple?

My favourite part was when Henry turns up at Alba's field trip and the teacher claims that henry is dead and she says

"Yeah but not continuously dead" with the innocence of a ten-year-old CDP!!

Highly reccommended!!

Ben

Beanmimo - Clare is upset after sleeping with Gomez because she feels she has cheated on Henry. She doesn't mention him being her husband's best friend at all, indeed, at that point Henry and Gomez have never met, hence Gomez asking who Henry is, as Clare had said his name in her sleep.

There are two Henry's present at the shooting; the Henry that is shot has no feet and time travels back to the present to die (there is just blood left on the grass where he has disappeared). The Henry that is left with Phillip and Mark and the henry that then signals to Clare, is a younger Henry who has also time traveled to that point and witnessed his own shooting. He says (about 3/4 through the novel) "I now know how it happened" and then goes on to describe the shooting. Mark and Philip recognise Henry when they meet him for the first time because they saw him at the scene of the shooting (the Henry that does not get shot). They are at the New Year's Eve party when Henry time travels back and dies, but have no idea that they killed him.

Bookmom41 - You talk about it being strange that Henry travels in time to be with present Henry and that you can understand him traveling to his past or future but not traveling to be with his present self. You have explained the answer to the question in the question itself - if Henry travels forward and backwards in time, then as we are following his present timeline, there will be times when his future or past self will be there (times when he has traveled forwards or backwards).

Pat and Cheryl, I completely disagree with you on the sex scenes being gratuitous - Clare and Henry are star-crossed lovers who are everything to each other. I believe that when two people love each other this much, then the sex has to be mind-blowing. The sex scenes add another dimention to their love - indeed, Henry says that he feels incredibly connected to Clare after they have made love - I completely understand what he is saying here. The only thing that did grate with me regarding sex, was Clare's use of the C word twice. In my opinion, this was unecessary and out of character - especially the comment she makes about pain after giving birth to Alba.

I also disagree with the person who said that Henry avoids being with Clare in the future after his death - he says himself to Alba when they are both time travelling and meet t the beach, that if there was anything he could do to be with Clare then he would do it - he has no control over his time travel and since most of the traveling takes place before he knows he will die then he definitely has no choice.

I agree with the people who think that Clare is dying when she sees Henry for the last time at 82 years old. I got that impression because Hery says that she is incredibly still, looks tired and moves slowly. Also, what else would be the significance of her having to wait until she was really old? I think Niffenegger is implying that they meet again just before they both die and will therefore be together in death where time means nothing. In fact this is the phrase that ends Henry's letter to Clare.

Clare does not time travel - the comment she makes about herself vanishing is because she is lost without Henry and is a remark about her defining herself in terms of her relationship with him.

One question I have is related to Alba and Henry's time traveling abilities when thay are babies (I know Henry says he first travelled when he was six, but maybe that was just the first one he could remember). They must have traveled as a baby/fetus because Kendricck says that's why the mother mice keep hemorrhaging in pregnancy and why Clare keeps losing babies because they travel in and out of her womb. If so, how does a baby survive naked when it time travels?

A second questions is to do with Henry's reference to being in Illinois in 1903 in teh prologue. Is this the only time he travels to a time before his actual birth? I thought he only traveled to significant events within his lifetime.

Also the chapter entitled An Unpleasant Scene states that it is June 28th 2006 and tat henry is 43 and 43. This is the chapter where he ends up in the cage. The part where his present self comes to work and then ends up at the cage expaining to his coworkers starts 'It's a perfect September morning' how can it be June and September? What am I missing here?

Sorry I've gone on for ages about this, but I don't go to a book group and so am treating you guys like one!

For Xmas, The Wife got me Niffeneger's illustrated novel The Three Incestuous Sisters; quite charming in an Edward Gorey-ish way.

One review I read liked it, with a few reservations. Ebert apparently did not like it at all, but he tends to dislike romantic films.

>What happened the first time around?

What first time? From your question, I'm assuming that you're thinking that there was a botched wedding, and older Henry, regretting that he'd caused his wedding to fall apart, took advantage of a time-travel episode to correct it.

But in Niffenberger's universe there is only one time stream. The wedding...the sole, unique wedding...occurs just as given in the book. Henry I vanishes, there's a moment of panic, and then Henry II providentially appears just in time. Nothing is changed because there was nothing to change.

Directly after the wedding, Henry I returns and discovers that his wedding was not brought to a screaming halt by his disappearance. Thus, when, in the future, he is dropped back in time to his wedding day, he knows that this is his opportunity to complete the time loop by making sure that the wedding goes on, not as planned but as it happened.

Hope this helps.

That can be read in two different ways. Future Henry knew that Ingrid had committed suicide. He also knew that she had attempted suicide before, more than once IIRC.

But until he actually saw her pull the trigger, he did not know that he was at the time and place where she would finally succeed in killing herself. He didn't know the date he had come to. Nor did he know that his presence would precipitate her successful suicide.

Hope this helps. I've read a lot of scifi time-travel novels, so my reference to "Niffennegger's universe" is merely to differentiate her version of time travel with, e.g., David Gerrold's (The Man Who Folded Himself), in which each trip in time creates a new world that did not exist before.

Excellent point, Nicole. Each time I reread it, I notice more how screwed up Henry was by the time he met Claire. I missed it the first time around because the novel starts with H meeting C, and Henry doesn't visit Claire in the past until after that point. So we don't see much of the drunken punk Henry except through some of the secondary characters who knew him when.

One of my favorite romantic tropes is the Rake Reformed, which is part of my fondness for this book.

Something to think about.

Bunny 2009 said:

>Could the author be using "time travel" to illustrate the extreme impact childhood trauma can cause? Thoughts?

Your use of scare quotes suggests that you think that the time travel is all in Henry's head, and your questions reinforce this impression. If you mean this, than, no, I can't agree. There is nothing in the book to indicate that time travel is anything but a fact, however counter-intuitive that might be. For example, how did Henry get his feet so badly frostbitten, if he didn't vanish from point A, travel in time to point B, and return to modern-day Chicago at point C, the parking garage?

If, however, you're suggesting that the author was using time travel as a device in the novel she wrote to explore the nuances of childhood trauma, yes, I agree entirely.

As a science fiction fan, I'm required to believe the proverbial six impossible things before breakfast. But I'm very wary of conflating the universe of the novel with the artistic intent of the author.

The frying-pan-to-fire aspect of Henry's travels in time (e.g. as noted above with the incident of the frozen feet)
is an excellent mirror of the bad choices traumatized children make as they grow older, and some of the scenes of Henry's life, such as his trip to visit Ingrid's suicide, mirror the helplessness of a child in the face of extreme trauma.

This book haunts me. Perhaps because I can do some degree relate to Clare. My husband has a dangerous job. One that takes his away on a regular adhoc basis. I never know when he is going and when he is coming back. And when he is gone I often unable to contact him.I can relate to Clare's feeling of dispair, fear and lonliness.

This aside, I like others was confused by a number of things. First the whole shooting scenario. But having read the response of others I can somewhat understand it. I was perplexed by the fact that after Henry dies that he can still time travel and as many have ashed here "why does he not travel to Clare?" I think I now understand why and forgive me if someone already commented on this (perhaps I missed it). But quite simply Henry is dead and he is not time traveling. All of the traveling that occurs after his death occured in the past. Henry travelled to the future and Alba travels to the past and where they meeet is the intersection. That is why he never returns to Clare, because he is dead. For instance, at the art museum where he meeets 10 year old Alba. He travelled to the future to see her. He was still alive in his real time. The time when he is with Ingrid, he is younger and Alba travels back to see him. On the beach with Alba (1979) Henry is 42 and Alba is 10. Henry is still alive at this point in time. You never see him at an age beyond that of his death and that is why he still has his feet.

Now if Alba were to undergo the gene therapy to rid her of this 'defect' she would never be able to see him again - quite a quandry.

As for Clare, I don't think that she ever got over the loss of Henry. Her comment about the fact that she is now the travler is simply that she is so engulfed with grief that she receeds within her self, imagining Henry and willing him to come to her. She comments on how she is vanishing almost that she is loosing touch with her reality and living in her own world - the event with Gomez suggests this. The final chapter confirms this. It begins with Henrys account and is dated July 24 (note henry is still 43 - the age he was when he died). Then Claire's account is dated July 14. If you ignore the dates these entries read as if they happen at the same point in time. But they don't they are 10 days apart. All Claire does is sit and wait for him and it appears she has been doing it for sometime. Her passage even states "Today is not much different from all the other days........." She appears to be ritulastic in her daily behavior in the hope that today will be the day. When he does come it is because she has/is dying. She sees him because they are both dead.

I am not sure how I feel about the ending. It reminds me a bit too much of "Somewhere in Time". I have not see the movie - I cried my heart out reading the book and I am not sure I can bring myself to watch the movie. I did read that ending of the movie was changed - there is no scene with 82 year old Clare. I would love to hear from someone what the movie ending was like and how fitting it was.

As for the secondary characters I think that the author did a reasonable job of including them without having them take over the story. They are supporting characters and a more detailed role would have, I feel detracted from the Henry and Clare. This is a complex story, the more you try to answer questions the more questions you create. It leaves the reader pondering, analyzing and questioning and I think that it is a good thing.

I would love to hear from others....

You said:>All of the traveling that occurs after his death occured in the past.

Have to agree with that. If he could have chosen when to arrive, he would have gone to visit Clare, but because he had no choice in the matter he ended up whereever he ended up, which was with Alba.

>I would love to hear from someone what the movie ending was like and how fitting it was.

The film ended after Henry's death, with Alba and Clare at the field where Henry used to meet young Clare. Henry is visible at the edge; Alba yells for Clare to come. She starts running towards him; I think they manage to embrace. Run credits.