The Time-Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger

I had heard that this was a great book to read. I didn't know much about the plot, but I was curious. One of my goals with reading is not just to enjoy myself or to help me sleep at night, but to improve my mind. I want to read good books too. So that is how this one came to be on my TBR pile.

Clare has known Henry since she was six years old, when he would come and visit her from the future. She has always known that he is the man she will marry one day. This is the story of their journey.

“Think for a minute, darling: in fairy tales it's always the children who have the fine adventures. The mothers have to stay at home and wait for the children to fly in the window."

― Audrey Niffenegger, The Time Traveler's Wife

This is such a difficult story for me to rate. I have pointed out before that I think Goodreads's rating system is rather frivolous. Why judge a book on whether one liked it, where there are so many deeper things to look at? You see, I can't say that I enjoyed this story. There was nothing wrong with it - it is just that romance is not really my preferred genre for reading. Having said that though, I have to state that this was extremely well written and that the thought that went into the plot was admirable. I also have to note that the multitude of timelines do not get confusing. She handled it masterfully. The plot progressed whether we were in the present or one of the many pasts.

I do have some issues though. The first one is the use of the word 'cunt'. Now, if it were an obnoxious male character that had used the word, I would have been fine with it. It would have been something appropriate for that character to say. But are there women out there who actually refer to their own vaginas so crudely and crassly? I feel that that word is derogatory and that women would not, as a rule, degrade themselves in such a way. I found that out of character for Clare, and I found it a bit jarring as I ended up on a mental detour debating whether women would actually use the word to refer to their own bodies, and if they did, what type of women would they be.

The book was a focus on their relationship. But yet I did not feel that they were 'meant for each other'. I am long past the days where I believe in one true love, so don't get me wrong there. But for a woman to have waited for years for a man, and to be so deeply in love with him, I feel the need to see why. There was nothing that made Henry seem to be any different from any other men out there (besides the time travelling thing) and I feel that if Clare had not met him as a child, she probably would have looked past him as an adult. In fact, it was her knowing him as a child that gets her to make him into the man she knew as a child. It is a bit paradoxical, isn't it? But my point is that I didn't think Henry was a magnificent catch (other than the fact that he seems to have a bigger library than I do - which is not necessarily a quality that I would look for in a husband; it would just be a cherry on the cake). He did some things that I have zero tolerance for and in many ways I thought he was an insensitive asshole (here I am referring to how he treated his girlfriend, Ingrid). Is this just perpetuating that idea that women can change men into their perfect 'dream guys'? And then there was Gomez and his wife Charisse, friends of Clare's. I can't go into much here without spoiling things, but I will say that I think Gomez was also an asshole.

Who do I think would enjoy this? I think people who enjoy dramas and romance would get something out of this. I think women are more likely to enjoy this than men. I would not recommend this to anyone who loves high action and plot driven novels.

This is the 31st book I have read for the 2015 TBR Pile Reading challenge.
I gave this 3 stars on Goodreads, although I think it was more a 3.5.