Jessica
This is a hard one to rate. If I'd had to rate it halfway through I'd have given it four stars, but the second half really irritated me, so I've decided to be harsh. Sorry.
I really like what this book is trying to do. I like the idea of telling the story of a relationship between people who meet all out of order. I like that this is a universe where you can't rewrite history, and once it's known something is going to happen then it's already happened and is inevitable. I would love to see more plots like this. However, this novel started to seriously bug me.
In large part, I ended up just not liking Henry very much. In his youth he's depicted as a callous womaniser (although only one of his “conquests” is given an actual name...) and even when he's older, and supposedly become a better person out of love for Clare, he keeps doing things that make him reflect on how Humbert Humbertish he is but doesn't like... stop doing the things. He's also rather pretentious. Mostly, I wanted to smack him.
And then there is Clare. Honestly, who is Clare? I never got a good grasp on what her personality is supposed to be like. She seems to fall in love with Henry because he's much older and magical and falls into the meadow by her house and overall, because it's her fate. This makes me feel that Henry is a bit creepy, and even when Clare and Henry meet in real time, he's much older. And much more experienced in bed. (And wow, side thought - what was the deal with Clare feeling all guilty that she had sex while Henry was out of her life for two years? I'm pretty sure Henry had no shame on his womanising whatsoever. If Clare had felt guilty for betraying Charisse that'd make sense... but Henry???) After marrying Henry, she seems to desire nothing in life but to bear his children. She has an art studio because he bought it for her but she sure doesn't seem very invested in this career. I ended up just feeling bad for her because she literally has no life outside of Henry. At any point in the book.
I mean to be honest, none of the characters came across as particularly well realised, except maybe for Henry who's that infuriating kind of “reformed” womaniser who never seems to meet his karmic retribution.
But I like the idea of a love story like this, and while the second half drags on too long and I became really impatient to finish, the ending got me in the heart a little bit. It's just infuriating that this could have been mindblowing and yet, in reality, it's just kind of problematic.
EDIT: Sorry, I just wanted to add this quote that I took special note of because it was just so ridiculous:
“Computer viruses as art.”
“Oooh.” Oh, no. “Isn't that kind of illegal?”
“Well; no. I just design them, then I paint the html onto canvas, then I have a show. I don't actually put them into circulation.”
This is a hard one to rate. If I'd had to rate it halfway through I'd have given it four stars, but the second half really irritated me, so I've decided to be harsh. Sorry.
I really like what this book is trying to do. I like the idea of telling the story of a relationship between people who meet all out of order. I like that this is a universe where you can't rewrite history, and once it's known something is going to happen then it's already happened and is inevitable. I would love to see more plots like this. However, this novel started to seriously bug me.
In large part, I ended up just not liking Henry very much. In his youth he's depicted as a callous womaniser (although only one of his “conquests” is given an actual name...) and even when he's older, and supposedly become a better person out of love for Clare, he keeps doing things that make him reflect on how Humbert Humbertish he is but doesn't like... stop doing the things. He's also rather pretentious. Mostly, I wanted to smack him.
And then there is Clare. Honestly, who is Clare? I never got a good grasp on what her personality is supposed to be like. She seems to fall in love with Henry because he's much older and magical and falls into the meadow by her house and overall, because it's her fate. This makes me feel that Henry is a bit creepy, and even when Clare and Henry meet in real time, he's much older. And much more experienced in bed. (And wow, side thought - what was the deal with Clare feeling all guilty that she had sex while Henry was out of her life for two years? I'm pretty sure Henry had no shame on his womanising whatsoever. If Clare had felt guilty for betraying Charisse that'd make sense... but Henry???) After marrying Henry, she seems to desire nothing in life but to bear his children. She has an art studio because he bought it for her but she sure doesn't seem very invested in this career. I ended up just feeling bad for her because she literally has no life outside of Henry. At any point in the book.
I mean to be honest, none of the characters came across as particularly well realised, except maybe for Henry who's that infuriating kind of “reformed” womaniser who never seems to meet his karmic retribution.
But I like the idea of a love story like this, and while the second half drags on too long and I became really impatient to finish, the ending got me in the heart a little bit. It's just infuriating that this could have been mindblowing and yet, in reality, it's just kind of problematic.
EDIT: Sorry, I just wanted to add this quote that I took special note of because it was just so ridiculous:
“Computer viruses as art.”
“Oooh.” Oh, no. “Isn't that kind of illegal?”
“Well; no. I just design them, then I paint the html onto canvas, then I have a show. I don't actually put them into circulation.”