The Time Traveler’s Wife: Pg 448-End!

Captain Spazzmataz Thoughts:

• 449- Does Henry die of hypothermia? How unsatisfying that would be.
• 453- White at 43. Sounds like the dream.
• 454- Well, you are dying. So it makes sense for them to think this.
• 455- Nell!
• 457- Of course this would happen. If you mention how it would be the worst thing ever at the beginning of the book, it’s going to happen at the end.
• 461- This is going to be interesting. Why didn’t Henry tell someone at work a long time ago? I know he maybe couldn’t have right away, but once Kendrick got involved, I don’t think it would have been that outrageous.
• 468- This seems like an extreme abuse of power. I know that Henry is just trying to let Alba have the best outcome in her future, but Clare did not want it. And Henry used the information of his soon coming death to manipulate her into letting him give Alba’s DNA to Kendrick.
• 469- I am confused. Did he get shot? Did Clare’s father and brother see him?
• 475- It must be awful to watch your dead feet and realize they aren’t coming back to life.
• 477- Harsh. To learn from your own self that your father is dead seems like it would be a big slap in the face.
• 487- This is really sad to me. Henry has to teach Clare to cook before he dies. It’s such a regular, daily task that he took on and now she has to take it over because he won’t be there much longer.
• 494- This is terrifying.
• 500- Even though I don’t really like Henry, I am still sad that he is sad. I want him to find a cure for his time travel, I want him to see Alba grow up and help with her travels. Especially knowing that so soon the disease will have a name and be more widely known.
• 503- I still don’t really understand why Gomez is casually invited to everything. It’s strange to me.
• 512- I feel so sad for Clare. What an awful experience.
• 518- I don’t think I would want to leave a letter to my loved ones when I die. I guess in this case, since Henry knew exactly when he would die, but other than that, it just seems too difficult.
• 521- How dare he tell her this. I don’t like it at all. He set rules for himself to not reveal the future, but now that he is dead he feels as though he can disregard those rules because he doesn’t have to deal with the consequences. Classic Henry. This is why he is an unlikable character.
• 523- Gross Gomez. Mind your own business.
• 524- I think this was a bit uncalled for. I don’t think it was necessary at all in the wrapping up of the story, and it makes the characters even more unlikable. How incomprehensibly selfish of Gomez, and I know Clare is grieving or whatever, but it has been a year and a half and maybe she should be a little more aware of what is happening.
• 529- Alba is the best character. She is so cute and sweet and I love her.
• 536- So Clare just waits every day for Henry to return? If he hadn’t told her this, she could maybe be doing something. She could maybe live her life like a normal person.

Final Thoughts:

For all that the characters are truly awful, I did enjoy this book. I am slightly confused why Henry started to show signs of age so quickly, but I guess that can be easily explained away by the disease. Other than that, I thought the author did a great job of tackling such a tricky and interweaving timeline of events. Nothing was too terribly confusing and it all did wind up being somewhat relevant to the story. Even though this story is set in present time, I feel like it had sort of a antique feel to it. Maybe because of the language, or something else, but the whole book seemed to have an “old soul” in a way. I liked it. All in all, I’d give it a 4 out of 5 stars. I know that this was made into a movie and I am interested to see how they tackle the enormous amount of background and the shifting of time.

The Time Traveler’s Wife: pg. 377-447

Captain Spazzmataz Thoughts:

• 378- I’m guessing this is how Clare gets pregnant, but also, based on the title of this chapter, it doesn’t happen yet. Even so, shouldn’t past Henry have known about it? Since he is traveling into the future, he should know and be able to comfort Clare, or even just not get the vasectomy. I’m not even going to touch on how creepy it is, I am just curious about why Henry gets so worked up about hurting Clare if he just travels to the future to get her pregnant.
• 381- I feel like they are glossing over this whole pregnancy pretty quickly for it being the main focus for awhile.
• 385- I just had a thought about how often Henry is not wearing underwear. How likely is it for him to get some when he time travels?
• 386- Who wears light blue lipstick? As a teacher? I feel like you wouldn’t get anything done all day. Especially with younger kids. I guess unless you wear light blue lipstick all the time.
• 386- I just read the next sentence! What kind of Catholic school lets a teacher wear light blue lipstick!
• 387- Wow. I feel like a lot is happening very quickly. How is Alba so okay with this at 10 years old. Also, how crazy must Henry feel knowing that he is going to die in the next 10 years!
• 395- It’s crazy that just 10 years from Henry’s present time traveling disease is accepted and has a name.
• 396- Why did we never hear more about Gomez and Clare? I feel like that was building and then just stopped.
• 406- I have been waiting to see how 9/11 would be addressed. If at all. It also makes me think of how future books will address the hot mess of a year that was 2020.
• 407- At this point, I feel like neither of them should have to work. If Henry can “predict” good stocks and lottery numbers, they could easily get some money whenever they run low.
• 410- And Henry says he has good taste in music.
• 410- I think it’s funny that Clare is friends with Celia.
• 412- How do you explain to a toddler about how her father time travels?
• 414- R.I.P. Borders
• 416- I guess it wouldn’t be very beneficial for Henry to tell Clare that he will die when Alba is five, but it seems like such a heavy burden to keep to yourself. I wonder if he has told Kendrick? Probably not. Does Kendrick know he only has a few years left to try and help Henry?
• 421- I don’t like this. Very creepy.
• 422- Why isn’t Clare with her family on her birthday?
• 432- Ah. There it is.
• 440- I miss going to the Fox.
• 442. Ah! There’s more!
• 443- How does Charisse possibly stay with someone when she know he so desperately wants someone else?
• 445- There is no way Clare hasn’t figured it out by now.
• 447- My initial thought is that Mark and Phillip accidentally shoot Henry, but Clare wouldn’t have seen him there if that was the case.

I am very intrigued. A lot happened in this section. I am excited for the final section. Even though I know that Henry dies, I am not too sad about it. For one, I don’t really like Henry as a person, and secondly, I know that Alba and Clare are okay in the future. I think that makes his death easier. Really though, how terrible must it be to learn that you are going to die from your daughter’s teacher.

The Time Traveler’s Wife: Pg. 303-376

Captain Spazzmataz Thoughts:

• 303- Ah. So not a voluntary hide and seek.
• 307- I’m surprised this issue hasn’t come up sooner.
• 309- For a second I thought that maybe Matt knew. It would probably be good for at least one person at Henry’s work to know what is going on. Even if it isn’t his boss, then they could cover for him when needed.
• 315- I’m glad I’m not the only one that is confused about Henry’s circular life.
• 321- Once again, still so confused about the timeline. Is the only reason Henry knew to go to this doctor because he saw him in the future? How does this happen? Basically the events in his life happen all at once?
• 324- Dr. Kendrick gives me slight creepy mad scientist vibes.
• 326- I feel sad for Clare. I don’t think this baby thing will end up in her favor.
• 329- I don’t like this for Clare. And I especially don’t like that the chapter is titled “One.”
• 333- This is so traumatic. Why don’t they just adopt a baby?
• 336- The crow strikes again.
• 337- Speaking of Clare’s family, I want to know what happened when Clare’s dad and brother met Henry for the actual first time.
• 350- Henry is being the worst right now. They both are, but he is being extra bad.
• 353- I love Kimmy. She’s the best.
• 361- I think Clare wants this to work too badly. Does Henry actually wind up outliving Clare?
• 376- Wait, I thought it was supposed to work out? Did future Henry lie to Clare?

This section is so sad. I think it is written extremely well, but devastating nonetheless. As I was reading, I felt like I was constantly suspended not knowing where things were going or what was happening. I imagine this is what Clare feels like through this entire traumatic string of events. I also think the shorter chapters contribute to this feeling.

The Time Traveler’s Wife, SK3

Super Koala Thoughts!

⁃ p. 234: I love Kimy meeting Clare. She seems delightful.

⁃ p. 237: Crows are gorgeous. Go team Clare.

⁃ p. 244: I would also not want to hang out with Ingrid. But Celia seems … fun? Reckless? Slightly hateful?

⁃ p. 251: What if instead of whatever nefarious task Henry is up to, Henry and Gomez go set the mom’s boyfriend on fire?

⁃ p. 255: It doesn’t seem like a great sign that so many of Henry’s former girlfriends dislike him so much.

⁃ p. 256: What. Is. Kiwi Jelly?!?

⁃ p. 263: I imagine Clare will be terrifically excited to see future hair Henry. I am so very stressed about their wedding though. With this much foreshadowing, it feels mostly doomed.

⁃ p. 270: I had to look up this hair. It is much different than I pictured based on the book description.

⁃ p. 272: But of course Henry is time traveling. Stressed.

⁃ p. 273: Wait. What? Which Henry is which right now?

⁃ p. 276: I kind of hate this idea that Clare married future Henry. It kind of fits with the idea that she’s always waiting for a Henry she’ll never have with her in the present. Future Henry is always coming to save the day, but Clare has to exist on a daily basis with present Henry.

⁃ p. 278: What is this persistent weirdness with Gomez and Clare? Is he jealous? … Ben also gets the Gomez vibe, in case any audience readers were missing it.

⁃ p. 289: I fully support Henry’s lottery plan. Time travel has to have some advantage somewhere.

⁃ p. 294: I always forget people can just hire movers. Do they tell people they won the lottery?

⁃ p. 297: Aha! Gomez suspicions confirmed!

⁃ p. 302: Hm. We end on an interesting clue about the book’s future. I have been wondering where it was going.

I enjoyed this section! I’m kind of glad we’re done with the wedding, which obviously was going to cause a lot of hullabaloo in the plot, and now onto the main conflict. The wedding caused me an initial amount of stress (I hate when it feels like everything is about to go wrong), but it actually wasn’t that bad. As I mentioned in my notes, I just kind of hate that future Henry comes into Clare’s life so much.

I’m really interested by the increased focus on Gomez and Clare. It seems like we’ve had too many details about it for it not to end up being pretty important. However, I’ll be really displeased if we end up in some sort of love-triangle focus. Young adult literature has made me loathe a love-triangle, and it has been very nice reading an adult book.

The Time Traveler’s Wife: pg. 228-302

Captain Spazzmataz Thoughts:

• 233- Would Clare have ever married Henry if he didn’t go visit her so much? But also, would he have traveled to her meadow so frequently if they weren’t destined to be married? So confusing.
• 236- Henry’s dad seems so much more sickly than just a cold.
• 240- It seems like Henry’s dad is really making an effort to be sober and polite.
• 241- I would not invite someone who I only met once briefly in a very awkward encounter to sit with me. I probably would pretend not to recognize them even if I did.
• 249- If Henry dies whilst time traveling, would he reappear in the present?
• 253- Does Ben make meth?
• 254- How did Ben find out about Henry?
• 256- I had no idea kiwi jelly was a thing! Is it real? Can I try some?
• 259- Earlier Clare said that there was a two year break between the last time she saw time traveling Henry to when they met in person. What could have gone on then? Does he die at 43? It seems unlikely that his condition just goes away for those two years.
• 263- Getting a haircut on a whim the day before your wedding seems a bit precarious. Maybe it’s not as big of a deal with guys. Really, how much could it be messed up. But still.
• 263- Ah. I forgot that Henry has relatively long hair, and Clare knows his future short hair.
• 268- Gross. Your daughter is getting married yet you still make her ask to be excused from the table. Maybe I don’t want to live in a named house.
• 271- I can imagine our mother doing the exact same thing.
• 272- Does Clare marry future Henry?
• 275- I guess it’s a good thing present Henry got his hair cut.
• 278- Inappropriate Gomez!
• 283- I am amused!
• 289- That would be probably the only good thing about being with a time traveler. At least your present life could be pretty plush.
• 292- Again, would Clare and Henry have picked a different house if he hadn’t seen the future one? Would everything be different, or would everything wind up the same because it is destined to happen?
• 295- Where is Gomez’s fiancee/wife?
• 297- How is this possibly the first time Henry has realized that Gomez is in love with Clare. Also, where is Gomez’s fiancee/wife?
• 302- Yikes. That was intense. Why did that happen? I don’t have high hopes of Henry making it past 43 after this incident. It seems like things may start to spiral.

I am still really enjoying the book. I usually don’t read a book like this. Typically I only read one book at a time. But I am surprised at how quickly I can get back into the story after not reading for a week. It is definitely a testament to the writing style.

The Time Traveler’s Wife: Pg 163-227

Captain Spazzmataz Thoughts:

• 163- Geez Claire. He probably hates being in the car because his mom tragically died there! Have some sympathy!
• 167- So if he can go about fifty years in either direction, that means he can go to years pre-birth.
• 170- I forgot that Clare’s father and brother have seen Henry before. This seems tricky.
• 176- I feel like this is a very serious conversation for two complete strangers.
• 179- They had La Croix in 1991? I had no idea.
• 187- If Henry knows that watching TV makes him time travel, why would he risk doing it at Clare’s family home. Again, seems like a risky move.
• 189- I like Alicia. She’s spunky
• 196- Well that’s pretty lucky. His future self can reassure him that everything is okay.
• 219- I don’t understand why Henry and his dad are so unfriendly toward each other. I’m glad we are finally getting a story line with the two of them.
• 220- So Mrs. Kim knows. Does anybody else know?
• 225- Okay. Now I feel kind of bad for Henry’s dad. Sure, he did this to himself, but he seems so sad.

I was not as engaged in this section of the book. The Christmas chapter was very long, and it had a more slow paced feel to it. I appreciated all of the development with Clare’s family, but I think it could have been broken up a bit. Maybe if I had read that chapter right after the beginning section, then it would have seemed like a nice break after all of the jumping back and forth. However, since it was the first chapter I read after taking a bit of a break, it felt very monotonous.

I’m still enjoying the book overall. It is a very interesting story. I am intrigued to see how this development of some of Clare’s family and friends knowing about Henry previously will develop. Alicia is definitely my favorite character so far.

The Time Traveler’s Wife, SK1

A log of Super Koala thoughts:

⁃ p. X: If I’m understanding the details, Henry is a librarian and Clare makes paper for a living? That sounds exquisite. I’m enjoying the descriptions in the prologue very much and how they create this tone of earnest longing. If I’m teaching advanced English next year, this could be a good snippet for tone practice. (I should make a note of this somewhere.) ((Do I need a new notebook?!)) (((I don’t. Calm down.)))

⁃ p. 11: How does Henry have any idea how old he is if he’s always flitting through time? And how many Henry’s are there in this theoretical time line?

⁃ p. 19: I suppose keeping Winnie the Pooh on your shelf cancels out the tragedy of keeping Naked Lunch.

⁃ p. 21: At this point, I also think the mechanics of time travel seem a little blurry in the story (I peaked at your notes.) I’ve read a book with a similar time travel concept before, and I feel like you just have to nod and roll with it. If you think about it too much, it starts to fall apart.

⁃ p. 27: Does Henry always return to his life? How terribly unfortunate that he has to be naked. And why? If his body transports, why wouldn’t the items on his body also transport?

⁃ p. 30: I’m confused by this Henry meeting Henry phenomena. How would this work in the timeline of Harry’s life, if 5 year old him remembers meeting him? Is 5 year ild Henry also traveling into the past? What happens to real time when Henry is time-traveling? Do his parents know he’s gone?

⁃ p. 40: As I am not six, I don’t know if I buy this explanation for why Henry can’t keep the items directly on his person when he time travels. Especially if it’s involuntary and the clothes are made out of organic materials, like cotton.

⁃ p. 49: Henry with Henry is definitely the most boggling part. I wonder how long he travels for at a time. Does he really need to know how to steal and and make weapons? It doesn’t seem like he’s gone for terribly long…

⁃ p. 55: So can Henry go to the future then?

⁃ p. 71: I’m not sure how I feel about all this Henry visiting Clare. I know the book is their love story, but it seems like Henry’s presence would have had a huge impact on Clare’s whole life. She never really got to be an independent person without him. Whereas, Henry got to do whatsoever he pleased until he was 28, forming a solidified, independent identity.

⁃ p. 78: So Clare is also aware of this potential lack of independent identity.

⁃ p. 97: I’m exceptionally comfortable with murdering Jason. If only Clare hadn’t come along. The future doesn’t need him.

⁃ p. 108: I feel like I’m not paying enough attention to the details of this book. Like the dates and the chapter titles. I predict I’ll want to go back through them.

⁃ p. 110: Can Henry go beyond his birth?

⁃ p. 114: What a horrifically horrifying death…

⁃ p. 132: I am made deeply unhappy by the concept of a skin book.

⁃ p. 144: So it’s not always such a short visit in time.

⁃ p. 146: And another clue about time passage when Henry is away!

⁃ p. 159: Henry is definitely Clare’s bad news.

⁃ p. 161: I don’t love that it’s Clare’s job to help Henry be a decent person. That’s far different than him helping her conjugate verbs or learn algebra.

So far I’m really enjoying this book. I admittedly don’t super love any of the characters yet, but the writing is very lovely. Everything feels kind of decadent in my brain, but also sepia toned. It’s like when I watched The Theory of Everything or Little Women. The new one anyway.

My favorite part about the book has been the pacing. A love story is typically not my favorite, but I like the wisp of a mystery that surrounds it. I think it has been a very intriguing read, though I do get a touch confused with the mechanics of time travel.

The Book Club Returns!

The Time Traveler’s Wife: Pg 1-162

Captain Spazzmatazz Thoughts:

• IX- Disease? Interesting. I don’t think I’ve ever considered the possibility of time travel being related to a disease.
• 4- Henry can’t remember things from when he is time traveling? Then how does Clare know that it was happening? What even is the use of time traveling if you can’t remember what happens?
• 7- I did not know what a Botticelli was. I looked it up. I now know.
• 9- I am quite confused about how this time travel works. She know him, but he doesn’t know her because he was older than he is in present time when he travels back to her past? He can remember things when he time travels, but the traveling hasn’t happened yet, so he doesn’t know. I feel like this is going to get very complicated.
• 12- I wonder what it is like to live in a named house.
• 14- So time traveling disease is common in this world!
• 21- He can tell himself? What does that mean? How does that happen?
• 27- Does he time travel as his present age? Or whatever age he would be in the year he goes to? Does it change? When he visits Clare, he is older, but now he is a five year old time traveling to a future year, but he still goes to see his five year old self? I am confused.
• 30- I see. We have switched to a different present that his past self has traveled to.
• 36- If Henry can’t control when and where he ends up, how does he come to Clare’s meadow so often?
• 43- Wow. We really are the best. Mark is the worst.
• 47- I wish I learned a language in school when I was six.
• 48- Old Henry seems like a bad influence on young Henry. I don’t like it.
• 49- At least he is aware of this fact.
• 58- This entire passage was weird. I can’t tell which Henry is talking, and then they have to go and bring in a third Henry.
• Random thought: Does present time move on while Henry is time traveling? Or does he just go back to right before he left?
• 62- Interesting little Ouija anecdote. Why do you need an Ouija board when you have a mysterious time traveler that shows up in your backyard all the time?
• 64- I know that they are married in the future and all, but it is quite creepy for a 36 year old to be in love with a 12 year old.
• 70- Clare is a very intelligent 12 year old. So many interesting ideas.
• 78- Still creeped out by how much older he is than her. Maybe the author didn’t do a very good job of making her seem more innocent. Her character reads very old and mature.
• 83- I’m still just confused why Henry winds up in the meadow so often if he has no control over where he goes. And if he did have control, why would he want to go see his wife in childhood so often?
• 93- I think Henry is really messing up Clare’s life.
• 96- This seems like a very very bad idea.
• 103- Hurray for girls supporting girls.
• 105- Does Clare actually love Henry, or does she just think she loves Henry because she is supposed to?
• 113- No! That is so traumatic. Decapitated? In front of her son? How terrible.
• 126- I like Grandma Meagram.
• 131- But just how drunk are skunks?
• 146- So he does wind up back in the same place, but the amount of time passed in the present could be different. Interesting.
• 152- Does Henry only travel back in time, or does he ever travel forward?
• 159- Wow. I didn’t see that coming. I know that he technically didn’t know Clare yet, but I didn’t expect him to be getting married to another girl.
• 161- Oh, okay. Never mind.
• 162- I don’t like that older Henry keeps coming to remind younger Clare not to give up on present Henry.

Whew. Made it through the first section. That is a lot to wrap my head around. I’m still a little fuzzy on the details of this time traveling disease, but I think I understand what is going on a little better. Here are my general first thoughts. I keep coming back to this idea that present Clare doesn’t really feel like she loves present Henry, but future Henry keeps reminding her that she should/will. I don’t really like this notion. If present Clare doesn’t like present Henry, then does she actually like future Henry? I’m not sure. I also don’t think Henry is a very good person. I understand that he has to deal with a lot because of his circumstances, but I also think that he could be a little bit nicer. Both present and future Henrys seem very obsessed with Clare and it is a little creepy.

I would like to read an instance where Henry travels into the future, but I don’t know exactly how that would work. So far, it seems like he can only travel to the past. My brain gets very confused when I think about how the logistics of him traveling to the future would work as far as meeting people and doing things goes. I am assuming that this book ends with either the death of Clare or Henry. If not, how would we know their first meeting date? A future Henry could travel further back and meet Clare at the age of 5 for all we know. Given this, I am going to predict that it ends with Henry’s death.

That was a lot of random rambling, but those are my thoughts for now. Section 2 awaits next week.

The Joy Luck Club: Many Weeks Later

Captain Spazzmataz Thoughts:

• P. 87 – TeeHee. She deserved it.
• P. 91 – Well that is kind of terrifying. I am glad that we aren’t known for performing the best torture.
• P. 94 – I feel like it would be extremely frustrating to explain chess to a seven year old.
• P. 95 – Man, there are a lot of gruesome names for chess tactics.
• P. 100 – I like the image of the apartment having tiger eyes.

I liked this section. It was more interesting for some reason. I guess because the past few chapters were told from the old ladies’ points of view and this one was from one of the daughters.

Sickly Super Koala Thoughts:

• p. 87 – These malignant gates sound very intense.  Malignant is just such a great descriptor.
• p. 89 – Waverly’s mom is obviously a boss.  Also, I kind of love the name Waverly.
• p. 90 – “Golden teeth” is a sneaky description.  It sounds fancy, but you know its got to be super gross.
• p. 94 – I can’t even imagine the difficulty of learning chess from an instruction book.  Go those kids.
• p. 95 – This adorably reminds me of the Pixar chess short.
• p. 97 – Momma Jong just roasted the brothers! Also, Bobby needs to calm it down.
• p. 100 – Man, Momma Jong is rough.  I don’t know how I would feel if my parents called me “this girl.”

So far, I really like Waverly’s portion of the story.  The intense place of pressure and pride that she comes from is so different from my own childhood experiences, as I am obviously not a child chess champion.  I’m definitely interested in the progression of this story arc, especially as it continues into their adult lives.

The Joy Luck Club: Labor Day Reading

Captain Spazzmataz Thoughts:

• P. 67 – Man, these mothers are so depressing. It is horrible that she doesn’t think she is noticed by anyone. It’s so sad that they have gone though such troubles in their life and now they are so far removed from modern life that they can’t connect with anyone.
• P. 70 – Wow. Really? “A girl can never ask, only listen.” That is just horrible. How could anyone live like that!?
• P. 71 – Do her sisters really not have names, or does she just not care to say them?
• P. 72 – How do they expect a four year old to stand perfectly still and not play?
• P. 73 – What! They get to take afternoon naps! So jealous.
• P. 75 – I think that is kind of cruel making a bird get your fish for you.
• P. 78 – Has nobody on her boat noticed that she is missing!?
• P. 83 – I don’t really understand what happened in these last few pages. It was really strange, but I am glad that her family did care that she was missing and that they found her again.

Super Koala Thoughts:

• p. 67 – It’s such a sad beginning, the obvious disconnect between the mothers and daughters.
• p. 71 – Her sisters don’t get real names?  They’re like the things from the Dr. Seuss book.
• p. 72 – I’m so curious as to what a mooncake tastes like.  The combination of bean paste and egg yolk doesn’t strike me as something sweet, but they’re always used as a treat in this book.
• p. 74 – The old ladies hitting each other with fans is a hilarious image.
• p. 75 – The shrimpies!
• p. 76 – Using the bird is such a sad yet ingenious way of fishing.
• p. 78 – What a horrifying event for a little girl! Or anyone.
• p. 81 – And to think, I thought the yin and yang concept was cool when I was younger.
• p. 82 – Say whaaaat.

I feel like my comments on this book are fairly boring because I like it so much.  I don’t have any complaints, I just want to keep reading it.