TTW-Discussion pg102/107- 269

[kah]

Ok, I admit, I am really bad. I sailed past 200, then 250, and I am actually around 400 right now, so I need to do a little backtracking. I just wanted to put out a thread for this section, so here it is. I'll be back to comment later.

[Strider]

I'm not sure where you ended this section. I am long past it since I finished the book on Friday. :D

[kah]

I've been moving pretty slow because I've only been reading about an hour or two here and there.

269 is the last page of the first "book." Clare and Henry are now married.

I love how this book is written in the tone of a real life, not flowery and romantic, where tragedy is just another stepping stone to something wonderful. I appreciate that even though Henry and Clare know way more than they should about their lives, the future is still a mystery to them.

It would've been nice the first time I ran into my bf's ex to have his future self pop in to tell me everything is kosher. Amazing that he remembers all those dates so well.

[Kaeos]

I've been moving pretty slow because I've only been reading about an hour or two here and there.

I have to admit, this really is a quick read. i am shocked to see that as of last night I am on page 212 - Home Is Anywhere You Hang Your Head

It would've been nice the first time I ran into my bf's ex to have his future self pop in to tell me everything is kosher.

I kinda liked when he pops out of Christmas Mass to find himself in his apartment 4 days in the future and tells himself to relax he'll be back in a few minutes and everything is fine. Kinda handy.

[Al-Dog]

Also, it's kind of cool being able to see concerts and events that you missed the first time.

On the other hand it's got to suck having to witness your mothers death over and over.

[Strider]

On the other hand it's got to suck having to witness your mothers death over and over.

Yeah, that would suck, but it seems like it was included in the story as an afterthought. It might have been nice to get a little more detail on that aspect of the story. It's one thing for a character to say, "I see my mother's death over and over." It's another for us to actually "see" it or experience it through the eyes of the character. It think it was a missed opportunity.

I also think that there wasn't enough of the danger of time travel shown in the book. Clare worries about Henry when he's gone, and Henry has to learn lockpicking skills etc to survive. However, we don't really see this in use very much throughout the book. It ony comes into the story a few times where we get to witness it.

As much as I enjoyed the book, I think there were plenty of places the story could have been improved just by showing us incidents rather than mentioning them.

As an example, would the episode with the high school jock getting beat up by Henry have been nearly as powerful if all we heard about it was Clare mentioning it in conversation?

To me, the book starts off very well, but steadily loses focus as it moves along. It almost becomes a person telling us the story after the fact rather than letting us come along for the ride.

[kah]

He does describe his mother's death, in horrifying detail, between pgs 107-114. I personally don't need him to keep repeating that.

It strikes me that in the earlier episodes, Clare is having this great time having Henry pop in according to the dates on a list. She doesn't see anything wrong with what is happening to him.

[kah]

I have to admit, this really is a quick read. i am shocked to see that as of last night I am on page 212 - Home Is Anywhere You Hang Your Head



I kinda liked when he pops out of Christmas Mass to find himself in his apartment 4 days in the future and tells himself to relax he'll be back in a few minutes and everything is fine. Kinda handy.

Yeah, or filling in as himself at his wedding. It's interesting to read this kind of perspective, since all the time travel stories previous have warned of destroying the space time continuum. Here, it's treated as a non-issue, where Henry often interacts with himself, even to teaching himself things he knows already in the future. Couldn't leave that to fate, now could you Henry?

[Strider]

He does describe his mother's death, in horrifying detail, between pgs 107-114. I personally don't need him to keep repeating that.

It strikes me that in the earlier episodes, Clare is having this great time having Henry pop in according to the dates on a list. She doesn't see anything wrong with what is happening to him.

That's exactly my point. He describes it. Sure it's a vivid description, but I would rather have seen it presented as an event, not a conversation with Clare. This way, you could go to it two or three times before all the information is presented, AND it could be shown from Henry's different perspectives in both age and role in the event. Instead of giving us all the information at once in a conversation, it could have been presented much more powerfully.

This is just one example. What is there is still good, but I think it could have been much more powerful if presented differently. There are several times in the book where major things almost seem to be nonevents, even though the characters talk about them as being traumatic, emotional, or important. It would have worked better to show us these major events so that wee can see why they are important rather than having a character thell us that something was important.

[kah]

Most of the stuff that we see as an experience and not an explanation are situations from his meeting with Clare in 1990 and forward. I don't think I would want to read a child's POV relating his mother's decapitation. I prefer to be part of his grief at the bar, where even 19 years later, he is still traumatized.

[neglet]

There are several times in the book where major things almost seem to be nonevents, even though the characters talk about them as being traumatic, emotional, or important. It would have worked better to show us these major events so that wee can see why they are important rather than having a character tell us that something was important.

But I wonder if this is really showing us how life is for Henry. Sure, the actual experience of his mother's would be traumatic and powerful, but for Henry he's seen it dozens of times, from different angles. In order for him not to be overwhelmed each time, he has to distance himself from the event. For Henry, he doesn't just experience his own life, he is also a witness to it. For some events, he is an observer more frequently than he is a participant.

Henry's time-traveling seems to bring a duality to his character. On the one hand, he often focuses on being in the moment, experiencing something passionately; on the other, he is distant and removed from his life, especially the more traumatic events, because too often he's been an observer who can't change things. So while it may not be as powerful for Henry to "tell" events rather than show them, it may be more true to what the life of a time traveler is like.

I liked this section of the book, exploring how the future/past experiences affect the here and now, and how those effects are different for Henry and Clare. Plus the romance seems really intense, but there's that hint of tragedy ahead to keep things from getting too mushy.