TTW-Discussion pg 370-end

[kah]

I hate the end. I hate it. Of course, after they cut off Henry's feet, I had the strongest desire to shoot him and put him out of his misery, so I'm glad he didn't live that way for too long. However, I hate that he read his own obituary and let Clare have her whole family at their house to witness his death.

pg. 391, the use of the "c" word... Women tend to reserve use of that word to describe the most hateful, vile, offensive skank they know. They don't use it to refer to their anatomy after giving birth to their miracle baby. I hate that the word was used in that situation. It jumped out at me and glared red, screaming its misuse.

I love that Alba has given Richard another lease on life.

I like that Gomez was a good friend to Henry even if he was always in love with Clare. I HATE that Clare let him manhandle her after Henry's death, and that Gomez would do that on the table where his children and wife eat cereal. I hate that Charisse always knew Gomez was in love with Clare and stayed with him all those years anyways, second best.

What a cruel joke, that Clare got to see Henry so many times during her youth, but only once after his death. She started seeing him at 6 years old. She actually got to date him, and be a part of his life at 20. She married him at 22. He dies when she is 35. It hardly seems fair to lose the love of your life before you even hit middle age. I know, I know, life isn't fair, but this is a goddamned book. I hate wondering if she continued to pine and suffer until Henry came to see her at 82. I bet she did, and that's the most horrifying part of all this. It is amazing that she got to spend all those years with her soulmate, but when that time ends, a new chapter is supposed to begin. How wasteful to throw away the rest of your life waiting to join your soulmate in the hereafter.

[neglet]

Yeah, Clare does seem to be wastefully self-pitying at the end of the book--but then she'd been conditioned since childhood to believe in a single soulmate. That gives the whole thing an extra air of tragedy.

I found Henry's end somewhat comforting. To know the exact moment of your death, and to surround yourself with and say goodbye to all your loved ones before that moment? Sounds better than being unexpectedly decapitated in a car accident.

I wish we'd had a little more coda on Alba--does she, in fact, choose to try treatment when she turns 18? We don't find out, and I would've like to see that explored a bit. But the focus of the book is on Clare and Henry, so that's something that's left to our imagination.

Overall, though, I enjoyed the book. I thought its one major flaw was that often I couldn't distinguish between Clare's voice and Henry's voice--I'd be reading a section thinking it was one of them, then realize (after looking it up) that it was the other. Despite this, I liked (if not admired) both of the characters, and found the exploration of the time travel idea really really interesting.

[kah]

Maybe there'll be a Time Traveller's Daughter, and we will get to read all about Alba.

I suppose it would've been comforting for Henry to die surrounded by his loved ones. I doubt it was more comforting for Clare, though, and that should've been his main concern. I don't like the fact that Henry could tell Ben he'd be alive in 10 years, yet didn't tell Clare that he knew he was dying until minutes before. That seems like the coward's way to me.

I can empathize with self-pity in the face of tragic loss, but not when it lasts for 50 years. The way the end is written, it seems as if Clare has been holding on only to see Henry that one time in her dotage. Personally, I would've liked the book to continue and give us more of Clare's future, rather than the wallowing for a few years before her brief moment of happiness much later. How about a positive message of some sort? You can be happy and live a full life, even if you lose your soulmate? That whole "better to have loved and lost" crap even? Something? I don't mind sad endings if they serve a purpose, but I just keep thinking "lambs to slaughter." That's what the ending brings out for me, and it pisses me off. They follow the path of the future Henry knows to be true, and they don't even try to fight it.