ANA Book Club?

[Kaybo]

I liked the story, but I am with Keri...something just didn't sit right with me.  i think it may be because I just don't get into all that time travel stuff and I didn't understand it - I hate things that make me feel stupid when i know I am not!

Steve~
I almost think that Clare could buy into that she would marry him - I think that we all have "older" people that are in our lives that we kind of have crushes on = in her case, he kept coming back and as she got older and understood more - she did get that he could realistically could be hers and within an age range that she could attain.  i wonder about her continued feelings though when so many people warned her that he was bad news...
K

[saralynn143]

I had some thoughts about this that I originally wasn't sure I was going to share, but since the question has come up . . .

Sure Henry was a cool time-traveling guy. However, as a mom I have to say that I found it somewhat creepy that a 40-year old man, naked no less, was initiating a relationship with a 6-year-old girl and telling her everything was OK because they were going to be married in the future. I know that Henry did not consummate their relationship until Clare was 18, but it almost seemed like he was grooming her for that. (It's "our little secret," more or less.) It seemed to me that all of Henry's talk about determinism robbed Clare of her self-will. I mean, if she is going to be his wife and there is nothing that can change that, it easily follows that she must be in love with him. And yes, Clare did seduce Henry, but Henry could have continued to be the adult and resisted until they met in real time.

Now on the other hand, I also could not understand why Clare was so obsessed with having Henry's baby. She saw how badly time travel could turn out for Henry. Why would she risk that happening to her child? I also did not understand why Henry bothered having a vasectomy. He already knew that Alba was going to be born, so how could he think that a vasectomy would stop that?

Kay, I also found it interesting that Clare disregarded multiple warnings about Henry. But since she "knew" him from a little girl, it was easier to dismiss them.

Sara

[CHD63]

Maybe this is a matter of the reader's gender ......  I, also, had the initial reaction of dismay over the female child vs. male adult start to the whole thing.  However, when the relationship was not sexual (during Clare's young ages), I was able to put that aside and became intrigued with the many different ways the two of them interacted in the course of Henry's time traveling ...... sort of like a big maze of time and ages.

Clarice

[saralynn143]

So I was just wondering, did anyone else catch the foreshadowing when Clare remarked on how thick the skin on Henry's feet was, and he said "You might as well shoot me if anything happens to my feet."?

Sara

[Kaybo]

oHHHH...I didn't think about that...I just figured that they had toughened up b/c he said that shoes were the hardest things to find...

K

[saralynn143]

I think that's exactly why his feet were so thick, Kay.

When he made the comment about shooting him if anything ever happens to his feet, I figured that he would be shot someday. I almost figured out that Mark and Phil had shot him in 1984 except that Henry was standing there motioning Clare to be quiet. I didn't think there would have been two time-traveling Henrys because that did not happen any other time in the novel.

I can't figure out why Mark and Phil didn't shoot the other naked Henry who suddenly appeared in their field. I don't have the book so that I can look back. Did that Henry disappear suddenly as well?

Sara

[sgerrard]

As Henry describes it, he is wearing a black wool overcoat and boots and gloves (and it is a date that is not on the List). So Mark and Philip are puzzled by him, or at least Mark is, but not inclined to shoot him. I don't think they shot frostbite-Henry thinking he was a naked human, but rather thinking he was a wolf or deer or some other such animal. He was around long enough to wave to Clare as they went back in the house afterwards, and then to sit and contemplate the blood stain on the ground, realizing that somewhere sometime he is dying.

I did not put two and two together at the time that Henry made the remark about his feet, however. I just understood that his feet were important to him.

Now on to Henry and Clare. From Henry's point of view, he never visits Clare in the past until after they have met in the library! Some woman in a library takes an interest in him, and hands him a book saying "you are going to visit me in my past." He realizes that he must end up visiting her in the past, so he goes along with it. His first time with Clare is their first date in real time; the visit with her when she is 18 comes later. And although he has memorized the dates so he can tell Clare what to write down, he doesn't arrange to visit her, he just ends up there from time to time. All of it happens to him after they meet in the library,and he is just visiting his girlfriend/wife in her past.

Steve

[saralynn143]

I'm at a disadvantage not being able to look back. I did not remember that Henry had an overcoat but that would make sense or Mark and Philip really would have been freaked out at the Christmas dinner.

I agree that frostbite Henry (what a name we have come up with!) was mistaken for an animal as he thrashed about in the grass. It seemed to me that Mark and Philip could not figure out where the animal could have gone. The bloodstain was there, but no animal and no track marks. Still, Mark and Philip must have wondered where the other Henry came from as well.

You are also right that for Henry, the episode with an 18-year-old Clare comes later in his life, but for her it was still before she met Henry in real time. And by the time he visited 18-year-old Clare he already had a daughter of his own. The story still would have worked if he had resisted the seduction. Just one less sex scene.

Sara

[Keri]

Sara,
For someone who doesn't have the book any more you have a great memory! I've gotten a lot out of what you and Steve have shared. I didn't even think of that stuff when I read it (the feet thing, etc).
I think some of my 'creepiness' with the book was when I realized the details of the shooting (that made more sense after Steve posted on it). Also, the way his mom died. That was just too sad. And I get queasy when there's a lot of blood (maybe I shouldn't see the movie)!
I'd say I'd send you the book because I probably won't read it or refer to it again. But the way I procrastinate,I probably wouldn't get it in the mail until we've started the next book!
Keri

[Kaybo]

I just didn't "get" a lot of it and didn't have the time or energy to have to think about it!  It is hard to read something like that - a subject that you just don't get - when you only get to read for little snippets - like waiting outside gymnastics and at stoplights or at the pool between looking up & finding that 3-4 kiddos are safe!! 

K

[CHD63]

Well, I do not have any good excuses like Keri or K, but I still did not get all of the fine nuances that Sara and Steve did.  I still struggle with eye strain when reading for long periods so by necessity I had to break up my reading of the book ...... which may account for some of my inability to completely follow where Henry was (in relation to Clare's age) at any given time.

I did enjoy reading the book but more from fascination with how the author wove it all together than to analyze all of the time aspects and how they fit together.

I, too, am enjoying reading Sara's and Steve's comments ..... a lot more of the story line (if you can call it that!) is coming together with their explanations!  Thanks!!

Clarice

[saralynn143]

I realize that a lot of my comments have been negative, so I'm going to make a post on what I found most interesting -- time travel as a genetic condition rather than use of a sci-fi device. That is a fascinating concept and overall I think the author did a good job of making it seem random and uncontrollable, and of coordinating all of the events.

The only time I thought "well, isn't that convenient?" was when a future Henry dropped in on his wedding day just in time to stand in for himself, and even more convenient that current Henry had decided to cut his hair so that it wasn't so obvious a change in look between current and future Henrys.

Sara

[saralynn143]

We're about to drop off the first page. Does anyone have any more comments or questions?

I have a question on characters . . . who did you most like or dislike? I liked Kimy most (although it really bugged me the way it was spelled) and Gomez the least. I thought he was just a sleazy character and I did not understand what Charisse saw in him.

Sara

[sgerrard]

I liked Henry - scrappy and resourceful, and a good heart.  He reminded me of an old friend in college named Frank, who he now resembles in my mind.

Clare too, although I picture her sitting at her window for 40 years with a wistful gaze, until Henry finally makes his last visit. Mrs. Kim, yes; Gomez, not so much; Ingrid I thought was both weird and tragic.

I liked it; how about you?

Steve

[Kaybo]

Loved Kimy, didn't like Gomez, felt sorry for Henry's dad and then glad he rebounded after he was needed as a "Grandfather"...

K