ANA Book Club?

[msmaggie]

I said early on that the time lines confused me greatly.  I tried to just concentrate on the people and their relationships.  Guess I'm as blonde as some of the others!  It was well written and I got wrapped up in the story, but gave up sometimes on where he was at any given time or how old he was at those times.  Give me a good murder mystery and I can hold my own.

Anyone else read People of the Book?

Priscilla

[sgerrard]

I thought for a minute that maybe a pre-frostbite 43-year-old Henry time traveled back to 1986 just after the slightly older amputee Henry was shot and disappeared

I think you have it correct. Henry from before Sep 25, 2006, but still 43, travels back to Oct 27, 1984, the same point in time that Frostbitten Henry from Dec 31, 2006 travels back to. Frostbitten Henry gets shot and calls out "Clare, Clare" just before he disappears. Pre-frostbite Henry sees Clare and signals her to stay quiet about hearing her name. He is also seen by Mark and Philip, who later wonder why Clare's new beau looks familiar.

It is unusual to have two time-traveling Henrys visit the same spot at the same time, but no more impossible than having one. Although it is not explicitly stated, It is about mid July 2006 that Henry decides to have Kendrick help Alba, since "he is done," suggesting this is when he goes back as pre-frostbite Henry and sees how he will end.

Clare, of course, was there in real life in 1984 when it happened. I think Henry somehow willed himself to travel back from 2006 to the event, so that Clare would see him there, and not later realize that she had witnessed the death of her future husband at the age of 13.

Steve

[Kaybo]

OK...here's another thing that I didn't get...Henry says that he never knows when he is going to time travel - maybe brought on by stress or visual stimulation...how then is able to give Clare exact dates when he will appear??

[saralynn143]

Clare kept a diary of dates when he appeared, which he then memorized. Same with the lotto numbers. He has to memorize because he can't take anything with him.

I found it strange that he was steadfast in not telling a younger Henry what takes place in the future, but had no compunction about telling Clare that she would marry him someday.

Sara

[saralynn143]

OK inbetween writing that and posting, I realized that memorizing and going back to the past would not work. He does not take memories back in time that he has not experienced yet. Unless he went further back and told a younger Henry who could carry the memories forward. Which he refuses to do. Hmmm.

Sara

[Kaybo]

I thought Clare had the dates so that she knew when to come to the meadow...

[saralynn143]

Right. It's kind of a circle. He had her keep a diary of the dates, then he memorized it in the future and told her when the dates would be. I think one reason was that he wanted her to be prepared with clothes and food and such.

Sara

[saralynn143]

I think Henry somehow willed himself to travel back from 2006 to the event, so that Clare would see him there, and not later realize that she had witnessed the death of her future husband at the age of 13.

Steve

Henry tells Clare at one point that he cannot control time travel. Later on he wonders whether Alba can, though.

Speaking of which, we never hear about Alba after she is ten or eleven or so. She is not even mentioned at the end when Clare is 82. Maybe the author is planning a sequel.

Sara

[sgerrard]

Sara, I agree that Henry couldn't control his time travel. I guess I meant that it seemed like maybe sub-consciously he made it happen, or by really wanting it to happen. It isn't essential to the story, though. I just like the idea that maybe for really important things he could influence it a little bit.

The list of dates is actually the classic example of a time travel paradox, and the author wisely avoids discussing it, other than Clare saying "it seems like a Mobius strip." In chronological time, she writes down the dates in a book at the age of six as Henry recites them, meets Henry on all those occasions, then hands the list to Henry when she meets him in real time. He memorizes it, and later travels back in time and tells them to Clare at the age of six. Once it is in place, it works, but there is no good way to get that circle started.

I think he felt he needed to tell Clare about getting married one day, since he was going to be visiting her a lot between the ages of six and eighteen. She needed to know what was going on.

Steve

[Sue]

I see that this is a movie coming out in August.  I hope it's good.  If anyone is interested, please read Kindred by Octavia E. Butler.  I only read it a few years ago, but it is a sci-fi classic.  It is easy to understand, not complicated in the time travel sequences and very touching and moving as a modern African American woman is transported back to a time when she is considered property in the old south. 

Sue in Vancouver, USA

[saralynn143]

Sara, I agree that Henry couldn't control his time travel. I guess I meant that it seemed like maybe sub-consciously he made it happen, or by really wanting it to happen. It isn't essential to the story, though. I just like the idea that maybe for really important things he could influence it a little bit.

I thought it seemed that way as well when a future Henry showed up on his wedding day to preclude a fiasco when present-day Henry disappeared. But he explicitly said, and more than once, that he absolutely could not control it. So it seems as though serendipity is as critical as determinism.

Sue, I think the potential is there for a good movie, but I think it's going to need to be streamlined from the novel.

Sara

[Sue]

Just like the Harry Potter movies.  They take out 3/4 of the book and pare it down to it's core story line.  Which is okay, but the richness of JK Rowling's details are missing.  I'd like to see the new movie, but I always go in knowing it's another version of the real thing. 

I'll have to get this book, because it sounds interesting.  The one you guys are reading.

Sue in Vancouver, USA

[cindyj]

You guys are having a great discussion about Henry and Clare.  It's been a number of books back for me, so I can't remember all the details, but have enjoyed seeing all of your thoughts about it.  I did enjoy it - love the idea of time travel (do y'all remember Somewhere In Time...ahhhh).

Cindy

[Keri]

Yes, after reading some of the things Sara and Steve and others have said, more makes sense.
I enjoyed the book; it was entertaining, not boring or anything. However, it gave me a vague uneasy feeling. I'm not sure why; can't figure it out. It doesn't have to do with the fact that it's kind of sad, it's just... I don't know.

[sgerrard]

I would like to know what you think of the rest of the book - that is, setting aside the time travel. Do you buy that a six year old girl might accept that a 43 year old man is her future husband, and go along with it? What do you make of the relationship between Clare and Henry, and why did she fall in love with him? Was it just because he was a cool time traveler? Is Henry a good guy?

Steve