ISBN: 015602943X
ISBN-13: 9780156029438
ISBN-13: 9780156029438
Grade: F
Will someone please explain to me what all the hype is about this book? I don't get it at all. Why everyone says 'oh it's soooooooooooooo good, you have to read it, you'll love it' is totally beyond me. I was ready to pull the bookmark after 50 pages. The first 100 pages are like running through a tar pit...drivel. Get to the damn point already Audrey Niffen-whatever! The enormity of the drivel in the beginning made the plot kinda hard to follow. I kept having to flip back pages to remember what ages Henry was supposed to be and where in time the scene was taking place. When books like this get hyped, I assume the vast majority of the people who have read it have the attention span of a flea with ADD, so it really surprises me that so many people stuck this book out to the end.
I picked this book up after seeing it at Costco and thinking what a cool concept the book could be. I had no idea about the infertility mentioned...go figure I pick another book with this as a theme! Although I do have to say that the first book, The Godmother, that dealt with a character with infertility was absolutely fantastic, and She's Come Undone was also wonderful. It's a subject that hits close to home and so few authors can tackle the subject properly. This book had me chucking it across the room at times because the author has no clue what she's talking about.
To sum up my complaints about this book:
-the name dropping of punk bands...repeatedly (we get it, the author will only sleep with guys with punk credibility)
-the flatness of both lead characters, Henry and Clare
-the Henry on Henry scene (really Audrey Niffenegger? Was that really necessary?)
-the fact that Clare doesn't run screaming for her life when a naked Henry appears out of thin air in the field that she's hanging out in when she is 6!
-the minutiae of every damn detail of Henry and Clare's lives (it's called show not tell and that's something they teach in junior high English)
-the excessive details about various places in Chicago (again, we get it Audrey. You're from Chicago, you know certain areas well. We don't need street by street commentary on where the characters are going)
-the length of the book
-the lack of editing
-being able to figure out that Henry dies and how he dies a fraction into this book
That being said, the coolest part of the book and the only decent thing that Audrey Niffenegger didn't screw up was the time traveling mice. I mean how cool are time traveling mice?!
-the flatness of both lead characters, Henry and Clare
-the Henry on Henry scene (really Audrey Niffenegger? Was that really necessary?)
-the fact that Clare doesn't run screaming for her life when a naked Henry appears out of thin air in the field that she's hanging out in when she is 6!
-the minutiae of every damn detail of Henry and Clare's lives (it's called show not tell and that's something they teach in junior high English)
-the excessive details about various places in Chicago (again, we get it Audrey. You're from Chicago, you know certain areas well. We don't need street by street commentary on where the characters are going)
-the length of the book
-the lack of editing
-being able to figure out that Henry dies and how he dies a fraction into this book
That being said, the coolest part of the book and the only decent thing that Audrey Niffenegger didn't screw up was the time traveling mice. I mean how cool are time traveling mice?!
Thankfully someone requested my copy through GR swap. My bookcase breathed a sigh of relief when this one left the shelves.
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