Is Clare, ('The Time Traveler's Wife') "tone-deaf", insensitive, or just plain stupid?

Submitted by ModeMex t3_zmkdg5 in books

Note: I read the book many years ago, so my recollection is sometimes blurry. Also, I hated this book to the point that I stopped reading "leisure" books for many years; so keep in mind that I'm not a fan.

After Henry lost his feet, Clare - the ever so "artistic" person that she is - made Henry "wings" since he could no longer walk.

Wings! made out of paper-mache (I think?) that she painted red and handed from the ceiling of her art studio, all under the guise of cheering him up by telling him that, and I'm paraphrasing, "since he could no longer walk, she made him wings." Since it's fiction, and Henry is a love-struck fool who didn't heed the warning of his father-in-law, he appreciated it (and I think he even cried).

However, I doubt that that would work in the real world for a normal person.

Imagine if you lost your feet, could no longer walk, had to use a wheelchair, and your arts-major spouse made you "wings." I'm sure I would throw the work "fuck" at some point in whatever sentence manages to come out of my mind after the shock.

Is she tone-deaf, insensitive, or just plain stupid?

Quite honestly, I am convinced that she is a selfish b-word who only cares about herself; especially after sleeping with her best-friend's husband twice and not feeling any remorse at all.

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[deleted] t1_j0bsr4y wrote

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MajorBedhead t1_j0bw0u8 wrote

Because sometimes a book gets so much praise and you read it and hate it and then you start to wonder if you’re the crazy one or of other people disliked it, too, so you ask. It is possible to violently hate one book while still enjoying a multitude of others.

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ViniVidiVelcro t1_j0ciu51 wrote

And you wonder this for years and years like the OP instead of just moving on? The OP also admitted that this book stopped them from leisure reading for years? So, yes, the hatred of this book did indeed stop them from enjoying a multitude of others based on the words of the OP.

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[deleted] t1_j0bvko3 wrote

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[deleted] t1_j0cjq3g wrote

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[deleted] t1_j0ckw5u wrote

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sisharil t1_j0cdj69 wrote

Well, she was groomed by this dude since childhood so idk, I'll give her a bit of a pass.

Man, that book is so damn creepy.

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ModeMex OP t1_j0cf0t1 wrote

Oh, it was definitely creepy.

He was 40+ years old (while time traveling), and she was 18 years old when they did-the-deed. She was a virgin back then and she had "waited" for him to be her first once she turned legal age.

On the feet and wings part, I guess she gets a pass. However in general, she is still an awful person.

Her "bestfriend" was out taking her children and Clair's daughter out (for ice-cream I think), and she had sex with her "bestfriend's" husband in the dining table; a table that had cheerios that the kids (including hers) were eating and of which she had to later pick off of her hair in the bathroom. She showed no remorse for that, and it was also not the first time she did it with her "bestfriend's" significant other; same guy, but as boyfriend.

Note: The guy was equally awful, but he was not the main character. Funny enough, they first time they had sex with each other, Clare found it off-putting that the guy showed "no guilt" at having slept with his girlfriend's best friend. The ovaries of that woman..

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sisharil t1_j0cfdcc wrote

>Her "bestfriend" was out taking her children and Clair's daughter out (for ice-cream I think), and she had sex with her "bestfriend's" husband in the dining table; a table that had cheerios that the kids (including hers) were eating and of which she had to later pick off of her hair in the bathroom. She showed no remorse for that, and it was also not the first time she did it with her "bestfriend's" significant other; same guy, but as boyfriend.

I... don't remember this part at all. But also, isn't the biggest scumbag in that situation the significant other?

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ModeMex OP t1_j0cfsro wrote

Oh, I actually edited an added part speaking about that. I'll add it here as well:

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>The guy was equally awful, but he was not the main character. Funny enough, they first time they had sex with each other, Clare found it off-putting that the guy showed "no guilt" at having slept with his girlfriend's best friend. The ovaries of that woman..

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sisharil t1_j0cfy82 wrote

When the heck did this happen? It's been a long time since I read the book, but I don't remember Clare having a notable best friend or ever cheating on time traveller dude.

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ModeMex OP t1_j0cgkxa wrote

That scene was after Henry died. Gomez and her "bestfriend" had Clair's daughter over for a sleepover. Clair was picking her up and was greeted by Gomez.

Gomez had been in "love" with Clare while dating his then girlfriend, and they had sex before Clare met "current time Henry." That was the first time.

The second time was after Henry died. She actually moaned Henry's name after she had sex with Gomez on the dining room table. Then she volted to the bathroom because her "bestfriend" was arriving with the kids.

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sisharil t1_j0cgzae wrote

Huh. I have literally no memory of that.

Most of what I remember is the creepy grooming stuff, the scene where Time Traveller dude threatens a teenager who had been too aggressive in pursuit of also-then-teenage-Clare and compares Clare's sex appeal to "being a kitten that doesn't know the sharpness of its claws" or smth, the magical daughter who controls her time travel abilities, and the scene where Time Traveller Dude's ex kills herself in front of him.

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ModeMex OP t1_j0chu1o wrote

>Traveller dude threatens a teenager who had been too aggressive in pursuit of also-then-teenage-Clare and compares Clare's sex appeal to "being a kitten that doesn't know the sharpness of its claws" or smth,

I don't remember that part, but I remember the rest of what you mentioned.

Clair's "bestfriend" and Gomez were a constant presence in their lives (they even had kids - three if I remember correctly). Gomez actually referred Henry to a fertility specialist doctor after he and Clare were going through so many miscarriages. In a way, he was a "male friend" of Henry's.

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Opus-the-Penguin t1_j0bzh8v wrote

Clare isn't real. She's a projection of Henry (who's probably in a loony bin somewhere). What else could explain why she and Henry have the exact same writing style

Wait, maybe she's real and Henry's the projection! Yeah, now that I consider it, that makes more sense. And it answers your question. Clare made up a man who would like the "I made you wings" gag.

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ModeMex OP t1_j0c0w06 wrote

>Clare made up a man who would like the "I made you wings" gag.

Despite the fact that this is a joke, you gave me an answer that is believable.

I just can't imagine the kind of person that sees their spouse depressed, because they lost their feet to hypothermia, and think along the lines of "I know! I'll use my art to make him wings! He will still be stuck in that wheelchair, but I'm sure he'll love the gesture!"

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MajorBedhead t1_j0bk4iw wrote

Yes. All three. I loathed that book. I've never understood the adulation it got. I hated Clare, I thought she was awful. I thought Henry was an idiot. And some of the scenes were questionable at best, downright creepy at worst.

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ModeMex OP t1_j0bopqs wrote

I'm glad I'm not the only one with this opinion.

That book literally made me "rage quit" leisure reading from how awful it was.

The movie was bad, and the tv series (from the changes I heard were made) is provably worse.

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Orbeef t1_j0d4vhx wrote

Op, you're not alone. I hated every second of this book and I hated Clare and Henry.

You forgot pretentious.

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ModeMex OP t1_j0ed6hj wrote

>You forgot pretentious.

True, very true.

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