I just stayed up all night gripped by this book. I was convinced that if I went to sleep I would have nightmares, and just wanted to finish it and find out what happened already. For the last third of the book I had tissues ready, and couldn’t seem to stop crying. I was a mess. Maybe it was the lack of sleep, or pre-existing depression, or reading the whole book all at once. Only three other books (of many many read) have made me cry. Bridge to Terabithia when I was wee, Atonement, and The History of Love. In that order.

I was initially hesitant to read it, because right after it caught my interest I saw there was a movie coming out. And by the trailer I got the impression there was some very creepy Stranger Danger going on in it and it gave me the jibblies. Plus I was worried it would turn out like that time I was duped into reading The Notebook and wanted to drown myself in oatmeal. Cold oatmeal. Luckily my boyfriend chose for my by giving it to me for my birthday. I’m really glad I read it though. It exceeded even my lowest expectations.

It’s beautifully written, I don’t get to say that much. I think it’s trite to say but this was written in a really believable way, somehow you never second guess the science fiction elements. Plus the dialogue seems really natural and everything else is nearly lyrical. If anything I found the characters a bit too perfect, but they each had a quirk or two to balance them out. Through the main characters’ adventures in time and the literal unfolding of the story,  their character development is stark because there is a quite vivid comparison. Instead of meeting a character, and observing their growth you meet them in the middle and see how they were before and how they will be afterward.

This I think was one of the unexpected things that I liked most about the book. It set off just a tinge of philosophical thought in the back of my mind. All those what ifs about future past and present loves. Who doesn’t wonder what would have happened with a failed relationship if it had not been stopped? Sure you love someone in the present but if you had met them years earlier than you did would you have liked them the same? Would all involved parties be the same person? There was a lot of free will vs. destiny talk going on. The book was smart enough to leave it all pretty open ended, leaning more to a combination of both. It was like a really long and involved hypothetical question.

I found the ending to be very satisfying, another thing I was glad for. Based on the time travel guidelines set up on the book the story followed it’s path to it’s inevitable conclusion. Many parts of the novel relied on time travel as a literary device of sorts. Or a means by which to execute them. It’s used very nicely to foreshadow events. Because Clare’s life is chronological and Henry’s is somewhat random, he meets her for the first time years after she’s already met an older him. In this way they each know things about the other they don’t know about themselves. It also clears up the Stranger Danger creepiness of the movie trailer. Who wants their wife remembering them as the creepy naked guy in the field?

It’s all very touching, and cute at times, and devastating. Reading from the two different characters point of views was interesting and insightful, and reading their point of views from different ages was also very cute and sometimes funny. The characters also find humor in the insaneness of the situation, and it definitely adds to the aspect of feasability. I felt aged after reading it, an tired. Just plain worn out. And not just cause I didn’t sleep.

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