A Review of 'The Time Traveler's Wife' by Audrey Niffenegger

"A most untraditional love story, this is the celebrated tale of Henry DeTamble, a dashing, adventuresome librarian who involuntarily travels through time, and Clare Abshire, an artist whose life takes a natural sequential course.  Henry and Clare's passionate affair endures across a sea of time and captures them in an impossibly romantic trap that tests the strength of fate and basks in the bonds of love."

I truly love a good romance novel!  'The Time Traveler's Wife,' while it shares most qualities that any given romance novel has, is just too beautiful to ignore or set aside.  It deals with a man (Henry) that desperately wants to be "there" all the time, but in sad fact, he can't be.  Without having read the book or seeing the movie, I might have thought about how cool it would be to be in love with a time traveler.  The only thing is, I would still be thinking along the lines of control and time machines.

I was really worried about the novel being as difficult to keep up with as the movie was.  I shouldn't have worried though.  Ms. Niffenegger is such an intelligent and talented writer that she made it work, making sure to let the readers know Clare's age, Henry's age, and the date (day, month, and year).

I was really neat to watch Clare and then Alba grow up) and even Henry a bit, whenever older Henry ran into his eight-year-old self while time traveling.  Towards the beginning, Henry seemed to follow Clare's life in a roughly chronological order, jumping forward, then back, then forward again.

Almost anything that could have gone wrong was avoided and anything that wasn't was very minor.  Ms.  Niffenegger did a fabulous job writing a touching yet tragic novel that I will surely reread in my future.

I just had some thoughts that I'm wondering if anyone would be willing to discuss with me: If Alba was part of Henry's fate (which is a huge motif in this novel) why is it that she never appeared in Henry's past until the end of the novel?  She exists somewhere in time, so why didn't Henry acknowledge that there was a little girl that kept appearing in his life?

This novel is romantic and tragic; heartwarming and heart-wrenching.  If you are one of those people that cries while reading a sad book, keep a box of tissues by your bedside/arm chair.

I give 'The Time Traveler's Wife':

Thanks for Reading!

--Jude

A Review of 'The Fault in Our Stars' by John Green

"Despite the tumor-shrinking medical miracle that has bought her a few years, Hazel has never been anything but terminal, her final chapter inscribed upon diagnosis.  But when a gorgeous plot twist named Augustus Waters suddenly appears at Cancer Kid Support Group, Hazel's story is about to be completely rewritten.


Insightful, bold, irreverent, and raw, 'The Fault in Our Stars' is award-winning-author John Green's most ambitious and heartbreaking work yet, brilliantly exploring the funny, thrilling, and tragic business of being alive and in love."

Like many Nerdfighters around the world, I was doing a happy dance the day this book came out.  Not two or three days later, I received my copy and devoured it as fast as I could while simultaneously juggling health and everything else (I finished forever, by the way!).  I'm going to try and go forth with this review as spoiler free as possible, because it's my understanding that the book hasn't been released in other countries just yet.

One thing I absolutely love about John Green's writing is the characters.  They're always so intelligent and humorous and people that you would love to be friends with in real life.  Hazel, Gus, and Isaac are no exception to this trend.  Gus is basically my fictional boyfriend.  He's absolutely perfect-- he's not a pervert that wants to get in everyone's pants.  Despite his situation (ooh vague statements...) he's surprisingly upbeat.

"The Fault in Our Stars" was the first book I've ever cried during.  Sure, there are a number of sad books that I have read, but none have moved me in such a way that real tears came to my eyes.  It was the heartbreaking lines that did it, mostly.  I desperately wish I could tell you which ones, but I don't want to spoil it and I feel like those lines would do just that.  Those lines and scenes were just beautiful in the worst way possible (if that makes any sense at all).

It's always really special when you feel like you know the author personally-- as a friend.  I've watched The Vlogbrothers on YouTube for some time now and through those videos, I've gotten to know both Hank and John Green a little.  I feel proud when either of them are mentioned for the great things they do.  It's like feeling pride in an IRL friend.

"The Fault in Our Stars" is a beautifully written stand-alone novel that teens and adults alike can read and fall in love with.

I give "The Fault in Ours Stars":

Thanks for Reading!

--Jude

P.S. It's so exciting having a book signed by one of your favorite authors!

A Review of 'Going Bovine' by Libba Bray

"All sixteen-year-old Cameron wants is to get through high school-- and life in general-- with a minimum amount of effort.  But that's before he's given some bad news: he's going to die.

Hope arrives in the winged form of Dulcie, a loopy punk angel/possible hallucination with a bad sugar habit.  She tells Cam there is a cure-- if he's willing to go in search of it.  With the help of Gonzo, a death-obsessed, video-gaming dwarf, and a yard gnome who just might be the Viking god Balder, Cam sets off on the mother of all road trips through a twisted America... into the heart of what matters most."

Holy cow (no pun intended).  What an interesting read.

First of all, Libba Bray has such an interesting cast of characters ranging from Cameron who has very eclectic taste in music and spends all of his time in the local record store searching for more of that off-the-wall music, to Gonzo who's afraid of dying of the silliest of things (the germs that can surely be found in the sketchiest of motels, among a laundry list of others), to Dulcie who turns up in the story whenever she darn well feels like it with little hints and feathers to throw Cameron's way, to Balder... for god's sake, he's a talking yard gnome?  Need I say more?

The setting tends to move around a lot, which is appropriate, because most of this book is a road trip (I love those kinds of novels!).  They go to some very interesting places that I personally never expected.  They go to a party house where several T.V. shows are being filmed at once, they go to New Orleans (which I was more than excited to read about because I've visited the city once before-- maybe I'll make it twice next year if Fate treats me right) where there is a jazz festival going on, and they travel to Disney World (where dreams come true!).  It's really cool and it's a good way to keep a reader on their toes.

I liked the imagery at the end of the book.  I felt like it pulled the entire book together and brought a bigger feeling of sentimentality to the book as a whole.  But I won't go into any more detail than that.  Here at "...It's Like a Whirlwind Inside of my Head..." we like to give away details, but never the ending.  And by "we" I mean me.

The one annoying thing that really started nagging at me closer to the end of the book was you kept losing track of what was real and what was being dreamt, if any of those things actually occurred at all.  And Libba Bray was definitely doing it on purpose, and I know this because of the line she gave Dulcie at the very end.  Writers... making everything so complicated...

Nevertheless, I give "Going Bovine":

Thanks so much for reading!

--Jude