I bashfully admit that I read this book because I saw the previews for the movie, which made it out to be a completely sappy doomed romance. I am a huge sucker for a completely sappy doomed romance.

In terms of a completely sappy doomed romance, this was a very successful book. I was emotionally drawn into it and found it sad and poignant at the end.

I was also impressed by the structure, with the interweaving narratives back and forth across time, with different characters knowing different things at different times. That is a hard writing problem, and the author has done a terrific job at building and drawing out the story in a non-linear way. Some really nice work here.

On the other hand, there's also a lot of overwrought melodrama in the writing. And I think the author was a lot more impressed with Henry as a character than with Claire. Claire doesn't seem to have a lot of ambition or much of a personality at all other than being with Henry. Her character is completely subsumed by being with Henry. The supporting characters were very thin indeed, and the attempt to explain Henry's time travelling as a serious genetic anomaly was laughable.

Yeah, the more I think about it the less it holds together, so probably I should stop thinking about it. It was a good way to spend a lazy weekend on the couch.