Wednesday, August 26, 2009

My Take on Time Travelers...

Okay, I'm curious. What's the big deal with The Time Travelers Wife?
As a writer, the most important question we ask is, "What if?"
I do it a lot. And I consider myself a fairly artistic person, open to new ideas.
That said, I tried to read the book last summer. Couldn't.
I kept having to flip back to see what was going on, wondering if I'd missed a chapter or something.
So I didn't finish it. I thought they should have called it The Time Waster.
However, I realize it was on the bestsellers list for a hundred years or thereabouts.
And then comes the movie.
I know so many people raved about the book and couldn't wait for the movie to come out.
I thought maybe I'd really missed something in the book so I'd go see the movie.
I think I'm still missing something.
It just didn't make a lick of sense. I mean, I understand the concept and everything but, really?
Totally implausible. Then again, so are hobbits, wizards and vampires. I don't have a problem with them.
Hmm.
What's wrong with me? Tell me what I'm missing here. Should I try to read the book again or what?
I probably won't so don't tell me to.
I wonder if it's the hype. I've always preferred to make my own judgement calls, so when I hear a million people raving about something I'm more inclined to think it really can't be that good. Like The Shack. But that's another blog.
So clue me in, are you a Time Travelers fan? Am I just a faint majority who simply can't step out of the box of reality enough to enjoy something that simply cannot happen?
There's gotta be a support group or something...

3 comments:

Cindy R. Wilson said...

Lol. I haven't read the book or seen the movie, though I want to. My kind of genre I guess. I think when I hear a lot of good things about something, my expectations of it are higher and it takes more to impress me.

Nat said...

Well Cathy, I've never even heard of it so what does that say about me?!! lol

Unknown said...

Okay, I loved it. The book, that is. Haven't seen the movie. But then, I adore the premise of time travel. I think it's one of those things you either like or don't. And I thought the way the story was written was brilliant--an incredible puzzle where all the tiny pieces ended up fitting together so perfectly. Plus poignant and sad.

The reason I read The Time Traveler's Wife was because I'm writing a story that combines a kind of moody, women's fiction book with time travel and when I went to the last ACFW conference that I attended, this book was very popular. So I thought I could say, mine would appeal to the people who liked TTW.

Of course, every editor and agent there told me "you can't mix genres" and "you can't do that in CBA." The usual. Sigh...