Ashleigh

I would definitely recommend this book, and especially this particular audiobook because Claire Danes does a wonderful performance.

I feel this story is meant to be listened to rather than read. If you've read the book before, you might know what I mean.

The end of the book blew my mind. I don't know that I had a favourite scene per se, but few endings have made me reconsider the entire book the way this ending did.

Clearly, the titular character. Despite spending the whole story with her, there's so much about her we never learn.

The story is thought-provoking, and stuck with me for weeks after I had finished listening to it. This version of the story goes much deeper into the implications of Henry's time travelling than the movie. Reflecting on the movie, it feels like it's playing in fast forward compared to the book.

Henry is my favourite character because he's imperfect but does the best he can with the broken life he is given. On the other hand, I found Clare's unfailing goodness and her unshakable dedication to him rather frustrating. I found myself wanting her to do something he wouldn't approve of.

I thought at first that having two people narrate the story would be jarring, but it ended up bringing the story to life. They did a great job, though sometimes Berman's female voices sounded a little forced.

I would definitely love to pick Henry's brain. His experience and knowledge of time travel would be a fascinating conversation.

I might have preferred to read this story than listen to it because I'm not familiar with Japanese names. There are more than 42 characters in this book, and it was hard to keep track of them all. Though, I believe the author knew that it's hard to keep track of 42 characters, so they're also numbered (e.g. "so-and-so, female student number 11").

My favourite people are probably the "good guys" that we spend a fair amount of time with -- like Shuya, Shogo, Noriko, Shinji, and Hiroki -- but I also liked some of the "bad guys" like Mitsuko and Kazuo. All the characters were really fleshed out and seem like real people to me.

I decided to watch the movie because the book was so amazing, but it's one of those situations where they didn't do a very good job transferring the story. If you know anyone who likes the movie, encourage them to read the book, it's much better. And if you've read the book, maybe don't watch the movie. You'll just find yourself saying or thinking, "In the book..." throughout the movie.