Can we talk about The Time Traveler’s Wife?
Plus things make me cry
Can we talk about The Time Traveler’s Wife?
Are you watching the new TV adaptation? What do I think of it? I'm still working this one out. I know this is the most basic statement of all time but how I loved that book. I’m actually cross I didn’t sneak a re-read in before I started watching this series.
I do just have to admit, quickly, that I’m one of the few people (the one person?) who didn’t hate the 2009 film with Rachel McAdams and Eric Bana. I know, who am I? I believed in McAdams as Claire and in the love story. The TV series? The first episode was a bit all over the place but this week’s second episode redeemed things a little.
My first issue is the wigs. I just can’t take young Henry seriously in that stupid wig. Poor old Theo James looks like he’s been cast as Jesus in the school Nativity.
Then there’s the tone. It’s all wrong. So smug and quippy and irritating. (This piece articulates the problem well).
And finally, the chemistry. Er, there isn’t any...yet. The story is nothing without the sense that these people are destined to be together in the most fundamental way. In episode two, things settle down and I was absorbed by the scene with Henry and Claire in the library as he tells her about his mum. (Was the message from Henry’s mum to Claire in the book? I don’t remember it).
The ickiness of an adult man essentially grooming a young girl to be his wife has dominated the criticism I’ve read of the show so far but it’s not the hill I’m going to die on here. The wigs feel more offensive to me right now.
There’s no question that I’m going to keep watching but I’d love you to help me make sense of my feelings on this one. Please share in the comments.
The Time Traveler’s Wife is on Now TV and Sky.
Do you like to cry?
I loved Nobody Will Tell You This But Me so much that I bulk bought a load and basically started handed them out. It's written by US comedy writer, Bess Kalb (she’s funny, look her up on Twitter) about her beloved, charismatic, outspoken grandmother who died in her 90s.
I have some experience with Jewish grandmas and Kalb’s embodies some of the best and worst traits of many of the bubbes I’ve known - opinionated, fiercely loving, infuriating, tough as nails. The book is a sort of creative memoir, a reconstruction of Kalb’s grandmother’s words and wisdom to tell her family’s story. This device could feel shticky but it’s so cleverly executed that it totally works. It’s gorgeous and sentimental but also sharp and funny. I cried and cried. A treat.
Nobody Will Tell You This But Me by Bess Kalb
Ambient TV My Husband Watches In Bed While I Read
There is a genre of television that I like to think of as Ambient TV My Husband Watches In Bed While I Read. I will have dismissed whatever he’s watching as Not For Me Thanks for no apparent reason and won’t directly engage with it but will end up consuming it by osmosis. Occasionally, I find myself placing my book on my lap for longer stretches of time until finally, I realise I’m totally hooked. Superstore is such a show.
This American sitcom ran from 2015 to 2021 and you can watch the lot on Netflix. Set in a Walmart-style supermarket called Cloud 9, it follows the daily lives of its workers, played by an excellent ensemble cast, rarely leaving the strip-lit aisles of the store. You’d think the set up would be claustrophobic but there is such depth and variety in the cast that it really isn’t.
Amongst others, there’s floor supervisor, Amy (America Ferrera), Soft Boy business school-dropout Jonah, the poorly mistreated Sandra, air-head teen mom, Cheyenne and assistant manager, Dina who I initially thought was a rip off of Melissa McCarthey’s character in Bridesmaids but ended up being the funniest person on the show.
The skill of Superstore is its ability to depict the realities of a blue-collar American workplace without sentimentalising or glamorising it but still creating escapist television. It disarms you with its humour and optimism.
Superstore addresses big ticket issues like abortion rights, gun laws and racism but with such a lightness of touch. And it’s both really funny and sweetly earnest. I recently watched the finale and was in absolute bits at the end.
Yes, I have a New York Times puzzles subscription. What of it?
When I got bored of Wordle (and couldn’t be bothered with Nerdle, Octordle, etc), I needed a fix and that’s when I discovered Spelling Bee. There’s a hive of six letters with a seventh letter in the centre and you have to make as many words as you can, four letters minimum. And you must use the centre letter each time. There are daily rankings based on a percentage of possible points in each puzzle and they include Beginner and Good Start and go up to Amazing and Genius.
There is also a fabled Queen Bee level which, distressingly, has eluded me so far. Spelling Bee is really fun and unlike Wordle which is over in one go, you can dip in and out all day.
Everyone else who’s obsessed with Spelling Bee is in America so I very rarely get to be a Spelling Bee bore. If you play, please let me know. It’s lonely over here.
Talk to me in the comments!
See you next time.
Hannah
As you know I haven't read the book but what was the frozen, disembodied feet thing about? Overall I'd say meh, so far. It reminds me a bit of Quantum Leap (not in a bad way, Quantum Leap was great) but feels less serious and more farcical than I imagine the book is/was and a bit like one of the Marvel series like the Flash?
My other main takeaway is that main wig hair, great body naked guy sounds exactly like a young Chevy Chase with smatterings of Geoff Goldblum and grooming is worse than wigs.
Ambient Husband.
I hadn’t even noticed the wigs!!! I found Claire’s over acting histrionics much more jarring .
Will stick with it anyway