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The Time Traveler's Wife

Average rating: 5/5

Based on 61 ratings

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The Time Traveler's Wife

by Audrey Niffenegger

September 9, 2003 | Hardcover

Audrey Niffenegger''s innovative debut, The Time Traveler''s Wife, is the story of Clare, a beautiful art student, and Henry, an adventuresome librarian, who have known each other since Clare was six and Henry was thirty-six, and were married when Clare was twenty-three and Henry thirty-one. Impossible but true, because Henry finds himself periodically displaced in time, pulled to moments of emotional gravity from his life, past and future. His disappearances are spontaneous, his experiences unpredictable, alternately harrowing and amusing.

The Time Traveler's Wife depicts the effects of time travel on Henry and Clare''s marriage and their passionate love for each other, as the story unfolds from both points of view. Clare and Henry attempt to live normal lives, pursuing familiar goals -- steady jobs, good friends, children of their own. All of this is threatened by something they can neither prevent nor control, making their story intensely moving and entirely unforgettable.
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Reviews

    • Was this review
      helpful to you?

    Rating: 4/5

    Streched out - but amazing!

    Anna

    4 weeks ago

    This book is fairly long, and it might take some time to really understand the concept of time travel - but it's worth it! You get into the story and lives of the characters, feeling like you are living inside the book. It's a wonderful love story and keeps you interested!

    • Was this review
      helpful to you?

    Rating: 5/5

    Love This

    Willa

    5 weeks ago

    I loved this book and could not put it down. It captivated me and was such a unique story. (I later saw the movie, but the book is much, much better.)

    • Was this review
      helpful to you?

    Rating: 2/5

    Just a warning

    Britt

    2 months ago

    I did like the two points of view. At first it was hard to get into but then I was hooked. It was captivating and real but some parts angered me, why did certain things have to happen the way they did? The ending felt rushed and so wrong to me that I threw the book at a wall.

    • Was this review
      helpful to you?
    Annie

    Rating: 5/5

    One amazing book

    Annie

    7 years ago

    It has everything to make your heart soar. You cannot read this book and not be touched. Riveting read. The best love story I've ever read.

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Details

From the Publisher

Audrey Niffenegger''s innovative debut, The Time Traveler''s Wife, is the story of Clare, a beautiful art student, and Henry, an adventuresome librarian, who have known each other since Clare was six and Henry was thirty-six, and were married when Clare was twenty-three and Henry thirty-one. Impossible but true, because Henry finds himself periodically displaced in time, pulled to moments of emotional gravity from his life, past and future. His disappearances are spontaneous, his experiences unpredictable, alternately harrowing and amusing.

The Time Traveler's Wife depicts the effects of time travel on Henry and Clare''s marriage and their passionate love for each other, as the story unfolds from both points of view. Clare and Henry attempt to live normal lives, pursuing familiar goals -- steady jobs, good friends, children of their own. All of this is threatened by something they can neither prevent nor control, making their story intensely moving and entirely unforgettable.

From the Jacket

Audrey Niffenegger''s innovative debut, The Time Traveler''s Wife, is the story of Clare, a beautiful art student, and Henry, an adventuresome librarian, who have known each other since Clare was six and Henry was thirty-six, and were married when Clare was twenty-three and Henry thirty-one. Impossible but true, because Henry finds himself periodically displaced in time, pulled to moments of emotional gravity from his life, past and future. His disappearances are spontaneous, his experiences unpredictable, alternately harrowing and amusing.
The Time Traveler''s Wife" depicts the effects of time travel on Henry and Clare''s marriage and their passionate love for each other, as the story unfolds from both points of view. Clare and Henry attempt to live normal lives, pursuing familiar goals -- steady jobs, good friends, children of their own. All of this is threatened by something they can neither prevent nor control, making their story intensely moving and entirely unforgettable.

About the Author

Audrey Niffenegger is a visual artist and a professor in the Interdisciplinary Book Arts MFA Program at the Columbia College Chicago Center for Book and Paper Arts, where she teaches writing, letterpress printing, and fine edition book production. She shows her artwork at Printworks Gallery in Chicago. The Time Traveler's Wife is her first novel.

Bookclub Guide

1. In The Time Traveler's Wife, the characters meet each other at various times during their lifetime. How does the author keep all the timelines in order and "on time"?

2. Although Henry does the time traveling, Clare is equally impacted. How does she cope with his journeys and does she ultimately accept them?

3. How does the writer introduce the reader to the concept of time travel as a realistic occurrence? Does she succeed?

4. Henry's life is disrupted on multiple levels by spontaneous time travel. How does his career as a librarian offset his tumultuous disappearances? Why does that job appeal to Henry?

5. Henry and Clare know each other for years before they fall in love as adults. How does Clare cope with the knowledge that at a young age she knows that Henry is the man she will eventually marry?

6. The Time Traveler's Wife is ultimately an enduring love story. What trials and tribulations do Henry and Clare face that are the same as or different from other "normal" relationships?

7. How does their desire for a child affect their relationship?

8. The book is told from both Henry and Clare's perspectives. What does this add to the story?

9. Do you think the ending of the novel is satisfactory?

10. Though history there have been dozens of mediums used for time travel in literature. Please site examples and compare The Time Traveler's Wife to the ones with which you are familiar.

Hardcover

544 Pages, 6.47 x 9.16 in

September 9, 2003

English


0676976328
9780676976328

From Community

Who's Listing as Top Ten

From the Critics

"Highly original first novel…Niffenegger has written a soaring love story illuminated by dozens of finely observed details and scenes…It is a fair tribute to [Niffenegger's] skill and sensibility to say that the book leaves a reader with the impression of life's riches and strangeness rather than of easy thrills."
-Publishers Weekly, starred review

"An enchanting novel…beautifully crafted and as dazzlingly imaginative as it is dizzyingly romantic."
-Scott Turow

"A powerfully original love story."
-People

"Niffenegger creates real characters with flawed, human, loving characteristics and with real and extraordinary problems….Niffeneger succeeds in telling a tender tale of love and allows the reader to rediscover an old fascination with the idea of time travel."
-Winnipeg Free Press

"Beguiling, original debut… A delight."
-The Bookseller, star choice

"This is an ambitious book…it can in its best moments enthrall and engage. It's an unabashed, well-written love story."
-The Globe and Mail

"Niffenegger keeps her readers' attention with a faultless ear for dialogue and with the freshness of her premise."
-National Post

"[An] oddly compelling and original formulation…. This is Niffenegger's first novel, yet it is remarkably free of many of the common pitfalls of a freshman effort. … Niffenegger keeps her readers' attention with a faultless ear for dialogue and with the freshness of her premise. … Her touch for comedy is assured, and acts to leaven more sober aspects of the novel."
-The National Post

"Niffenegger's storytelling is bold, confident and entrancing. Her prose is warm and inviting. And her characters are created with heartfelt sincerity. There's a lot to love in this book….The Time Traveller's Wife is an engrossing read that keeps both emotions and intellect entertained."
-The Gazette

"[Niffenegger] is a hypnotic weaver; her dimensional characters are blended in a tightly woven design that make this first novel a work of art. It leaves one in awe, and appreciative….Do yourself a favour: read the book and suspend your notions of time."
- Independently reviewed

"This is a seamless, soaring love story….As the last pages of this 500-page novel loomed closer, I felt all of the wonderful emotions of having read an unabashed, brilliantly written love story….The Time Traveller's Wife is not a Christmas story, but it is the perfect read for the holiday. Like the emotions of the season it will leave you laughing, crying, and babbling incoherently to your family and friends who will, do doubt, attempt to steal the book away when you aren't looking. Be warned. Buy that special someone their own copy - now."
-The Sun Times (Owen Sound)

"[H]ighly original novel . . . The Time Traveller's Wife has it all: an innovative plot, intriguing characters and compelling writing."
- Chatelaine

"Niffenegger's storytelling is bold and entrancing. Her prose is warm and inviting. And her characters are created with heartfelt sincerity. There's a lot to love in this book….The Time Traveler's Wife is an engrossing read that keeps both emotions and intellect entertained."
-Times-Colonist (Victoria)

''So here''s the next The Lovely Bones... a rare book.''
-David Sexton, Evening Standard

''The Time Traveler''s Wife is a very old love story: wonky, sexy, incredible... but charmingly, inventively retold.''
-The Times (London)

'Niffenegger got me to love this book. What am I saying? She got me to adore this book… Pick up Niffenegger's book and you'll experience the visceral thrill that only a few novels provide.'
-
Charlie Lee-Potter, Independent on Sunday

'A forceful romance with a fascinating science-fiction wrinkle.'
-The Sunday Times
(UK)

'This is alarmingly close to perfection.'
-Scotland on Sunday

''It might seem a little early in the year to be claiming we''ve found 2004''s must-read novel, but that''s just how highly we rate The Time Traveler''s Wife, which challenges conceptions of time and space... A love affair that will totally capture your heart.''
-Glamour (UK)

''The Time Traveler''s Wife is a beautifully written, compulsive look at a couple trying to live an ordinary life in extraordinary circumstances.''
-Image

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