This book has sat on my TBR pile for quite some time. The last of
its kind, left over from a trip to the bookstore many, many moons
ago, it sat, half-dejected, waiting to be read. It was a little on
the chunky side and I had heard a lot of mixed reviews about it,
mostly the you'll-love-it-or-you'll-hate-it mantra. Finally, I
decided I had to read it before I could allow myself to go on to
more recently purchased books. Now, I find myself wondering why I
didn't get to this absolutely remarkable read earlier. I loved The
Time Traveler's Wife. In fact, this is another book I will be
adding to my best reads of the year, perhaps it will even be
another all time favourite.
Clare Abshire first met Henry when she was 6 and he was 35, but
Henry met Clare for the first time when he was 28 and she was 20.
Confused yet? Henry DeTamble is a Chronologically Displaced Person,
given to bouts of time shifting. In situations of extreme stress
Henry will disappear and suddenly find himself at some point in his
past or future. This dizzying distraction of dates and times makes
for a very unusual relationship between the pair, especially as
Clare finds herself alone, often waiting for Henry to return from
her past.
"Long ago, men went to sea, and women waited for them, standing on
the edge of the water, scanning the horizon for the tiny ship. Now
I wait for Henry. He vanishes unwillingly, without warning. I wait
for him. Each moment that I wait feels like a year, an eternity.
Each moment is as slow and transparent as glass. Through each
moment I can see infinite moments lined up, waiting. Why has he
gone where I cannot follow?" Page 1, The Time Traveler's Wife.
Clare knows so much about Henry's future and Henry will come to
know, intimately, Clare's past. It seems they know each other so
well, yet they remain uncertain about a great many things. The only
thing they are certain about is that they are destined to be
together.
Because the timeline changes so much throughout the book, it is
difficult to decide which parts of plot can safely be given away
without spoiling anything. In most books there is a linear stream
of time in which you can guess in the earlier parts of the book
what is going to come. With the The Time Traveler's Wife, because
of the time shifts you don't have to guess, you know what is going
to happen, or at least you think you do. I know how convoluted this
sounds, but the story really isn't as hard to follow as I am making
it out to be. I can completely understand how a person could
dislike this book and especially be put off in the first 150 pages
or so, where there is so much jumping back and forth in time. But,
somehow, with all the back and forth going on, the story is still
remarkable easy to follow. Normally I get frustrated with books
that use flashbacks, but the shifts between past, present and
future didn't put me off in the slightest. I actually found the
first several pages to be fascinating. Niffenegger puts some of the
most intriguing bits and pieces at the beginning of the story, such
as Henry meeting himself at fifteen and getting a little better
acquainted.
"I'm in my bedroom with my self. He's here from next March. We are
doing what we often do when we have a little privacy, when it's
cold out, when both of us are past puberty and haven't quite gotten
around to actual girls yet. I think most people would do this, if
they had the sort of opportunities I have. I mean, I'm not gay or
anything." Page 56, The Time Travler's Wife.
You can imagine some of the moral questions this book caused me to
ponder. What would I do if I had the ability to move back and forth
in time? Would I, could I, should I change things? Which things?
Any book that causes me to contemplate my own existence and reflect
on life to such a great degree is always a hit.
What Niffenegger has presented is science fiction, obviously. But,
it is not written as science fiction. It is made entirely
believable by the poignant love story and the genuine nature with
which Henry's "medical problem" is dealt. The way she writes her
characters is extraordinary. Not just Henry and Clare, but many of
the others. Kimy is a friend of Henry's family from way back, who
looked after Henry from a young age. The way this charming, old
Korean lady is portrayed is heart-warming and, at times, almost
comical when she speaks in her not-quite-perfect English. The
extraordinary characters, the beautiful writing, and the
imagination and originality of the plot combine to make this a
remarkable work. The Time Traveler's Wife is like nothing you have
read before.