The Time Traveller’s Wife. By: Audrey Niffenegger

Time spent reading: 10-11 hours (It’s a book about Time Travelling take a guess )

The title of the book was the main reason why picked it up. I had heard about a wonderful movie made based on this story and I decided to read the book instead of watching the movie. I am glad I picked the book instead of the movie because it is so different from what I generally read. With all its characters ad subplots I quite enjoyed reading this one.

Short Summary

The novel tells the story of “Henry De Tamble’ a librarian in Chicago and his wife ‘Clare Abshire’ a paper sculpture. Henry has a big secret; he has a rare genetic disorder which enables or rather forces him to travel in time both in the future and in the back. The action is totally involuntary and beyond his control, he gets very little warning of when he is going to travel. Henry’s only purpose in life is to get control of this anomaly.

Clare is the only daughter if a semi-retired well to do lawyer, who lives on a big estate. Her only purpose in life, seems to be, waiting for Henry. Clare first meets Henry when she was 6 and he was 21. Now at this point Henry who is travelling back from time knows everything, but poor Clare has no clue as to what is happening. Henry when he travels in time cannot carry anything with him not even his clothes. Through his travels an older version of him teaches him tricks of how to survive off the land with literally nothing, thing like picking pockets, breaking into houses to help himself survive. Henry in his youth is a heavy drinker and an avid runner, he runs daily, he found that this keeps him calm and is a necessary habit to develop. Being able to run mean he could run away from strangers, the police or anyone else on his trail when he arrives naked, hungry and dis oriented toa time and place which he has no control over.

In his first meeting with Clare Henry gives her a list of dates when she could expect him, and she could have a set of clothes ready for him along with something to eat. Clare kept quiet about this encounter and readily helps Henry as much as she can, through their encounters they start to get close, Henry takes care about not revealing anything from the future to Clare as she return refrains from asking Henry question he promised he could not answer. Invariably once Henry lets slip that both were married in the future this only excites Clare further. After the last day listed which happens to be Clares 18th birthday, even Henry he does not know when he will meet Clare again. Clare chooses to go to Chicago to study art knowing fully well that the city holds her love and future husband.

When she finally meets him after 2 years, the tables have turned, she knows him and has a look that tells him, that she knows him. Henry however does not recognize her at all having never meet her until now. All his meetings with her have been experienced by Henry in the future who travels back in time.

My Review

I had read somewhere that remarkable things do not happen to remarkable people they turn the ordinary into remarkable. Thousands of women in fact also men fail at love and most of them just move on to something or someone better, some drown themselves at the failure and jut forget to stay afloat. Audrey, who was frustrated in love when she began work on the book wrote the story as a metaphor for her failed relationships. The book which part romance and part science fiction it explores the idea of love, loss, freewill and waiting

She does a remarkable job in her first attempt and handles the subject with the command of a pro. The storyline is complicated not because of the actual story but because of the timeline and changing characteristics of the two main characters and people around them. Though sometimes presented abruptly each character introduced plays a vital role in moving the story forward. The common ground through all the coming and going of the various timeline is the deep character growth that both go through.

I could feel that whenever Henry and Clare were not together the writing loses its impact and purpose. On more than two occasions I found myself putting the book down simply because the story was going nowhere. It was like a car revving very high but not going anywhere. The end of the story seems to meander along, and I was eager for it to end. I also have problem with the ending, it seems to be hurriedly written and felt like an after thought