Let me start by telling you I’m a huge fan of books and movies that involve time travel and /or immortality. The Time Traveler’s Wife steers away from pure sci-fi, instead telling the story of a romance between a girl and a time traveler.
Henry DeTamble is the time traveler - a librarian who inadvertently time travels whenever he’s stressed or excited. Rather than treat the time travel as an oddity, Niffenegger writes the time travel as an illness called ‘chrono displacement syndrome’.
His girlfriend/wife is Claire Abshire an art student from a well-heeled family. The course of Claire and Henry’s lives seem intertwined, as Henry unconsciously time travels into Claire’s life at various stages from his future. Henry also crosses his own time stream a number of times and revisits a traumatic event from his childhood.
The biggest challenge with time travel stories is avoiding confusion. Niffenegger achieves this semi-successfully by reminding us at the start of each chapter of the date and age of the two main characters. The narrative also alternates between Henry and Claire’s viewpoints, which helps to bring the characters to life and helps the reader to empathise more with their situation.
I won’t ruin the story by going into too much detail on the plot, but in short Niffenegger manages to craft a tale that is warm, witty, romantic and above all, human. As a matter of fact, one of my favourite characters in the book is Gomez, a tragic figure who marries Claire’s friend, but secretly loves Claire. Niffenegger deals with Gomez particularly well, letting us know early on about his feelings for Claire, but also showing how his relationship with Henry develops over the years.
In Summary
The Time Traveler’s Wife is a touching tale that uses time travel as a tool to tell the story of two people. So, despite time travel being a central theme in the book, the focus remains on the relationship between Henry and Claire. Initially, I was a little disappointed that the time travel wasn’t the central theme of the book, but the true value of the book is in the human interactions.
When you look at it, The Time Traveler’s Wife covers all the key events in life: teenage life, romance, marriage, family, children. There’s so much to relate to and that’s probably why I found the book so touching in the end. Sruthi has also written a good review of the book, although she walked away underwhelmed.
Perhaps that’s because there isn’t a ‘happy-ever-after’ ending. I don’t know, but I do recommend the book. If you’ve read it, tell me what you thought in the comments. If not, pick up a copy and then come back!
'Dislike' Gomez
I'm sorry, but I respectfully disagree that Gomez is a tragic figure. He comes off more as a vulture throughout the rest book of the book waiting until something happens to their relationship, right down to the end where Clare visits Gomez and he puts the moves on her even though she's reluctant. The way he attacks Henry by telling Clare it's a big mistake to fall for him, even more marry, comes off more as not a selfless act to keep her safe, it sounds like he's being selfish because he wants her to himself and not because it's for her well-being. The only reason he actually went for Clare's friend came down to settling down with someone he found ok, someone to pass the time until he believed he could snatch Clare, that failed miserably. He is I'll admit an ok person at times, not evil, not good, but just an ok jerk and far from tragic. He would actually be tragic if he was being geniune about being selfless by supporting Clare and Henry all the way, instead of hinting distasteful undertones... I hate Gomez. But I love the book, thanks.
well..
I thought that this book was brilliant and knew that because it was so amazing, I HAD to buy it. When I read stuff like this that says a lot about how the book wasn's at its best, I would like to disagree but at the same time agree with it all. Gomez, what he really is is a person who symbolises someone like Jacob Black, in Twilight, because he is waiting on Clare and for something to happen to Henry. It's true that the author is "semi-successful" with the time travel idea. She sometimes gets us confused, and it feels as if it is not constructed properly yet in the end there are many loose ends that she was unable to tie up. Like, for example, the issue with Alba and whether or not she is succesful in her ventures and Dr. Kendrick and his children. It was an amazing read...overall. Now if I could only understand why so many sexual scenes were required to not make people cringe. It felt as if they were for the purpose of the author and nothing but. ALSO, as a final final conclusion for my rambling, I thought that the mention of punk music wasn' t as bad as people say. It adds culture to the book that is like none other. It shows the research that went into it rather than it all just been random dates! For a teen who had no idea where a lot of those bands originated and in what year, it was like a step into the past...or time travel :)
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