Chain Reading

Four library employees, including my darling wife, and a host of bloggers had recommended The Time Traveler’s Wife by Audrey Niffenegger. I had a Border’s 30% off coupon burning a hole in my pocket last week and so I took their advice and picked up a copy. I had been meaning to pick up this book since I first laid eyes on it as I was struck by the cover image and colors as well as the intriguing title. Showing uncharacteristic restraint, however, I managed to put it off until now in an effort to reduce my reading pile. Let me tell you right now, reading pile be damned, quit reading this review and start reading this book now! It is that good.

It is no secret that reading is one of my great loves and I have a pretty good knack for choosing books that I end up enjoying. That being said the books that grab on to me and won’t let go…those that talk to me while I am sleeping and say “Quit wasting time, read me!” are few and far between. The Time Traveler’s Wife is one of those books. Despite clocking in at a hearty 536 pages the time literally flew by as I was lost in its pages.

Though the title may indicate otherwise, this is not a science fiction book. There are no Dr. Who-ish travels to visit the dinosaurs or trips into future space-age realms. The Time Traveler’s Wife is a love story. It is the story of Henry DeTamble, a Chicago librarian with Chrono-displacement Disorder, and the love of his life, Clare. It is the story about a man whose time travels are involuntary and often unwanted. This is also the story about a woman who chooses to love and live with this very difficult disorder. It is also a story about living life to its fullest in the time that is given.

This is, unbelievably, Audrey Niffenegger’s first mainstream novel. It is so well crafted and flows so well that I am in awe of her talent and aching for another book. The story is told entirely by Henry and Clare in vignettes describing the occurences on certain dates. While Clare’s story is relatively chronological, Henry’s jumps around in time. Each vingette begins with the date and time and the ages of both Henry and Clare. While Henry is 8 years older than Clare in “real time” he actually meets her at various ages beginning when she is 6 years old. It has been a long time since I’ve read Time and Again by Jack Finney (another amazing book) but something about this book felt like Time and Again. The time travel element is no doubt part of that similarity but I think the fact that both books focus on the relationship of characters in a real world vs. a science fiction focus on time travel gives them a similar feel.

Niffenegger does a marvelous job of infusing Henry and Clare with life. Each character has hobbies and talents (again no spoilers) that give the story such depth and dimension. Their sexual relationship (this is an adult story, not for kids) is not gratuitous and is handled in a loving way that gives richness and realism to their relationship. Also both characters have very interesting careers. Henry works in a fascinating library in Chicago and Clare is an artist who makes hand crafted papers, a hobby Niffenegger shares.

Audrey Niffenegger is a professor in the MFA program at the Columbia College Chicago Center for Book and Paper Arts. The program teaches such things as bookbinding, papermaking, and letterpress printing. Niffenegger’s previous books were small print runs of visual books with letterpress type and aquatint illustrations that she hand made. A self-professed woman “fixated on oddity” her previous creations touched on ideas surrounding “mutants, peculiar nature things, taxidermy, [and] amputation.” Her website gives a hint of what some of her other work may look like but is sadly still largely under construction.

I cannot recommend this book highly enough. It is rare that I find myself so easily enthralled in a story. Like any good love story this tale has happy and sad moments, both of which are powerfully rendered. Be prepared to smile but also to shed a few tears. I’m not ashamed to admit that at one point in the story I began crying and was still crying some 40 or 50 pages later. The Time Traveler’s Wife is an inspiring tale about the power of love, the value of good relationships, and the need to make the most of every moment in life.

I could not get through this book. I think I read about 150 pages, then gave up. It seemed very repetitious to me. I know lots of people like this book. Maybe I just don't get it. But reading and reading over and over about this couple's different meetings through different times (as the title suggests, he's a time traveler. His wife puts up with it) just did not hold my attention.

I loved this book. Henry has a genetic disease--that makes him disappear in and move back and forth in time. Clare, somehow before either could make a choice about it, is in line to become Henry's wife. It has one foot in science fiction and everything else is a romantic story. The pop culture references are easiest to catch if you were listening to the radio between 1970 and 2000, but the writing is so well crafted, it should be an enjoyable read for many audiences.

sad and beautiful story about time, fate and love.

I have enjoyed this book <i>so</i> much! This is, however, absolutely not for people who can't stand sappiness and romance. It's one hundred percent emotional all the time. In fact it's one of those books that you can get so involved in, you feel drained by the time it's over, and yet you'd do it all over again because it was such a wonderful reading experience. Henry DeTamble is a CDP -- a Chrono-Displaced Person. He travels backward and forward in time unexpectedly. This is the story of how he finds the love of his topsy-turvy life, Clare Abshire. Their first meeting occurs when he is in his thirties and already married to her, and she is six and colouring in drawings in a meadow outside her home. Niffenegger has done a brilliant job of piecing together different times and stages in their lives and making a coherent, engaging, and incredibly moving love story out of it. Yup, I teared up by the end. This is an altogether lovely book.

I've never been interested in reading The Time Traveler's Wife, even though it's gotten tons of good reviews. The cover just kind of creeped me out and I thought the story sounded sad (it was) so I knew I wouldn't deal well with it. But it was chosen this month for the book club I'm in here, so my hand was forced.

The book is the story of Henry DeTamble, who has Chrono-Displacement Disorder. Causing him to travel back and forth through time. He doesn't go to any weird places like the time of the dinosaurs though which makes the book a little bit more believable. Even though I have a really hard time with time travelling books (because I'm constantly trying to dissect them and prove that there's a bad paradox in there), Niffenegger's story was so compelling that I couldn't stop reading.

I fell in love with both Henry and his wife, Clare. And I was devastated when things started to go wrong. This book made me cry way more than I would have liked and it made me think about time and death more than I would have liked, but I'm glad I read it.

I am generally not a fan of female protagonist novels as often the book is romanticized as a result, so I avoided this book for a while based on the title. I was relieved to find it was a) not chick lit and b) had a science fiction element. This is primarily a tale of Fate and love. The nonlinearity caught my interest - it's a challenge to read and follow and I did flick back and forth in the beginning to make sure I still understood, but I eventually got into it and didn't need to towards the middle. It's a good read. I think the complexity and lack of sympathy for the characters make it not one for the future - it's not a classic and it's not a favourite - but it's not shallow enough to leave you feeling empty.

I wasn't so sure I was going to like this book during the first few pages. It took me a little while to get into it. A little more than halfway through, I was so attached to the characters and story and I was so upset about a plot twist that I had to put it down for a few days to recover before I could finish reading. Having just finished, I can say this is one of my favorite books, and I cannot recommend it highly enough.