Surprisingly, I liked the Time Traveler's Wife. Although there were one or two things about the book I didn't like--such as, I thought it was too sappy at some points, and it was about a hundred pages too long. But I love Niffenegger's writing, and the way she writes about these two very complicated characters.
The book opens when Clare and Henry meet for the first time in real time, in 1991. Henry's a mild-mannered librarian, age 28, and Clare is an artist, age 20. The book then jumps back to when Henry and Clare meet for the first time during his time travels, when he's in his thirties and she's six years old. Henry has a birth defect which causes him to involuntarily travel back--and once, forward--in time. Therefore, the book takes place, not chronologically, for the most part between the late 1960s and 2011. Clare and Henry's relationship is written about beautifully, though Clare's character isn't as delineated as Henry's is. At times, if you're not paying attention to dates, the book can get confusing, and sometimes I felt as though I was given information that I'd already been given before. But in all, this was a beautiful novel. I look forward to reading whatever Niffenegger writes next.
7 comments:
This book is in my top 10 for sure. I read it a few years ago, when it first came out, and I BAWLED my eyes out during several scenes in the book... after that I lent it to like 10 friends, and they all loved it. I'm so glad you enjoyed it too!
I remember having to re-read several passages to figure out what exactly was going on, but I did enjoy this book as well. The movie is currently in production--I'm curious as to how well the movie will follow the book.
I enjoyed the novel a lot as well. When I picked it up to look at it at the bookstore, I thought it was just another chic lit. But I was wrong. The relationship was beautifully portrayed, seeped with a lot of touchy feelings and emotions.
I loved this book, but there are some things that no matter how many times I've read them they don't make sense to me (the part where Henry is in the field smiling behind Claire's father and brother--this part comes up again at the end--trying to be cryptic in case someone who hasn't read the book is also reading comments). There are a few others as well. Glad you liked it!
Great review.
I koved this book, but I also found it to have just a little bit of repetition in it. I gave it 4.5/5 though.
I have this one on my TBR and hope to get to it this year. I find with each review I read that I am looking forward to it more and more.
They're making a movie of the book? No way!
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