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Dec
02
Book Review: The Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger
2008 at 9am Posted by Rebecca Joines Schinsky
I read this book for the Book Awards Challenge.
Why did it take me so long to get around to reading this book? The Time Traveler’s Wife tells the unusual story of Henry and Clare DeTamble, a couple whose love for each other quite literally transcends time. Henry involuntarily travels through time—he is what will become known as a CDP or “Chrono-Displaced Person”—disappearing out of his present-day life and reappearing randomly in places that are somehow significant to his past or future. He has no control over when or where he travels, and the experience is unlike anything he’s ever known.
When I am out there, in time, I am inverted, changed into a desperate version of myself. I become a thief, a vagrant, an animal who runs and hides. I startle old women and amaze children. I am a trick, an illusion of the highest order, so incredible that I am actually true…
…I appear from nowhere, naked. How can I explain? I have never been able to carry anything with me. No clothes, no money, no ID. I spend most of my sojourns acquiring clothing and trying to hide.
Because Henry’s future self travels back to Clare’s childhood and tells her bits and pieces about their life together, Clare has known since she was very young that she would grow up and someday marry Henry. The irony lies in the fact that because Henry’s future (in which he travels back to Clare) has not yet occurred when he and Clare meet in real time, Clare recognizes Henry as the man who visited her throughout her childhood and with whom she is deeply in love, but Henry has no idea who she is. Clare gently breaks the news to Henry, and they begin in real-time the relationship that has already shaped Clare’s childhood and which will be the defining feature of both of their lives.
As they navigate through the passionate stages of young love and move into commitment, marriage, and a focus on creating their own family, Henry and Clare form a connection that runs deeper than either of them can explain. Clare’s whole life is filled with memories of Henry’s visits, and as Henry reaches the age at which he first begins to travel back to her, they begin to share not only the memories they have created in real-time but the memories of time spent together throughout Clare’s young life.
Henry and Clare’s life is pretty normal, with the exception of Henry’s time traveling. They try desperately to have children and suffer through several miscarriages, which they believe have something to do with Henry’s abnormal genetic make-up. They go to work, hang out with their friends (some of whom know about Henry’s condition), and do the things that married couples do. But underneath it all runs the fear that someday Henry will disappear and not make it back. Clare spends her life being left behind, worrying and waiting for Henry to return.
It’s virtually impossible to summarize the plot of this book and do it any justice. It’s just one of those books you have to read. Ultimately, The Time Traveler’s Wife is a book about love and devotion and amazing things that can happen between two people who know and accept each other completely. It’s about the kind of relationship that makes us say things like this:
Our love has been the thread through the labyrinth, the net under the high-wire walker, the only real thing in this strange life of mine that I could ever trust.
You don’t have to be a time traveler to feel and understand what Niffenegger is writing about.
There is so much to love about this book. Niffenegger’s writing is beautiful and pulls you in from the very first sentences. Her portrayal of Henry and Clare’s relationship is beautiful, poetic, tragic, and wonderful, and her grasp on language is simply exquisite. This is one of those books that makes you deeply jealous of the person whose heart and soul are capable of creating such a story, and it has definitely earned a place on my list of all-time favorites. And it has one of the best, most beautiful endings I’ve read in a very long time.
On a more personal note, I loved that the book was set in Chicago and that Henry and Clare lived in neighborhoods I knew, ate in restaurants I’ve eaten in, and share my favorite bookstore (Bookman’s Alley in Evanston). Niffenegger’s details bring Henry and Clare to life, and one need not time travel or live in Chicago to identify with their story. It’s no wonder The Time Traveler’s Wife has become a favorite among bibliophiles; it is not to be missed. 5 out of 5.
Now a thought/discussion question:
I find it interesting that, when Andrew Davidson’s The Gargoyle came out this summer, so many people said it reminded them of this book. Yes, they both involve a relationship that supposedly transcends time, but in Davidson’s book, the reader is always uncertain of whether there is any truth to the stories about the couple’s past life together, and that question is never at issue in The Time Traveler’s Wife. So much of The Gargoyle is about questioning and uncertainty, whereas The Time Traveler’s Wife is about certainty beyond certainty, a relationship and commitment that determinedly resist the constraints of time. If you’ve read both of these books, I’d love to hear your thoughts.
The Time Traveller’s Wife was a very good book. I’ve never read The Gargoyle, but I did bookmark your page. I needed a next-great book to read so I will read it and then share my thoughts.
Well, Time Traveler is still in my TBR pile…and I was not that fond of The Gargoyle and I have never been to Chicago…so what to do, what to do…
I finished The Time Traveler’s Wife while I was on an airplane. And if you can imagine the scene, there I was, literally wailing, with my husband beside me, cringing, and everyone around us looking at us like we should be thrown out an airplane window!
Thanks for your summary, reminding me of how much I liked it!
After reading your review, I want to run right out and buy that book. It’s definitely going on my wish list.
Awesome review! I definitely want to read this one now!
Caite: It’s really different from The Gargoyle, and you don’t need to know Chicago….read it!
I”ve seen this one around but never paid much attention before. Now that I’ve read your awesome review I definitely want to read it. It will be featured in my Friday Finds post in 3 days.
I’ve read them both and while they are both unusual love story and I don’t think they have much else in common.
A friend lent *The Time Traveler’s Wife* to me just last week … there it sits, on the shelf, between the ARCs and other books promised for review. Maybe I’ll sneak it open sooner than planned.
I haven’t read *The Gargoyle* either, so I can’t address your question.
And, like Caite, I don’t know Chicago, but I’ll be happy to visit in thru a book.
I loved The Time Traveller’s Wife. I read it years ago and it was one of my favorite books. I may re-read it someday. I think it’s so cool how you had that personal connection with the book too. I tried reading The Gargoyle and couldn’t get past the first few chapters. I don’t think the books compare at all.
I don’t think the two books can even be compared. While I enjoyed (not sure if that is the right word because the book was so harsh) *The Gargoyle*, I LOVED *TTW* – have bought several copies for friends and re-read it just last month. I guess the only point of comparision can be unique stories with unique points of view. The love story in TTW is so solid and so amazing, I could never like the characters in the Gargoyle the same way…
I hadn’t thought of them as being similar, though I guess I can kinda see it now that you mention it. The love that transcends time, kind of thing. But, TTW is an ongoing story in which time unfolds differently for each of the two characters, while The Gargoyle is more of a past life kind of thing. I don’t remember the ending to TTW, believe it or not (it’s been a while). That’s going to bug me, now. Might have to reread it at some point.
Being a Chicago native myself, I loved those parts of the book. Never before and never since has a book made me sob like The Time Traveler’s Wife. Get misty, yes, sniffly, yes, drop a tear or two, sure, but TTTW had me bawling like a little girl for about the last half-hour.
Great review, I didn’t even attempt to review this one, but you did a fantastic job!
Other than the ‘love that transcends time’ aspect, I found TTW and Gargoyle similar as they are both massive stories that center on one couple so solidly that they appear to be the whole world. Hard to explain the feeling, but I guess I felt while reading these 2 that no matter what was going on around them, the couples had their own universe separate from all else. So perhaps the similarity is strong dual character development, that caused me, as a reader, to view the couples as a single entity.
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I reviewed this novel last year. I enjoyed this novel, but there was one thing that especially bothered me – I felt that Clare was manipulated into this relationship. Since he arrived in her world during her early years and planted these images in her head, did she really have a choice? He might not have remembered traveling back to her, but she could never forget him. In a way, he stole her life from her.
I enjoyed The Time Traveler’s Wife but have not read The Gargoyle. I’m a sucker for a good love story, so I’ll add that to my TBR list. Thanks for mentioning it!
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I love The Time Traveler’s Wife. I’ve read it four times and it remains my favorite book. I can pick it up , start reading, and immediately be taken in, no matter where in the book I began reading. It is touching, sad and funny. A wonderful story.
[...] Time Traveler’s Wife a few months ago, I felt like I was the last person to finally read it (my review). And I won’t be letting that happen again, not if this new book even approaches being as [...]
I just finished reading this book too. I should have read this book a long time ago, its one of the best books I’ve read in 2009. Heard a movie is coming out by year end, hopefully it can capture the essence of the book.
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[...] 3. The Time Traveler’s Wife by Audrey Niffenegger [...]
[...] 3. The Time Traveler’s Wife by Audrey Niffenegger [...]