The time-traveling Henry meets his future wife Clare when she is six and he is thirty-six. Despite his condition, they manage to have a moving and beautiful lifelong romance.
The Time Traveler’s Wife Overview
Henry is a time traveler. After his first meeting with Clare in the field behind her house, he leaves her with a list of dates when he’ll return. Clare waits for him providing clothing, food and company, until he disappears again. This continues until Clare is eighteen years old, then the visits cease leaving it up to Clare to find Henry.
She does, two years later, in the present time. After dating for a while, they marry and try to live their lives as normally as possible, working around Henry’s bouts of time-travel.
The Time Traveler’s Wife Book Review
Audrey Niffenegger has created a unique love story with her main man being a time-traveler. The Time Traveler’s Wife is cleverly written and though a little tricky to keep up with dates in the beginning, as the story unfolds it becomes easier to follow. The book moves in chronological order in regards to Clare’s life, with Henry traveling back and forth, so when Clare and Henry are married, Henry from the present will travel, and both Clare and Henry are visited by past or future Henrys.
Niffenegger has succeeded in putting the reader into both Clare and Henry’s shoes as they go through their lives. Readers will feel for Clare as she goes through the heartache of waiting and worrying about Henry as he time-travels. She basically spends her whole life waiting for Henry, and their marriage only becomes more complicated when they try to have a baby.
Readers will also stress as Henry is dumped naked in different times and sometimes awkward places because when Henry time-travels, he leaves behind his clothes and possessions. So being left naked and with no money opens him up to a host of sometimes humorous, often dangerous situations.
Niffenegger’s first novel is an entertaining story and though its topic is time-travel, it is far from science fiction. The Time Traveler’s Wife is most definitely a love story mixed with drama, and while the story in some parts may seem a little obvious to the reader, there are still plenty of surprises.
The only small flaw with this otherwise great book is that while the ending is unique and not exactly a happy one, it leaves some unanswered questions. Still, it is an intriguing and unforgettable story.
The Time Traveler’s Wife was first published in 2005 by Vintage Books, London (ISBN 978-0-099-46446-4). Niffenegger has also published Her Fearful Symmetry.
Roberta Goli - Roberta has a Bachelor of Science Degree (Zoology), has worked with animals for over 10 years and enjoys writing short stories and flash ...
