Week 8–The Time Traveler’s Wife.

Ok, so this post should have been posted last week, but I’m lazy.  So last week was Week 8, and this week is Week 9, and I’m almost finished with my book.  I’m still on track!

Oh my, this book was confusing.  I really quite enjoyed it, but I had a difficult time wrapping my brain around the whole time-travel thing. In Audrey Niffenegger’s The Time Traveler’s Wifehttp://rcm.amazon.com/e/cm?t=Bibliograph07-20&o=1&p=8&l=bpl&asins=0547119798&fc1=F3EDED&IS2=1&lt1=_blank&m=amazon&lc1=0000FF&bc1=000000&bg1=040404&f=ifr, Henry DeTamble is constantly drawn out of his own present time, and sent to either the future or past, and has no control over when or where he goes, nor how long he is gone.  Clare Abshire first met Henry when she was six years old, and is fascinated from their first meeting.  When they finally meet in their present time (1991), Henry is 28 and has never met Clare, but Clare is 20 and has know Henry her whole life.  The novel continues to switch back and forth between all sorts of times and ages, following Henry’s encounters with Clare or other experiences out of time.

 It’s quite ingenious, actually, and one has to admire Niffenegger for being able to keep up with all the switching. I can only imagine all the charts and drawings that had to be involved in plotting this novel. The plot itself is fantastic. Of course it’s a love story–sad, but still sweet.  When I first heard of it, I didn’t think it was actually about a time-traveler, but it is! I love that Niffenegger was able to incorporate something so science-fiction into a novel that’s simply about life and extenuating circumstances.  And she gives both characters’ perspectives, so that the reader can see and feel both Henry’s and Clare’s experience.

This novel is deceptively long, and there were times when I thought that it rambled a bit.  Yet again, however, I have to admire Niffenegger because events that seemed irrelevant in the first half of the novel come back and make sense at a later time.  That’s another beautiful thing about this novel–how well it imitates life, for the beauty of life is in the details.  It’s just a gorgeous book and well deserving of the attention.  It’s also very long, and though the movie did a good job in the effort to follow the story line, there’s no way they ever would have fit 530 + pages in a two hour movie (also, I would have loved to see anyone but Eric Bana play Henry).  If you haven’t seen the movie and want to, I highly recommend reading the book first (or instead). It’s a gazillion times better, as usual.  Still, I’ve provided a link for both. Happy reading!
http://rcm.amazon.com/e/cm?t=Bibliograph07-20&o=1&p=8&l=bpl&asins=B001HN69C2&fc1=F3EDED&IS2=1&lt1=_blank&m=amazon&lc1=0000FF&bc1=000000&bg1=040404&f=ifr