The book is about Henry and Clare’s relationship. Henry is a librarian with a genetic condition that makes him travel through time. Clare is an artist who has been getting strange visits from a time traveler ever since she was six. They get married. That’s all I’m going to say about the plot because figuring out how to describe it is making my head hurt. It’s complicated but so good.
Time travel is a difficult subject to put into a story convincingly. If you look at it too hard, it tends to all fall apart. It’s best for the reader to accept it and move on without giving the idea too much scrutiny. That being said, I think Niffenegger handled the concept of time travel very well. I loved how scenes looped back on themselves. Henry’s time travel moved the plot along in unexpected ways. I love being surprised by a story. Though this was in ways a classic love story the time traveling element didn’t distract from that central theme but added to it.
I also liked how time travel was explained in the book as a genetic condition. It’s a unique way to approach the idea.
Niffenegger draws you into the story in an emotional way that is hard to resist. The book is a bit longer than books I usually read and when I realized the length I wondered if I would enjoy it. I am one of those people who tends to skip sections of books if I feel like they’re dragging on. I didn’t do any skipping here. Every bit of that book was necessary to describe the love, longing, and pain in Henry and Clare’s relationship.
Now that I’ve read and reviewed The Time Traveler’s Wife, I’m curious about the movie. Could it possibly be as good as the book? I have my doubts.
If you haven’t read it yet it is definitely worth giving this one a go. Even if you have read it, it is worth a re-read. It is going to be on my short list of books that I go back to again and again. I’m sure I’ll notice something new with every reading.
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