The Time-Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger (November 5-9, 2004)
Henry is a time-traveling librarian. He involuntarily hops from one place and time to another. As an older man, Henry visits the past and meets his wife, Clare, as a young girl. While Clare knows Henry from her girlhood on, during different stages of her life, Henry first meets Clare in his mid-twenties. The concept may seem confusing at first, but the book does not take too long to get into. The time and date reference points at the start of each section keep the reader oriented.
If I were writing this immediately after finishing the book, then I think I would focused on my interest in the plot. I felt compelled to know what happened in the story. I felt driven to read because of the foreshadowing throughout the book. Since I’ve waited a little while to write down my thoughts, I’ve had a little time to think over other aspects of the book and areas where it could have been better. I think the story would make a fun movie, perhaps a better movie than a book.
While the concept of watching two people in love with one another cope with Henry’s disorder could have been fascinating, none of the characters are as well-drawn as they could have been. The original premise was not carried out to the full potential because I didn’t feel empathy for either of the main characters. The plot drove the story much more than character development. Sometimes while reading, I would think I would mistake Henry’s narration for Clare’s, or vice versa. Most of the time, the two main characters felt interchangeable. The supporting characters: Gomez, Ingrid, Charisse, and family members all could have been developed to better contribute to the story.
Another problem is that Henry is depicted as “good,” while his motivations towards Clare seem more out of manipulation than love. While he may believe they are meant to be together, she only feels that way about him because a future version of him has visited her repeatedly (from the age of 6) and told her that they will marry. Where is Clare’s choice in this when Henry declares her future is determined? At the end of the story, Henry could have let Clare go on with her life, but gives her the hope of seeing him once more, and as a reader, I was saddened to think of her waiting alone just to catch a glimpse of him again. It’s not clear why Clare’s in love with Henry; is it because she feels she has to be? The author spent far too much time focusing on their great sex life (often crudely described in extensive detail), but there had to be something more that held them together.
As a reader, I felt manipulated into having sympathy for the characters. Clare has, not one, but seven miscarriages, before finally having a daughter. Meanwhile, Henry relives his mother’s car accident and decapitation again and again, and loses his feet to frostbite. I felt toyed with after all that. I would have been thrilled had the book ended with Ingrid shooting Henry, which would have some meaning. Instead, Henry’s death was foreshadowed for the last third of the book, and was an accident that made little sense.
What I felt left with was a good, engrossing read. While not liking the characters,
I still couldn’t put the book down. At the same time, I am left with
mixed feelings because something was missing, and I know the book could have
been a great one.
