The Time Traveler's Wife is a touching and compulsively readable (or listenable) tale, partly high-concept, mostly finely realized love story focusing on fate, the pain and relief of being left behind, and the pain and excitement of leaving. Science fiction, literary fiction, romance, adventure, tear-jerker, laugh-inducer - it defies categorization.
The 2003 bestseller is being released this week in an unabridged audiobook version (16 CDs, 17 ¾ hours) that lets you savour every word, a welcome addition to the previous, abridged version (10 CDs or eight cassettes, 12 hours), both by Highbridge Audio.
The Time Traveler’s Wife covers the lifetime of Clare Abshire and her unusual romance with time-traveling Henry DeTamble. Henry has been an integral part of Clare's life since she was six, when his 36-year-old self appeared naked in the meadow outside her home, and reappeared at random intervals — and at random ages — over the years. To her surprise, he tells her they will eventually be married. Henry first met Clare when he was 28 and working at the Newberry Library, and she was a 20-year-old art student. To his surprise, she tells him they will eventually be married.
Niffenegger outlines the strict rules of time travel in her book's world without getting bogged down in the inherent contradictions that might make your brain hurt. Henry can bring nothing through time, not clothes, not money, not even fillings. And nothing can be changed. He can't go back in time and alter the future. Though, in one of those inevitable time travel paradoxes, of course his presence in the past has already affected the future.
The book portrays both a romantic and harsh view of time travel. Henry is attracted to the adventure and repelled by the danger and inconvenience. Naked, hungry, disoriented, he must run from the police, fight for protection, steal to provide for his out-of-time self.
Article comments
1 - T McDonald
All my life, I have discovered the best books. It's a talent of mine, proof being that I'm always right about the quality, always leaps before Oprah finally finds it to showcase. I can find the best books before they've been reviewed--put me in a bookstore and I'll sniff them out, the kind you regret to stop reading, the kind you wish you were a part of somehow.
I'd never heard of this book, but picked it up somewhat attracted by the cover. At first I groaned at the mention of time-travel--I'm not a diehard science fiction fan. But reading the first couple of paragraphs, then dipping into parts here and there sealed the deal; I paid full price.
Soul mates, Henry & Clare. Their relationship defines how we classify those people who find each other--again, and again. Having found my soul mate, I always declared myself lucky. My best friend, for instance, has never found hers and never will. Her loss explains why she could not understand the darkness that came over me when my soul mate died--"a year to get over it," she'd begrudgingly concede, impatient for me to snap out of it and go out with her to singles' bars.
Perhaps this novel would give her a clue about those extra ordinary bonds that form between two people and seem to withstand everything, even time. Babbling to my therapist, who was vainly trying to help me through it, I blurted tearfully, "It was my turn to be left behind this time."
Being mortal, like Clare, I am confined to my present consciousness. But as an observer of Henry & Clare, I can see how this has all played out over--I guess we can call it time, for want of a better term. It's a matter of minutes, centuries, psyche, universe, eternity. We'll do it again.
2 - Natalie Bennett
This article has been selected for syndication to Advance.net, which is affiliated with newspapers around the United States. Nice work!
3 - Patricia Pomeroy Tanner
How can I get you to review my book, Mercy Triumphs ISBN # 1-59453-495-0?
Patricia
4 - Diane Kristine
Click on "Ads/Review Material" at the top of the page for the contact info if you want to offer a review copy to Blogcritics.