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juushikaTitle: The Time Traveler's Wife
Author: Audrey Niffenegger
Published: San Francisco: MacAdam/Cage, 2003
Rating: 4 of 5
Page Count: 519
Total Page Count: 50,140
Text Number: 144
Read For: personal enjoyment, checked out from the library
Short review: Henry has an unusual condition: when under stress, and sometimes for no reason at all, he time travels, leaving him stranded naked and alone somewhere in the past or future until he returns to his present time. When Clare and Henry meet, she is a child and he is in his forties; when they meet again, 20-year-old Clare has known Henry her whole life but 28-year-old Henry has never seen Clare before. The Time Traveler's Wife chronicles, from both points of view, the circular journey that bring the lovers together through time. The premise of the novel is unparalleled, and Niffenegger presents it with care and realism, and so this is a truly unique book. The novel runs too long for its romantic content and the ending is abrupt, but on the whole this is an ingenious book that turns romance on its head and raises questions about the inevitability of love.
The premise of The Time Traveler's Wife is ingeniously simple and makes a summary rather hard to write. Henry time travels; Henry and Clare and in love. Henry's travels take his future into Clare's past so that when they meet in the present, they are destined to be together. Of course this idea denies any sort of science, and for the most part Niffenegger avoids a pseudo-scientific explanation. But while the concept goes against common sense, it does not require a suspension of disbelief: Niffenegger is so dedicated to the reality of her story that the concept's impossibility is irrelevant. Henry's travels are realistically difficult and dangerous, the narration frequently switches between time periods to bring both the periods and Henry's constant changes between them to life, and the plot turns back on itself to form an intricate spiral or past, present, and future that brings together major plot points as well as the smallest details. As a result, the novel's premise comes to life. It defines the book and sweeps away the reader until it seems entirely real. It takes a very simple story about a couple and their love and turns it into a very complex story about their love as created by and challenged by Henry's journeys through time. The book is worthy of recommendation on this point alone: it is rare to see a novel with such a unique premise, and rarer still to see one that fulfills the potential of its premise.
Outside of the brilliant time travel, however, The Time Traveler's Wife isn't much better than average. The writing style is apt, but not exceptional. Although Niffenegger avoids much of it, the dual narration and multiple timelines leads to some repetition, and the repeated sections slow the book down and feel like filler text. They are not the only time that the book feels slow or padded: the novel runs over 500 pages, a fair bit longer than the average book and a bit too long for this love story. Time traveling turns romance on its head, but even upside down the romance remains a romance, and there's only so much that can be done with it. Without any secondary aspects (like science fiction) or further complications, the love story is spread thin over the 500 pages. Conversely, the conclusion comes too quickly in a series of swift events that make only a clumsy attempt to do what the rest of the story does so well: loop, inescapably but always meaningfully, back up themselves. The conclusion seemed immature compared to the rest of the book, and makes for a disappointing end to the story. None of these flaws are major, and they're certainly not enough to detract from the brilliant premise of the book, but they do knock the novel down to "above average" rather than "excellent."
Even an above average novel can deserve a hearty recommendation, and this one does. The concept of a time-warped romance is ingenious, and Niffenegger fulfills the premise and brings it to life in a captivating novel. The circuitous plot holds the reader's attention to the end, and all in all the novel is intriguing and quite readable. The reader that looks deeper into the text will also discover some interesting questions: where does Clare and Henry's romance begin? is it inevitable? how can fate and free will coexist? The Time Traveler's Wife has its flaws, but on the whole it is readable and intriguing, and quite unlike anything I've read before. I'm glad that I picked this book up, and I recommend it to all readers—don't be put off by the would-be-sci-fi aspects or by the romance, because neither are as they appear, and trust that the plot is more logical and more magical than I make it sound here. With such a unique concept, made so realistic by the author, this is a romance unlike any other.
Review posted here at Amazon.com.
Author: Audrey Niffenegger
Published: San Francisco: MacAdam/Cage, 2003
Rating: 4 of 5
Page Count: 519
Total Page Count: 50,140
Text Number: 144
Read For: personal enjoyment, checked out from the library
Short review: Henry has an unusual condition: when under stress, and sometimes for no reason at all, he time travels, leaving him stranded naked and alone somewhere in the past or future until he returns to his present time. When Clare and Henry meet, she is a child and he is in his forties; when they meet again, 20-year-old Clare has known Henry her whole life but 28-year-old Henry has never seen Clare before. The Time Traveler's Wife chronicles, from both points of view, the circular journey that bring the lovers together through time. The premise of the novel is unparalleled, and Niffenegger presents it with care and realism, and so this is a truly unique book. The novel runs too long for its romantic content and the ending is abrupt, but on the whole this is an ingenious book that turns romance on its head and raises questions about the inevitability of love.
The premise of The Time Traveler's Wife is ingeniously simple and makes a summary rather hard to write. Henry time travels; Henry and Clare and in love. Henry's travels take his future into Clare's past so that when they meet in the present, they are destined to be together. Of course this idea denies any sort of science, and for the most part Niffenegger avoids a pseudo-scientific explanation. But while the concept goes against common sense, it does not require a suspension of disbelief: Niffenegger is so dedicated to the reality of her story that the concept's impossibility is irrelevant. Henry's travels are realistically difficult and dangerous, the narration frequently switches between time periods to bring both the periods and Henry's constant changes between them to life, and the plot turns back on itself to form an intricate spiral or past, present, and future that brings together major plot points as well as the smallest details. As a result, the novel's premise comes to life. It defines the book and sweeps away the reader until it seems entirely real. It takes a very simple story about a couple and their love and turns it into a very complex story about their love as created by and challenged by Henry's journeys through time. The book is worthy of recommendation on this point alone: it is rare to see a novel with such a unique premise, and rarer still to see one that fulfills the potential of its premise.
Outside of the brilliant time travel, however, The Time Traveler's Wife isn't much better than average. The writing style is apt, but not exceptional. Although Niffenegger avoids much of it, the dual narration and multiple timelines leads to some repetition, and the repeated sections slow the book down and feel like filler text. They are not the only time that the book feels slow or padded: the novel runs over 500 pages, a fair bit longer than the average book and a bit too long for this love story. Time traveling turns romance on its head, but even upside down the romance remains a romance, and there's only so much that can be done with it. Without any secondary aspects (like science fiction) or further complications, the love story is spread thin over the 500 pages. Conversely, the conclusion comes too quickly in a series of swift events that make only a clumsy attempt to do what the rest of the story does so well: loop, inescapably but always meaningfully, back up themselves. The conclusion seemed immature compared to the rest of the book, and makes for a disappointing end to the story. None of these flaws are major, and they're certainly not enough to detract from the brilliant premise of the book, but they do knock the novel down to "above average" rather than "excellent."
Even an above average novel can deserve a hearty recommendation, and this one does. The concept of a time-warped romance is ingenious, and Niffenegger fulfills the premise and brings it to life in a captivating novel. The circuitous plot holds the reader's attention to the end, and all in all the novel is intriguing and quite readable. The reader that looks deeper into the text will also discover some interesting questions: where does Clare and Henry's romance begin? is it inevitable? how can fate and free will coexist? The Time Traveler's Wife has its flaws, but on the whole it is readable and intriguing, and quite unlike anything I've read before. I'm glad that I picked this book up, and I recommend it to all readers—don't be put off by the would-be-sci-fi aspects or by the romance, because neither are as they appear, and trust that the plot is more logical and more magical than I make it sound here. With such a unique concept, made so realistic by the author, this is a romance unlike any other.
Review posted here at Amazon.com.
