Monday, April 13, 2009

"Clare: It's hard being left behind."

The Time Traveler's Wife is a book that I have frequently picked up at the bookstore, read the blurb and then decided against buying it. After so many mentions of it recently though, and the news that Audrey Niffenegger was finally working on a second book, I finally decided to give this one a chance. Besides going through half a box of tissues, I found a fascinating study of an unconventional relationship.

The back of the book gives the best brief summary of this book --
When Henry meets Clare, he is twenty-eight and she is twenty. He is a hip librarian; she is a beautiful art student. Henry has never met Clare before; Clare has known Henry since she was six ...

Henry is the time traveler and Clare is his wife. Henry's time travels frequently center around the meaningful people in his life so it's no surprise that his travels later in life are to the younger version of a wife he loves very much. However, his life is still somehow linear so he doesn't have memory of these visits until they actually happen for him. He begins traveling when he is five and it changes his life. Nothing travels with him so he always arrives at his destination naked and with no money or anything. This breeds a need for some rather questionable skills like breaking and entering, pickpocketing and fighting. His main goal, though, is to stop the time travel and to be able to enjoy his life with Clare.

This book is a touching story of a relationship that is strong enough to withstand all of the trials and separation that come with Henry's condition. I thought it was a bit crude in some parts but that might just be because I don't read very many modern novels. I didn't have any trouble following the time traveling Henry because every scene is identified as being either from Henry or Clare's point of view and is dated and lists their ages. This was very helpful!

There is a movie version of this book being released this August, starring Rachel McAdams and Eric Bana. It's a strange coincidence because at the end of this novel I was reminded of another McAdams picture, The Notebook -- and not just because of the number of tissues I dampened.

Grateful to have most of my moments with the ones I love,
K


Buy The Time Traveler's Wife on Amazon or find it at your local library.

4 comments:

  1. I knew they were filming a movie, but I hadn't heard who would star. Rachel and Eric are both great! I can totally see them in those roles.

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  2. I picked this book last year for my book club because I thought the concept sounded really interesting. I did enjoy reading it and found the story compelling as well. I didn't know about the movie--will have to keep a look out for it.

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  3. I LOVED this book! Interested to hear that the author is working on another book! And I don't know if you saw my post on it but for a scavenger hunt challenge, I picked out songs for a soundtrack for this book. Since you just read it, you might be interested in it ... let me know what you think if you read it:

    http://findyournextbookhere.blogspot.com/2009/03/scavenger-hunt-6-music-for-time.html

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  4. Lenore - I totally couldn't imagine who they would cast but then I saw the choices afterward and agreed with them.

    I think everyone should go check out Jenners' link ... I love those songs and they really do fit thematically with this book if you want to get an idea of what this book is about.

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