Review: The Time Traveler's Wife

Title: The Time Traveler’s Wife
Author: Audrey Niffenegger
Year of Publication: 2004
Genre: Science Fiction
Length: 536 pages
Rating: 4/5 – Worth paying full price

Review:

The Time Traveler’s Wife is hard to describe in so many words. When you break it down to it’s basic parts, it’s not much more than a tragic love story between a man and a woman who have a problem that gets in the way of their love. Nothing new or very exciting, as this also describes classics like Romeo and Juliet, and probably many trashy romance novels. What’s different about this book, however, is the way it’s told, and the particularly unique problem that the couple faces.

Niffenegger’s book is written from two points of view; that of Clare, an artist from a rich family, and Henry, a librarian and time traveler. Each section starts by letting the reader know what age each of them is at. In the real timeline, Clare and Henry are actually close in age. But when Henry travels in time – which is treated as a disorder, and happens randomly – they could be any age. Clare could be 27 while Henry is 35. Or she could be 50 while he’s 28. There can also be two instances of Henry at the same time. Unlike other stories of time travelers, meeting oneself doesn’t cause a paradox. But the traveler is unable to change the timeline. If he tries to, something always happens to prevent him. He won’t be able to say a word to stop his old self from doing something, or rush into the street to save a child from being hit by a car. He can only affect small things that don’t matter in the timeline, one of which is meeting his wife before he actually meets her. This is alright because it’s meant to happen, as mind-boggling as that seems.

The story is told in a non-linear fashion in bits and pieces that the reader puts together gradually. While Clare isn’t a time traveler and has a normal timeline, there are excerpts chosen from different points in her life that are placed out of order. Parts of the book where Henry ends up visiting her as a teenager happen in the middle as well as at other parts. There is a potential for creepiness here, as often Henry will be in his forties while Clare is merely a child. But there is something about the way he treats his future wife that takes away the sliminess. Young Clare brings the mytery man who appears on her family’s estate clothing, food and coffee, and keeps him company until he mysteriously disappears once more.

The reason that Henry often visits himself or his wife in the past or future is because his time traveling often takes him to familiar places. Anything that his mind dwells on, including a prison-like enclosure near a stair-well at work, can be a potential place for him to travel to. He can also be there for minutes, hours, or days, depending.

Henry’s disorder is something that first manifested itself at a young age. While he has seen doctors, and his father is aware of the condition while Henry is a child, not many people really believe it. When he’s a child, he’s visited by a Henry from the future who teaches him some necessities of being a time traveler – that he must always keep himself in shape, and how to steal. Since Henry always appears wherever he ends up naked, these things are very important.

Not everyone will enjoy this story. If you’re tired of time traveling, even with a new perspective, or if you’re not one for love stories, there isn’t much here for you. For everyone else, it’s a wonderful, absorbing book that’s well worth the read.