Fiction Addict

Genre: Drama, Romance

Publisher: Mariner Books

Publication Date: May 27, 2004

Reviewed by Lori Twichell

Romance. It’s usually a very simple formula. Boy meets girl. Girl and boy fight then make up. Then it’s happily ever afterland.

In the case of the Time Traveler’s Wife, Girl (Claire) meets Boy (Henry) when she is six and he is in his late 30’s. Henry, on the other hand, doesn’t meet Claire until he’s in his early 30’s and she’s in her early 20’s. Confused? Yes. I know. It can take a bit of mental acuity to follow along, but the effort is paid off in spades by the end of the story.

Henry DeTamble is a time traveler. He’s not some scientist or great inventor who has come up with a brilliant new way to bend time and space. He’s a librarian who has a genetic disorder that makes him unable to hold on to his place in time. He travels through time without choice, often leaving or returning at the most inopportune moments. Worse yet, Henry’s clothes don’t travel with him. Imagine appearing naked in an alley where a gang is mugging a helpless victim. Or finding yourself in the middle of a restaurant with no clothes. At the least it’s embarrassing. At the worst it can be life threatening.

By the time that Henry meets Claire for the first time, she’s been in love with him for her entire life and yet he has no idea who she is. It’s a surreal experience for Henry but it turns into the best moment of his life. For the rest of the story, Claire and Henry’s lives are interwoven through time with tragedy, drama and some of the most heart rending scenes you’ll ever read.

This book isn’t titled The Time Traveler though. It’s about the Time Traveler’s Wife. And I think that is a key to the whole story. Henry didn’t choose his time traveling nature. It was genetically instilled within him. Claire, however, DID choose this life. She wanted Henry. Even knowing what life would be like, she wanted Henry. She chose it. Perhaps my role in life as a military wife made this story more heartfelt for me. It’s not easy to be in Claire’s shoes and be the one left behind.

I am in awe of Niffenegger’s accomplishment as a writer and storyteller. As I read, I bounced back and forth through Henry and Claire’s lives in a manner not dissimilar to his time traveling. I never knew when the next chapter would be in the course of their timelines, but I knew that no matter what, it would fill in necessary gaps and details.

Niffenegger doesn’t whitewash the realities of time travel and make it ‘exciting’ or adventurous like many science fiction writers do. Instead, she places it firmly in the context of everyday life and trials. This makes it a challenge that Henry and Claire need to work through for their marriage to survive. Everyone has issues in their life that they need to work through. Henry and Claire’s are really no different from our own. We just find the circumstances more fascinating.

The story is beautifully crafted and brilliantly woven. This book will move you. It will shatter you. Beyond that, it will make you want to hug the people that you love. Right now.