T is for The Time Traveler's Wife

Reading: The Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger was one of my favorite book club reads.  It is the story of Henry, a man with a genetic disorder that causes him to inadvertently time travel, and Clare, the woman who marries him.  From his point of view, Henry never met Clare until they were both in their 20s but at that meeting, she states she has known him almost all her life.  Henry in his 40s has been time-travelling to Clare even as a child.  Time-travel is dangerous for Henry, as he does not know when or where he will show up and since, for some reason, he usually arrives there naked.  This could be kind of a creepy set up, with a 40-something naked guy appearing to a child in a meadow, but he is never creepy, and doesn't even know her, let alone love her, when they finally really meet in their 20s.

The premise of this novel sounds like sci-fi, a genre I typically really don't like, but I like time-travelling stories.  I like to think about how it would work, how a person could mess up the future if they did too much changing of things in the past (like in "Back to the Future" when Marty's picture is fading away because he is inadvertently changing how his parents meet, for example).  And this novel is also a love story as much as anything.  For a first novel, this had to be such a challenging one to write!  I thought she did an excellent job of keeping the reader aware of not only the time and place, but of what ages the characters are in each scene as well.

The Time Traveller's Wife was made into a movie as well, which was pretty well done, also, but as with most books and movies, the book was better.  This isn't a book you can read without thinking about - your brain will be doing a bit of work here - but it is well worth the read.  If you need brain candy, empty calories for your mind, try another book.  This is another one of those meals that you eat slowly, take time to savor and digest.

Until we read again,
Hallie