Book Review: The Time Traveler's Wife

If Audrey Niffenegger's book The Time Traveler's Wife could be classified into any category, it would be: heart-wrenching, as the two lovers transcend time and beat the odds to be together.

Narrated in alternating views by the two lovers, The Time Traveler's Wife is part science fiction, part fantasy with just the right amount of romance.

The story follows Henry Detamble, a hunky librarian, and Clare Abshire, an aspiring artist, through the trials and tribulations that any normal couple faces. The most notable difference is that Henry is a time traveler, while Clare is a normal person who lives her life in natural sequential order.

Henry's time travel is caused by Chrono-Displacement Disorder (CDP), which sweeps him into the past or future without his control or discretion. He usually arrives in a different time, stark naked and must steal for money, food and clothes. The time and place of his arrival is often an important time in his life. Oftentimes, he even runs into his younger or older self but the most significant times are when he is with Clare.

The present Henry meets Clare when he is 28 and she is 20, in reality Clare has known Henry since she was six years old when he found himself naked in her parent's meadow at the age of 36.

As Clare continues through her childhood and adolescence at a normal rate, Henry drops into her life intermittently at different ages though he withholds much information from Clare so that she can experience it naturally, the way her life was intended to be. It is in this fashion that Clare meets her future husband and Henry is able to meet the woman he loves at various stages of her life.

Their life and love story is very unusual and unorthodox. As Henry randomly disappears, it becomes frustrating and lonely for Clare, who can only await his safe return. Henry's life is so uncertain, sporadic and dangerous as he is dropped into life-threatening situations.

Even though Henry travels back and forth through time, NIffenegger does a great job of sequencing the book so the reader is informed yet still left in the dark allowing for a bit of suspense. The storyline moves forward seamlessly as the characters grow and progress through different stages of life and Henry is shuttled back and forward through time.

The plot and scenario of this story is a refreshing change from the typical boy meets girl, boy loses girl, boy wins girl back storyline. The challenges of loneliness, distance and time that Henry and Clare face, yet overcome, to prove their love is worth it all. It allows us to examine our own life and realize how lucky we are to have the present. There is no use living in a past we cannot change or looking to a future we cannot grasp. All we have is the present and now.

Love story aside, The Time Traveler's Wifechallenges the reader to think about his/her own values and views on marriage, love, loss, gene therapy and life in general.

The book may not be a classic or stay-up-all-nighter (it's a whopping 537 pages), but it is definitely a good read. If reading is not your thing, the book has also been adapted into film. The movie stars Rachel McAdams and Eric Bana.