Monday, August 10, 2009

The Time-Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger


The Time Traveler’s Wife is a unique love story, but it is also a biography of a man’s life captured in snapshots as he travels through time. The majority of his traveling revolves around the woman who is to become his wife. The main character, Henry, has the unique opportunity of meeting her (Clare) as a young girl, as a teenager, and as an adult. Clare therefore goes her whole life knowing that this is the man she will marry. She must just wait for their timelines to meet up before they can truly be together. Like a Nicholas Sparks’s novel, this love story also has some unexpected twists and turns. Unlike a Sparks’s novel, this love story can be a bit more graphic than what one would read in say The Notebook.

Yet, with such a unique twist to a traditional love story, it may be hard for some to put this book down as the reader tries to anticipate how this story will conclude. However, there may be others who will be frustrated by the seeming tedium of a story in which the reader already appears to know the conclusion from the earliest pages: these two people will marry and share an enduring love, but there is more to the story. I myself was bored with the seemingly unending jumps in time, but as the story neared its end, I became quite curious of the fate of the main character especially as the loose threads of storylines in his life are revealed to create a comprehensive biography of The Time Traveler’s Wife. While it would not be high on my list of recommended readings, it was unique enough and captured my interest enough, especially in the last few chapters that I would probably recommend it for those who enjoy the romance genre a la Nicholas Sparks. This review refers to the audio version of the book.

Will the movie, due out August 14th, measure up? Let us know what you think! Thanks to Patti Barker for her review!

No comments: