I was very enthusiastic about reading the Time Traveler's Wife after seeing the incredible reviews it got. This book certainly did not disappoint. Just as I was thinking 'this really doesn't make sense', everything started fitting together perfectly.
The Time Traveler's Wife is about a man, Henry, who has "Chrono Displacement" disorder. This means that he has the ability to spontaneously jump to different sequences in time. He does this by no will of his own, and he has no control over where or when he will appear (completely naked I might add) in time. That's right. Every time he passes through time he appears, stark naked, without any idea of where he is or what year he has arrived in.
He first meets his wife, Clare, when he is 28 and she is 20. She runs up to him and exclaims that she's known him her entire life. This is all news to him however, as he's never seen her before. However, when he reaches his 40's he finds himself traveling back in time to Clare's childhood and meeting her as a 6-year-old. She knows a whole lot about Henry that he doesn't know, and the book alternates between his viewpoint and hers. The reader gets to experience the frustrations Clare experiences, as a woman who never knows when her husband will disappear and for how long, or if he is safe. We also get to 'travel' with Henry as he ends up in sometimes beautiful, sometimes precarious situations.
Instead of being purely science fiction, this book weaves together an amazing love story that deals with complex ideas - time travel, marriage, children, religion, death, loss - and it weaves them all together in an honest way that really makes you feel like you can understand the characters. These aren't perfect people; they each have flaws, and make mistakes, and at times I found myself not liking things that they did. However, at the end if you haven't shed at least a few tears for them then you have a heart made of stone. Seriously.
So I highly recommend this book, and I also highly suggest that you read it before it's upcoming theatrical release on August 14th. I have no idea if they will destroy this story on screen or make it worthwhile. I'm posting the trailer here if you're interested, but in my opinion the trailer is severely lacking the darkness or the science fiction aspects of the book. It kind of looks like they took this amazing book and turned it into a really sappy chick flick. The book has many male and female fans, and many feel the same way I do about the trailer. Some love it, some absolutely detest it. I'm not really liking it, but I'm hoping it will surprise me. I will definitely see it either way.
The review and the movie trailer are interesting from the perspective of someone who has not read this book. Watching the trailer just now, I thought it looked very intriguing. I love a good romance where people want something they can't have. However, reading your book review does make it sound as though the movie has dwindled down the characters to make room for a good chic flick. We'll have to see I guess! Thanks for the review!
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