Review: The Time Traveler’s Wife

After having decided that I must read a lot this year, and in particular this summer, I sat down and copied out all the books which were in my “I’m planning on reading” list on Shelfari into my diary, and added the majority of the Kathy Reichs book, bulking the list almost up to target at 19 books. I then promptly sat down and read the first book on the list, conveniently forgetting about revision and that resolution about working hard, doing my best etc. I really need to prioritise those resolutions.

Note: I shall be using the correct British spelling of “traveller” because I am BRITISH and refuse to be brainwashed. Kind of in the same vein as Lizzy saying “president of where?” every time “the president” is mentioned on the news, which even I think is a little stupid because HELLO this is still the UK and we have a QUEEN and PRIME MINISTER and we are not ruled by the US. Yet.

So.

I must admit, I’ve had this book lying around since I saw the trailer for the film and decided I should really read it, since everyone knows time travel is AWESOME and I am a tiny bit completely obsessed with anything relating to it. However, I’m ashamed to say that I read the first page, decided I didn’t like the way it was written, and left it alone until now. That was a dumb move Ann, A DUMB MOVE (congratulations if you got the Charade reference, Cary Grant FOR THE WIN… anyway) because it IS well written and the way it is set out is actually completely crucial to the theme of the book. The point is, the whole book is narrated by the two main characters, Henry (the time traveller), and Clare, his (eventual) wife. It is also written entirely in the present tense – hence my original beef. In reality (because I… wasn’t in the real world when I read it first time..?) it really helps enhance one of the main issues in the book: that both characters want to hold on to the present because neither of them know when Henry will disappear next.

The book is set out really well – obviously time travel can make telling a story confusing because you never really know where it begins and ends, but very helpfully at the beginning of each scene the date and location is written, in addition to which version(s) of the main characters are in the scene, and where they are. Cleverly, the author manages to entwine the different scenes in a way that makes sense, even when crossing entire decades – firstly by covering most of Clare’s childhood meetings with the adult Henry, and then focussing more on Henry’s present life as he flits in and out of the present.

The book actually starts when Clare is 20 and Henry is 28. Clare has known Henry for most of her life, but this is the first time Henry meets her in his present timeline.  As we go through the book we find out that Henry has a genetic disorder which causes him to time travel. Although on the face of it (and through most of the first part of the book) it’s just a sweet story about a girl growing up and getting to know/falling in love with a man who already knows and loves her, the book actually touches on some interesting points. It never explicitly explores them, but once I was into the book it really made me think about the ethical/moral/interesting issues it raised – for example I bet child psychologists would have a field day if you told them the above “sweet” scenario.

The second section IS more sombre, and in points, heartbreaking – but I really felt this added to the story as a whole, and made me relish in the rest of the happy and important scenes that we discovered with Henry. It was easy to guess early on what kind of ending the story would have although we never knew for sure, and interestingly that made me want to read on, but also want to hold back to stay in the story, and to wish for the slightly happier first section. Yay for drawing you in.

But it’s not all doom and gloom. There are some wonderful moments in the second half, and the whole book manages to keep its charm and magic the whole way through – which is incredible because apart from the whole time travelling thing, the story is just about two people meeting, falling in love, and living their lives together… just a little jumbled up. It’s really cute and I totally recommend it – for people who like cute books as well as for people who like interesting ones.

And I shall end this review with a short extract from an email conversation I had with Campi about the book, because no book review would be complete without a reference to her.

PS have you read the time travelers wife? SO SAD (but maybe not your kind of sad..? idk)
point is, I’m reading it now and I know what the ending is and I’m coming to the end and I’m getting slower and slower at reading it… do you do that? LOL

I haven’t read the Time Traveller’s Wife, but I’m sure your sadness is (as always) justified and your crying is not. And I think the looking at the end of books is a you thing. I just read them really fast in order to get to the end so I miss important bits out.

Anyway, I totally didn’t look at the end of the book this time. It’s a complicated ending to find. You know, with time travel and all, you never really know when it’s going to end, there can be past and future mix ups.
HOWEVER, I think I coerced a friend at work to tell me the end, or I wikipedia-ed the end or something.
You should read it. Because you love time travel, and I am going to read a lot of books this year, so you should too.
Also it’s a cute book. And my crying totally was justified at the end because there was A LETTER. And letters are always sad, right?

Tags: book, Review, time travel