Book Review: The Time Traveler's Wife

The Time Traveler's Wife - Audrey Niffenegger

(I'm going to do this review a bit differently since this book is so popular. After discussing the book, I'm going to write about my reaction to hopefully get over it. All will be explained later, but for those who haven't read the book, don't continue after the warning because the ending will definitely be mentioned.)

The Time Traveler's Wife has been recommended to me numerous times and just now, for the book club I'm in, am I finally getting around to reading it. I'm not sure why I've continuously pushed it aside, but I'm glad it finally found its way into my life.

Henry DeTamble, an adventuresome librarian has an unnatural affliction - periodically and involuntarily he travels through time. He can't decide where he's going, nor when he goes. It just happens, randomly, as quickly as snapping his fingers. Sometimes he's gone for minutes, sometimes for days and all the while Clare Abshire, his girlfriend and later wife, must wait for him. Every since Clare was a little girl she knew she would marry Henry. Starting at age six, he visited her, in his old age, and watched her grow up. Leaving his present where he was married happily to her, he'd travel back in time and watch her learn mathematics, hit puberty, start dating, fall in love. Clare, although confused at first by this older man, fell in love with him and would wait patiently for each of his 156 visits. That is, until she hits 20 and meets him in present time at his library. He, completely oblivious to her, learns about his future visits and her past. Together, they create their own future together.

The book shows how his affliction is more of a nuisance than a privilege. Yes, it could be used for good (stock market, lottery), but it's not normal. He can't control it, and he doesn't want it to take over him. As their life grows together, it becomes normal to bear, yet still hard. Like the wives waiting for their soldiers to come home, Clare waits, patiently, for her Henry.

The book was beautifully written. The story, told alternately by both main characters, jumps in time, just as Henry does. Although confusing at first, it becomes normal and, like Clare, you accept it, adapt to it. You see everything through both of their eyes - the excitement, love, pain, longing. You become attached to them as you watch both of them grow up. Niffenegger's world is beautifully crafted and completely accurate. From the punk clubs on the 70's and 80's to the coffee shops of the 2000's in Chicago, it's all there.

Niffenegger has an amazing talent at telling a story. She pulls you in and doesn't release you until the last words leave the page. Every character is crafted beautiful, especially Gomez and Charisse, the rebellious friends who thrive for a revolution. My main disappointment with the book, however, is the ending. For me to love a book, I have to adore the ending, the last words, and I didn't attach myself to the ending here. It was building up, discussed in chapters previously, however it wasn't what I wanted - it went against what I wanted. To clarify, it's incredibly well done. Everything in the book, every event mentioned comes back around. As if the entire book is a spider web, it all connects together perfectly and concretely. The ending left me wanting things to change, things to go back. Overall, it made me incredibly sad.

That aside, the book is incredibly well done and I highly recommend it to anyone wanting an addictive read. But be warned - the ending, although mentioned early, is hard to take in. That said, I still look forward to the film adaptation and her next book out this September.

[Spoilers Ahead! Do not continue if you wish to read the book!]

Why I hated the ending: it was predictable and incredibly hard to read. Last night at 2:30 a.m., I woke up still contemplating it, finding ways around what happened. Part of me understands why she killed off Henry, and part of me absolutely hates it. He was growing older and unhealthy, he lost his feet, he had no hope. Yes, those are reasons why it was almost okay. However...really? Couldn't she find a way around it? Also, why did she make him lose his feet? Make him watch Ingrid's suicide? It was all really harsh. Why put him through more? Put Clare through more? Their daughter through more?

Also, I'm still slightly perplexed by the ending. In her memory, he's standing and waving to her (after, I suppose, being shot). How is that if he doesn't have feet? And if he's shot? However, when it's in his perspective, he's there and then back in present time deceased. I'm a bit confused.

The book started out easy going and fun. Yes, we understood how hard it was for him, but it was still acceptable. It just seemed like the ending was incredibly harsh for such a delicate story. And I can't stop thinking about it. Since they warned about his death from halfway through the book, I thought it was fake, it would be pushed aside, but no. Just what she said happened. And it killed the book for me (no pun intended). I loved Henry, I didn't want him dead.

From the title, you assume the book is about Clare, but it's not. What happens after he dies? We see glimpses of her up to 2008, but that's it. What happens to Alba? It's like once Henry died, Niffenegger didn't care to tell us what happened to them. Like their lives just stopped as she waited. It was so tragic and hard to read.

Anyway, that's my reaction to the ending. It was a beautiful book up until then. Maybe I'm just idealistic. Maybe I do prefer my books to have happy endings. It's just. Although I like the book, I want to love this book, I really do. And I just can't after reading those last incredibly heartbreaking pages.