The Time Traveler's Wife

By Audrey Niffenegger

Normally, I loathe time travel stories. They're too often cliche and fail to adhere to any kind of internal consistency. However, I loved The Time Traveler's Wife mainly because it's so different from other stories on the subject. In fact, the book isn't about time travel per se. It's about Henry, a time traveler, and Clare, his titular wife. And their daughter, and friends, and family.

In other words, nobody goes back in time to fight Nazis or alter history. It's a small-scale story about a man who involuntarily and spontaneously time travels, and the book explores a variety of questions that would come up if that kind of thing were real. The questions are occasionally mundane (Would you cheat the lottery and stock market or would you try to live a normal life?) but most often very thoughtful (If you, as a grown man, repeatedly met your wife as a little girl, how would you treat her? If you knew when and how you were going to die, would you tell your family? If you met your daughter in the future, what would you say to her?). The book stumbles around the cause/effect paradox that plagues every time travel story, but once you suspend that little piece of disbelief it's a great experience full of really stimulating conundrums and ethical questions on a very personal level.

A few overwrought similes aside, the writing is also quite lyrical, flowing well as the author jumps back and forth in time in a way that's engaging, not confusing. She lays down multiple threads in the narrative, then dances among them with admirable skill as she plays with the many implications of Henry's brand of "chrono displacement disorder." Why is Henry so unhappy every time he travels from the year 2000? What was the horrible accident that Clare is prevented from seeing as a little girl? Why does Gomez dislike Henry so much before they even meet for the first time? Questions like these are dropped all the time, then neatly wrapped up as the narrative skips back and forth. It's really well done.

The book's only substantial flaw is that the relationship between the time traveler and his wife is too romantic. Even though the husband does some really awful stuff (drinking, drugs, going behind his wife's back to get a vasectomy, secretly having medical tests done on their daughter against the wife's wishes), the couple is just over the top in love. They constantly ache for each other, fawn for each other, and generally adore each other to the point where you want to check the book's cover to make sure it doesn't have a busty maiden swooning into the arms of a lantern-jawed sea captain. The romance, along with the main characters' love for their daughter, is played to good effect and results in some genuinely moving scenes towards the end of the book, but I would have connected more with the characters if they had actually behaved like a real couple and found strife in their life every now and again.

That being said, I highly recommend the book and think it would appeal to a wide variety of people.

2006

01/12/06 -- The Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger

2005

12/24/05 -- Learning to See Creatively by Bryan Peterson
12/15/05 -- The Miserable Mill by Lemony Snicket
12/10/05 -- The Colorado Kid by Stephen King
12/08/05 -- A Feast For Crows by George R. R. Martin
11/16/05 -- Blink by Malcom Gladwell
11/12/05 -- Anansi Boys by Neil Gaiman
11/07/05 -- For Whom the Bell Tolls by Ernest Hemingway
10/27/05 -- Christine by Stephen King
10/11/05 -- Freakonomics by Steven Levitt and Stephen Dubner
10/11/05 -- The Dragonbone Chair by Tad Williams
09/24/05 -- The Tipping Point by Malcom Gladwell
09/23/05 -- Firestarter by Stephen King
09/15/05 -- The Dead Zone by Stephen King
09/09/05 -- The Dirt: Confessions of the World's Most Notorious Rock Band
by Motly Crue
08/31/05 -- Doloris Claiborne by Stephen King
08/26/05 -- To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
08/18/05 -- Galactic Pot Healer by Philip K. Dick
08/16/05 -- Minority Report and Other Stories by Philip K. Dick
08/11/05 -- Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? by Philip K. Dick
08/10/05 -- Personalty Psychology in the Workplace by Brent Roberts and
Robert Hogan (Editors)
08/10/05 -- The Man in the High Castle by Philip K. Dick
08/05/05 -- A Brief History of Nearly Everything by Bill Bryson
07/23/05 -- Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince by J.K. Rowling
07/22/05 -- Nothing's Sacred by Lewis Black
07/20/05 -- Charlie and the Chocolate Factory by Roald Dahl
07/18/05 -- The Amber Spyglass by Phillip Pullman
07/01/05 -- The Psychology of the Psychic by David Marks and
Richard Kammann
06/28/05 -- Intelligence: A Brief History by Anna Cianciolog and
Robert Sternberg
06/24/05 -- The Subtle Knife by Phillip Pullman
06/22/05 -- The Golden Compass by Phillip Pullman
06/15/05 -- The Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemingway
06/13/05 -- The Last Battle by C.S. Lewis
06/11/05 -- The Zombie Survival Guide by Max Brooks
06/08/05 -- The Silver Chair by C.S. Lewis
06/06/05 -- The Zen of CSS Design by Dave Shea and Molly Holzschlag
06/06/05 -- The Voyage of the Dawn Treader by C.S. Lewis
06/02/05 -- Prince Caspian by C.S. Lewis
05/30/05 -- Exile's Return by Raymond Feist
05/27/05 -- New Introductory Photography Course by John Hedgecoe
05/27/05 -- The Horse and His Boy by C.S. Lewis
05/25/05 -- The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis
05/24/05 -- The Magician's Nephew by C.S. Lewis
05/23/05 -- Catch 22 by Joseph Heller
05/10/05 -- Bone: One Volume Edition by Jeff Smith
05/13/05 -- Cascading Style Sheets: The Definitive Guide by Eric Meyer
05/10/05 -- Rose Madder by Stephen King
04/29/05 -- Carrie by Stephen King
04/29/05 -- Sea of Silver Light by Tad Williams
04/26/05 -- The Life of Pi by Yann Martel
04/19/05 -- The Wide Window by Daniel Handler
04/18/05 -- The Reptile Room by Daniel Handler
04/13/05 -- The Bad Beginning by Daniel Handler
04/12/05 -- Guns, Germs, and Steel by Jared Diamond
04/07/05 -- Atlas Shrugged by Ayne Rand
02/07/05 -- The Pilgrim's Regress by C.S. Lewis
02/02/05 -- The Trial by Franz Kafka
01/22/05 -- The Pearl by John Steinbeck
01/21/05 -- Tuck Everlasting by Natalie Babbitt
01/18/05 -- Red Mars by Kim Stanley Robinson
01/06/05 -- Cluster Analysis by Mark. Aldenderfer & Roger Blashfield
01/04/05 -- Emotional Intelligence: Why It Can Matter More Than IQ
by Daniel Goleman

2004

12/30/04 -- A Storm of Swords by George R.R. Martin
12/23/04 -- The Science of Good & Evil by Michael Shermer
11/22/04 -- A Clash of Kings by George R.R. Martin
10/24/04 -- America (The Book) by the staff of The Daily Show
10/23/04 -- Stranger in a Strange Land by Robert Heinlein
10/17/04 -- The Dark Tower by Stephen King
10/11/04 -- A Game of Thrones by George R.R. Martin
09/15/04 -- The Fountainhead by Ayne Rand
09/12/04 -- How Would You Move Mount Fuji? : Microsoft's Cult of the Puzzle
by William Poundstone
08/17/04 -- Four Past Midnight by Stephen King
08/12/04 -- Job Analysis: A Guide to Assessing Work Activities by Sidney Gael
08/06/04 -- Speaker for the Dead by Orson Scott Card
08/01/04 -- Shardik by Richard Adams
07/30/04 -- Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card
07/24/04 -- Darwin's Radio by Greg Bear
07/14/04 -- A Wizard of Earthsea by Ursula K. Le Guinn
07/10/04 -- Blackwood Farm by Anne Rice
07/05/04 -- Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix by J.K. Rowling
06/18/04 -- EEO Law and Personnel Practices by Arthur Gutman
06/17/04 -- Song of Susannah by Stephen King
06/16/04 -- The DaVinci Code by Dan Brown
05/30/04 -- Secrets of the Baby Whisperer by Tracy Hogg
05/28/04 -- With a Tangled Skein by Peirs Anthony
05/27/04 -- Faerie Tale by Raymond Feist
05/02/04 -- Post Captain by Patrick O'Brian
04/15/04 -- Einstein Never Used Flash Cards by Roberta Golinkoff,
Kathy Hirsh-Pasek, and Diane Eyer
04/10/04 -- Statistical Power Analysis by Kevin R. Murphy and Brett Myors
04/04/04 -- How to Talk to Your Baby by Dorothy and Kevin Dougherty
04/03/04 -- Honored Enemy by Raymond Feist and William Forstchen
03/26/04 -- Master and Commander by Patrick O'Brian
03/16/04 -- Bearing an Hourglass by Piers Anthony
03/05/04 -- Desperation by Stephen King
03/02/04 -- Contact by Carl Sagan
02/26/04 -- Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad
02/21/04 -- The Silmarillion by J.R.R. Tolkein
02/20/04 -- Starship Troopers by Robert Heinlein
02/10/04 -- Riding the Bullet by Stephen King
02/07/04 -- Adventures in a TV Nation by Michael Moore and Kathleen Glynn
02/06/04 -- Bringing Down the House by Ben Mezrich
02/05/04 -- Anthem by Ayn Rand
02/01/04 -- What to Expect the First Year by Heidi Murkoff, et al.
01/24/04 -- Benjamin Franklin: An American Life by Walter Isaacson
01/16/04 -- The Time Machine by H.G. Wells
01/15/04 -- Wolves of the Calla by Stephen King
01/13/04 -- 1984 by George Orwell
01/07/04 -- Tales of the Unusual by H.G. Wells
01/05/04 -- Animal Farm by George Orwell

2003

12/31/03 12/31/03 -- Of Mice and Men, by John Steinbeck
12/27/03 -- Wizard & Glass, by Stephen King
12/22/03 -- The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon, by Stephen King
12/18/03 -- The Waste Lands, by Stephen King
12/14/03 -- All Quiet on the Western Front, by Erich Maria Remarque
12/05/03 -- A Confederacy of Dunces, by John Kennedy Toole
11/29/03 -- King of Foxes, by Raymond Feist
11/27/03 -- Dude, Where's My Country?, by Michael Moore
11/26/03 -- Mountain of Black Glass, by Tad Williams
11/16/03 -- The Elements of Style, by William Strunk Jr. and E.B. White
10/29/03 -- Heart of Winter, by Robert Jordan
10/27/03 -- What to Expect when You're Expecting, by Heidi Murkoff, et al
10/13/03 -- The Little SAS Book, by Lora Delwiche and Susan Slaughter
10/10/03 -- On Writing, by Stephen King
09/18/03 -- The Drawing of the Three, by Stephen King
08/17/03 -- The Hobbit, by J.R.R. Tolkein
08/08/03 -- The Regulators, by Stephen King
08/03/03 -- The Matrix and Philosophy, by William Irwin (Editor), et al
07/25/03 -- Talon of the Silver Hawk, by Raymond Feist
07/22/03 -- Masters of DOOM, by David Kushner
07/20/03 -- The Expectant Father, by Armin Brott
07/16/03 -- The Catcher in the Rye, by J.D. Salinger
07/14/03 -- Where Do I Put the Decimal Point?, by Elisabeth Ruedy, et al
07/12/03 -- Hearts in Atlantis, by Stephen King
07/06/03 -- The People's Guide to J.R.R. Tolkein, by Erica Challis (Editor), et al