I just finished this book tonight and I had to come downstairs and post about it right away. It is really a touching and worthwhile read. But, I do need to admit that it can be vague and slow at times.
The Time Traveler's Wife is the story of Henry and Clare. Henry is a Time Traveler. He has no control over his ability and tendency to travel through time. One minute he is there and the next minute he is in another place and another time. He has a tendency to travel into his own past and to places where significant events in his life occurred or times involving people who were significant to him. However, at times his travel is completely random. Clare meets Henry as a little girl. She is barely school age when he turns up, naked, in the meadow next to her childhood home. From then on, she encounters Henry (at various stages of his own life) throughout the rest of her childhood. They go on to get married. The Time Traveler's Wife is the story of their lives together. How it began, how it worked once they were married, and how it all ended.
One of the marvelous things about this novel is that way that it forces the reader to ponder the concept of time and to think about the possibility of time travel. There were points when I had to put the book on my chest close my eyes and realize how a certain event was possible and what that would mean about time. It is by no means a story that will give you a headache because you are trying so hard to figure it out, but it does manage to make you think.
Throughout the story you become very attached to Henry and Clare. Mostly in a sense that you are really hopeful for them. They are in a less than ideal situation. It seems like there are more hurdles and dangers than there are benefits but you just find yourself cheering them on and hoping that they will beat the odds. There are also points when you want to turn back time for them and you really sympathize with them. It's a really beautiful, difficult, and touching love story and it is very much worth a read.
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this book made into a screenplay is a lovely tale of 3 generations from both the traveler, his spouse & their child, the people who "know" his secret, the doctors who treat both the "gene" for time travel as well as the baby...I think the many scenes where the two lovers discuss their motives and feelings from many "historical" perspectives is amazing....not always does the time traveler know which time he's in nor does he always remember what happened before, it's almost like rolling dice with a life in time and each time he must steal clothing from a store, a home or a laundry & often he gets arrested for nudity & "escapes" from jail on his next time travel...the film is not that hard to follow because his ages are obvious, her ages & stage of pregnancy are obvious & most of their family & friends eventually embrace the hours or weeks he pops in and out of, but most of all he gets to examine his own mortality and her risks in pregnancy
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