The Time Traveler's Wife

When I first saw this book in the store, I was immediately intrigued. The title was familiar and the summary looked interesting, so I bought it. Little did I know that it would be a novel like no other I have ever read before, a truly epic love story.

Henry DeTamble is a time traveler, but not by choice. Now I have read many books, some about time travel, but I have never seen the concept tackled like this. A genetic mutation causes Henry to spontaneously move through time, disappearing, leaving behind his clothes and possessions, and arriving naked in another time and place. He can’t take anything with him, and to survive he had been forced to become a petty criminal to feed and clothe himself while he travels. Eventually he returns to present time, but the only thing he brings back is the bodily injuries he’s suffered.

Another thing that adds to the plot of the story is that Henry doesn’t travel to random places at random times, mostly. He’s pulled to moments of emotional gravity from his life, past and future. Sometimes he even travels back and meets an earlier version of himself, which adds even more color to this novel.

Now when I first read the summary of this book I was curious about how well the author, Audrey Niffenegger could pull it off. As the first part of the summary states: “When Henry Meets Clare, he is twenty-eight and she is twenty. Henry has never met Clare before; Clare has known Henry since she was six.” Confused? I know I was.

But the thing that I really didn’t expect was how flawlessly, and how easily the author explained this concept, and the schematics of time travel.

The Time Traveler’s Wife follows the story of Clare and Henry’s lives in a mostly straightforward chronology, at least from Clare’s perspective. Near the beginning of the book the two meet in a Chicago library. Clare knows Henry, and has for ages, but he has never met her before in his life. But after this the reader gradually starts to understand why. A Henry later on in life has been traveling from his future to her past, and in that past she falls in love with him, but he hasn’t met her in his own present. Somehow the author has taken that complicated concept and tangled mess of tenses, and sorts it out into in a way that is entirely understandable, and very charming.

Niffengger goes on to take this concept and exploit it beautifully. Her version of the concept of time travel leans towards comedy, because it is an uncontrolled condition, which means Henry can be sucked out of the present and then wind up anywhere, naked.

Even though this is a novel about time travel, that is only part of the plot. This novel is even moreso about the beautiful, fragile love between Henry and Clare. It’s hard for both of them. Henry has to deal with trying not to be killed when he travels, knowing that he could end up materializing in the middle of a freeway or some other disaster like that. Clare has to face waiting for Henry to return, and hope that he’ll come back unhurt. Her turmoil is best expressed on the first page, with one simple paragraph. Long ago, men went to sea, and women waited for them, standing on the edge of the water, scanning the horizon for the tiny ship. Now I wait for Henry. He vanishes unwillingly, without warning. I wait for him. Each moment that I wait feels like a year, an eternity. Each moment is as slow and transparent as glass. Through each moment I can see infinite moments lined up, waiting. Why has he gone where I cannot follow?

The triumph of this book is the persistence of normality, of setting up a pretty decent family life even if you could disappear from it at any moment, and of being loyal to a man who Niffenegger finally describes as a genetic dysfunction. Henry tries the best he can to live a normal existence with his condition, having a job, friends, being an ordinary man. He adapts. This sends a powerful message that even though your life might suck sometimes, it’s not the end of the world. Instead of moping, Henry takes charge and lives his messed up existence to the fullest.

Because Henry can visit the future, he can not only buy a winning lottery ticket, but also visit the house he and Clare will live in, and even be sure they will get married and have a child. Even though his dysfunction can be the subject of embarrassment, it also serves to serves to smooth out the rawness of the experience of life.

But the benefits of Henry knowing his future does not come without a cost. His experiences, and knowledge about what is going to happen, gives both Henry and Clare a sense that their lives are already mapped out and unchangeable. In some sentimental scenes Henry manages to visit his daughter in the future after his death, a daughter who also has her father’s curse of time displacement. Near the end of the book Henry learns how exactly he is going to die, after another trip through time where he watches his death, and loses his feet from frostbite in the process, which slowly starts to build the climatic ending. But Henry doesn’t let the knowledge of his death bring him down into despair, like losing his feet did. Instead he takes life into his own hands, teaching Clare how to cook being an example.

Only one minor complaint came to my mind. Whether realistic or not, it seems that all love in this novel is something which recover never does seem to happen. Ingrid, Henry’s old girlfriend, mourns the loss of Henry to Clare to the point where she kills herself. Henry’s father mourns the death of his wife to the point where it cripples him. It seems that everyone loves with such a passion, and there is no middle ground. But I say again, this is only a minor complaint.

The ending of this book was beautifully bittersweet, making me bawl my eyes out. It just goes to show that death is not the end, and true love is magic. Everything was beautiful, right down to the last line, He is coming, and I am here.

All in all, The Time Traveler’s Wife is a truly unique novel about life, love, loss, and learning to cope with what you are given. Get your hands on a copy of this marvellous book, because it will definitely be time well spent.