Annike: Hey guys, you may have noticed that both myself and Zoe haven’t really been around much this month. We’ve put up a few posts here and there but haven’t been particularly active on WordPress with reviews or anything and that is because we’ve been so busy that we haven’t really had much time to read. Despite this I have managed to finish a really good book I wanted to review and also wanted to let you know that holidays are coming up in a little over a week so it shouldn’t be long before we’re back and have more time on our hands again. Now without further ado let’s get onto the review for The Time Travellers Wife by Audrey Niffenegger.
The Time Traveler’s Wife, is the story of Clare, a beautiful art student, and Henry, an adventuresome librarian, who have known each other since Clare was six and Henry was thirty-six, and were married when Clare was twenty-three and Henry thirty-one. Impossible but true, because Henry is one of the first people diagnosed with Chrono-Displacement Disorder: periodically his genetic clock resets and he finds himself misplaced in time, pulled to moments of emotional gravity in his life, past and future. His disappearances are spontaneous, his experiences unpredictable, alternately harrowing and amusing.
The Time Traveler’s Wife depicts the effects of time travel on Henry and Clare’s marriage and their passionate love for each other as the story unfolds from both points of view. Clare and Henry attempt to live normal lives, pursuing familiar goals—steady jobs, good friends, children of their own. All of this is threatened by something they can neither prevent nor control, making their story intensely moving and entirely unforgettable.
As soon as I started this book I knew it was going to be really good. I’ve read a fair few number of books that involve this idea of time travelling but I can’t deny that this one was extremely unique, poignant and unlike any other. I particularly loved how we got to see both Clare and Henry grow up and live their entire lives in the pages of the story and the many wondrous and sometimes not so wondrous things that accompanied them.
I really liked Henry as a character – probably a bit more so than Clare because I found her slightly agitating in her younger years and the way that she was so full on. All the same, they were both rather likeable characters and the supporting characters were well developed too. This story is very full on and brutally honest – I think it explores a lot of the challenges of life and is highly detailed so while I found it very long and not as fast paced as I would have liked, it was really interesting getting to read about some of these topics that you wouldn’t normally.
There were definitely stages in the book that I liked better than others. For instance, I loved getting to see Henry and Clare interact when Clare was really young because their relationship was so beautiful and innocent – and it is here that I think the best light is shed on Henry. However, I also really liked a number of the present scenes, and even more so the future ones. I absolutely adored Alba (I won’t say who that is because it’s a bit of a spoiler), but if you have read the book I’m sure you’d agree with me. If only there was more of her!
To be perfectly honest, there are a few scenes in this book which would make me recommend it for age group probably above 15 or so. The book is definitely adult fiction rather than young adult fiction but if it is appropriate for you I would highly recommend it. The plot is so riveting – a little confusing at first but very easy once you understand it well enough – and the characters are just so 3 dimensional and relatable. The ending was really surprising to me, rather out of the blue in the last 50 pages or so but then again you never know quite what to expect from this book. If I were to change a few things I would probably make it a little shorter (it was 500+ pages) but other than that I really loved this one. 4/5 stars.
Thanks for reading guys! I hope some of you go and give this book a try after reading this or if you have already read it please let me know what your thoughts were. And we’ll be back in a couple of days to do a November Wrap Up!
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