No blue boxes, no cars, no magic. Audrey Niffenegger’s book, The Time Traveler’s Wife is an invigorating story of a time traveler, but not in the way you think. Time traveling is a not yet discovered genetic disorder, causing one of the protagonists, Henry DeTamble to time travel unpredictably. My mom has read the 2003 New York Times Bestseller since it was published, and it’s one of her yearly traditions to read it again. Only within the last three years has my mom gotten me, and felt that it was appropriate, to read it. It was one of the best decisions of my life. One of the best book decisions of anyone's life. The Time Traveler’s Wife is an oldie but a goody and the time traveling aspect makes it feel more modern, almost normal. I say normal because it doesn’t matter if you read it when it first came out, or if you are just now picking it up because the story is still the same. The story doesn’t change, even if everything else around you does. The story still matters. It’s just as modern now as it was 12 years ago.
As I said before, Henry time travels unpredictably. This dumps him anywhere in his life both past and future, as well as anywhere in his future wife’s past, and occasionally her future. Since time travel is a genetic disorder, and unpredictable, Henry can’t take anything or anyone with him...Including clothes. Most chapters start off with Henry searching desperately for clothes in the harsh Chicago winter. The book goes back and forth between past, present, and future, and the protagonists’ Henry DeTamble and Clare Abshire points of views. In the present, Henry is a handsome librarian working for the Newberry Library in Chicago, Illinois, and Clare, a transplant from South Haven, Michigan, is an artist who specializes in paper sculptures. When 20-year-old Clare meets 28-year-old Henry in the present for what Henry thinks is the first time, he begins to time travel back into Clare’s past. Henry starts seeing Clare when she is as young as 5. In his first visit, he is dumped back in South Haven, Michigan on Clare’s families’ back property, with no clothes, and no food. Clare, being the curious person she is, asked Henry a lot of questions before bringing him clothes and food...If you could call it food. Clare isn’t known for her cooking, and never really bothered to learn how to cook, since her family had a cook. As a young child, and even though her teenage years, Clare would bring out some rather interesting concoctions...none of which I will ever repeat, because just thinking about them makes me want to vomit. I have to give props to Henry, because he ate everything she brought him, from the traditional PB&J to one of Clare’s “special” recipes. After Henry began visiting more often, Clare left a basket with non-perishable food and clothes for Henry, just in case she was at school when he came. Henry and Clare would develop a teacher-student relationship. He helped Clare with her homework, and as she got older they would discuss poetry, literature, art, and even the greater mysteries of the universe. Henry visited with Clare throughout her life, until she turned 18, after her 18th birthday, Clare would catch up with Henry’s present in a few years, and they would develop a more romantic relationship.
There are various themes throughout the book: fate versus free will, love, sex, versions of reality, identity, morality. Niffenegger challenges the line that divides predetermined fate and free will. While although Henry knows his future, he lives his life like he doesn’t know what will happen next. Because he knows he will feel trapped and will dwell on what is going to happen, if he does know, making his life meaningless. Whereas Clare struggles with rejecting and accepting determinism in her life. She appreciates knowing she will be with Henry but rejects Henry’s predictions of their future together. Many other critics are divided as to whether or not Niffenegger is saying we have free will and can change our future, or if we have a predetermined fate. Personally, I don’t think it’s either. Maybe it’s both. We can change our fate in the more mundane everyday festivities, such as what cereal we eat for breakfast, but maybe, just maybe, we have predetermined events in our lives. Love is a strange and complicated topic that can be expressed in different ways, as Niffenegger proves.
Henry and Clare show their love for each other not through just physical lovemaking, but also through Clare waiting for and longing for Henry to come back. They make sacrifices to make their relationship, which is sometimes long distance, work.
Sex is very important in the Clare and Henry universe. Sex keeps Henry in the present by being close to Clare, while it helps Clare materialize him, and know that he is really there. While most critics don’t see how the sex scenes in the book contribute to the story, it makes perfect sense to me. I have PTSD, and sometimes it’s hard to tell what is real and what isn’t. Being close to someone helps me stay in the present. Helps me realize that what is happening in my brain is not what is currently happening. If Clare and Henry can get what they need from each other, even through sex, I don’t see how those scenes don’t contribute to the story.
Reality is subjective in Time Traveler’s Wife. It’s subjective and the character's emotions influence it. Because Henry’s reality takes place in the past and future, it’s still part of his reality in the present. He is able to maintain relationships with people in his life who have passed away, as well as people who aren’t even born yet. Whereas Clare, her timeline is chronological, and her reality only exists in the present. This leaves Henry disoriented in the present when adult Clare and Henry meet in Chicago. For Clare, she has known Henry all her life, but for Henry, this is the first time they have met. This definitely reminds me of Disney’s Sleeping Beauty. “I know you, I walked with you once upon a dream…” is screaming at me, because Clare struggles throughout her life wondering if Henry is even real, and it was heartbreaking and exciting for me, for him to not know who she was when they met in the Newberry Library.
Finally, there is mortality. In this universe, morality is not right or wrong, it’s living or dying. This book analyses the cause and effect, the impact, of death. The characters in this book accept and carry on, or the are “stuck” in the past. Henry’s father loses his will, his need to live after Henry’s mother passes away. Clare’s mother has tried to commit suicide after the death of her baby. But then there is the extraordinary character of Mrs. Kim, the DeTamble’s landlord, and Henry’s pseudo-mother. She lost her daughter and her husband, yet she has accepted this part of her life and continues to live her life. But then there is Henry. He knows when he will die, and he has accepted it in his own way, but he keeps it from Clare. He tries to save her from the hurt. The hurt he felt when his mother died.
With such a complicated plot, it would be nice to know when this book takes place, but with the complexity of the subject, it bounces around a lot from before Henry was born (when he goes back and sees his parent’s love life begin) to after Henry’s death. It’s a broad timeline, but it was nice to read a story that is has a beginning and an end, even if it is in different parts of the book.
Don’t even get me started on the characters of this book. They get so in-depth, more so than the movie could possibly go. It’s prominent in Clare and Henry, but it’s even more prominent in less prominent characters, like Gomez, Mrs. Kim, and Mr. DeTamble.
Even though Gomez is the boyfriend of Clare’s best friend, Charise, he is featured more within the book. Maybe it’s because Gomez has always been secretly in love with Clare, since before Henry and Clare met in the present, or maybe it’s because Gomez is the human form of Clare’s conscience. Constantly warning Clare about Henry, and his former misogynistic tendencies, and how she deserves stability in her life, someone who is there for her, in her present.
Mrs. Kim is a hardy, funny, and modest Korean woman, who acts as Henry’s mom after Henry’s own mother died. Mrs. Kim, kindly nicknamed Kimmy, lost her daughter and husband, when or how the book doesn’t say. But you can only imagine how she felt losing people so close to her. She is a wicked cook, and Henry inherited all of his cooking skills from her. Henry trusts Kimmy so much, that she is one of the few that know about his condition.
Finally, there is Richard DeTamble. A once brilliant violinist for the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, we find throughout most of the book that Mr. DeTamble has developed an addiction to alcohol since Henry’s mother died when Henry was five. After the death, Richard’s life has become meaningless. He feels he has nothing to live for, not even his own son. He muddles through life with a bottle in hand. Believing that it was Henry’s fault that his wife, Annette, died. Even though Henry had no fault in it at all. When Henry approached his father to ask for his mother’s engagement rings, Henry and Richard got into a heated argument, which then resulted in the beginning of reconciliation between the two of them.
The author goes really deep with the majority of characters throughout the book and gives each of them a history, a present, and a story yet to be told. I will say that I wish there was more character development for Charise, Clare’s best friend. I didn’t understand why Niffenegger gave more background on everyone else, and all we find out about Charise is that she is a fellow artist and went to college with Clare, and what her day job is, that she goes to church and that she married Gomez. I felt like Charise could have had more of a presence.
Overall, I really enjoyed the book. It made me laugh, it made me cry, it made me think. I have grown very attached to the characters. It’s a book rich in detail. It takes me back to where I came from (Chicago and its suburbs). It’s my safe place. I’m writing this, and I can’t think of any other way to describe it. It brings up an indescribable feeling. I recommend this book to anyone who loves romance, adventure, science fiction, and for those who want to contemplate the universe’s mysteries.
As I said before, Henry time travels unpredictably. This dumps him anywhere in his life both past and future, as well as anywhere in his future wife’s past, and occasionally her future. Since time travel is a genetic disorder, and unpredictable, Henry can’t take anything or anyone with him...Including clothes. Most chapters start off with Henry searching desperately for clothes in the harsh Chicago winter. The book goes back and forth between past, present, and future, and the protagonists’ Henry DeTamble and Clare Abshire points of views. In the present, Henry is a handsome librarian working for the Newberry Library in Chicago, Illinois, and Clare, a transplant from South Haven, Michigan, is an artist who specializes in paper sculptures. When 20-year-old Clare meets 28-year-old Henry in the present for what Henry thinks is the first time, he begins to time travel back into Clare’s past. Henry starts seeing Clare when she is as young as 5. In his first visit, he is dumped back in South Haven, Michigan on Clare’s families’ back property, with no clothes, and no food. Clare, being the curious person she is, asked Henry a lot of questions before bringing him clothes and food...If you could call it food. Clare isn’t known for her cooking, and never really bothered to learn how to cook, since her family had a cook. As a young child, and even though her teenage years, Clare would bring out some rather interesting concoctions...none of which I will ever repeat, because just thinking about them makes me want to vomit. I have to give props to Henry, because he ate everything she brought him, from the traditional PB&J to one of Clare’s “special” recipes. After Henry began visiting more often, Clare left a basket with non-perishable food and clothes for Henry, just in case she was at school when he came. Henry and Clare would develop a teacher-student relationship. He helped Clare with her homework, and as she got older they would discuss poetry, literature, art, and even the greater mysteries of the universe. Henry visited with Clare throughout her life, until she turned 18, after her 18th birthday, Clare would catch up with Henry’s present in a few years, and they would develop a more romantic relationship.
There are various themes throughout the book: fate versus free will, love, sex, versions of reality, identity, morality. Niffenegger challenges the line that divides predetermined fate and free will. While although Henry knows his future, he lives his life like he doesn’t know what will happen next. Because he knows he will feel trapped and will dwell on what is going to happen, if he does know, making his life meaningless. Whereas Clare struggles with rejecting and accepting determinism in her life. She appreciates knowing she will be with Henry but rejects Henry’s predictions of their future together. Many other critics are divided as to whether or not Niffenegger is saying we have free will and can change our future, or if we have a predetermined fate. Personally, I don’t think it’s either. Maybe it’s both. We can change our fate in the more mundane everyday festivities, such as what cereal we eat for breakfast, but maybe, just maybe, we have predetermined events in our lives. Love is a strange and complicated topic that can be expressed in different ways, as Niffenegger proves.
Henry and Clare show their love for each other not through just physical lovemaking, but also through Clare waiting for and longing for Henry to come back. They make sacrifices to make their relationship, which is sometimes long distance, work.
Sex is very important in the Clare and Henry universe. Sex keeps Henry in the present by being close to Clare, while it helps Clare materialize him, and know that he is really there. While most critics don’t see how the sex scenes in the book contribute to the story, it makes perfect sense to me. I have PTSD, and sometimes it’s hard to tell what is real and what isn’t. Being close to someone helps me stay in the present. Helps me realize that what is happening in my brain is not what is currently happening. If Clare and Henry can get what they need from each other, even through sex, I don’t see how those scenes don’t contribute to the story.
Reality is subjective in Time Traveler’s Wife. It’s subjective and the character's emotions influence it. Because Henry’s reality takes place in the past and future, it’s still part of his reality in the present. He is able to maintain relationships with people in his life who have passed away, as well as people who aren’t even born yet. Whereas Clare, her timeline is chronological, and her reality only exists in the present. This leaves Henry disoriented in the present when adult Clare and Henry meet in Chicago. For Clare, she has known Henry all her life, but for Henry, this is the first time they have met. This definitely reminds me of Disney’s Sleeping Beauty. “I know you, I walked with you once upon a dream…” is screaming at me, because Clare struggles throughout her life wondering if Henry is even real, and it was heartbreaking and exciting for me, for him to not know who she was when they met in the Newberry Library.
Finally, there is mortality. In this universe, morality is not right or wrong, it’s living or dying. This book analyses the cause and effect, the impact, of death. The characters in this book accept and carry on, or the are “stuck” in the past. Henry’s father loses his will, his need to live after Henry’s mother passes away. Clare’s mother has tried to commit suicide after the death of her baby. But then there is the extraordinary character of Mrs. Kim, the DeTamble’s landlord, and Henry’s pseudo-mother. She lost her daughter and her husband, yet she has accepted this part of her life and continues to live her life. But then there is Henry. He knows when he will die, and he has accepted it in his own way, but he keeps it from Clare. He tries to save her from the hurt. The hurt he felt when his mother died.
With such a complicated plot, it would be nice to know when this book takes place, but with the complexity of the subject, it bounces around a lot from before Henry was born (when he goes back and sees his parent’s love life begin) to after Henry’s death. It’s a broad timeline, but it was nice to read a story that is has a beginning and an end, even if it is in different parts of the book.
Don’t even get me started on the characters of this book. They get so in-depth, more so than the movie could possibly go. It’s prominent in Clare and Henry, but it’s even more prominent in less prominent characters, like Gomez, Mrs. Kim, and Mr. DeTamble.
Even though Gomez is the boyfriend of Clare’s best friend, Charise, he is featured more within the book. Maybe it’s because Gomez has always been secretly in love with Clare, since before Henry and Clare met in the present, or maybe it’s because Gomez is the human form of Clare’s conscience. Constantly warning Clare about Henry, and his former misogynistic tendencies, and how she deserves stability in her life, someone who is there for her, in her present.
Mrs. Kim is a hardy, funny, and modest Korean woman, who acts as Henry’s mom after Henry’s own mother died. Mrs. Kim, kindly nicknamed Kimmy, lost her daughter and husband, when or how the book doesn’t say. But you can only imagine how she felt losing people so close to her. She is a wicked cook, and Henry inherited all of his cooking skills from her. Henry trusts Kimmy so much, that she is one of the few that know about his condition.
Finally, there is Richard DeTamble. A once brilliant violinist for the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, we find throughout most of the book that Mr. DeTamble has developed an addiction to alcohol since Henry’s mother died when Henry was five. After the death, Richard’s life has become meaningless. He feels he has nothing to live for, not even his own son. He muddles through life with a bottle in hand. Believing that it was Henry’s fault that his wife, Annette, died. Even though Henry had no fault in it at all. When Henry approached his father to ask for his mother’s engagement rings, Henry and Richard got into a heated argument, which then resulted in the beginning of reconciliation between the two of them.
The author goes really deep with the majority of characters throughout the book and gives each of them a history, a present, and a story yet to be told. I will say that I wish there was more character development for Charise, Clare’s best friend. I didn’t understand why Niffenegger gave more background on everyone else, and all we find out about Charise is that she is a fellow artist and went to college with Clare, and what her day job is, that she goes to church and that she married Gomez. I felt like Charise could have had more of a presence.
Overall, I really enjoyed the book. It made me laugh, it made me cry, it made me think. I have grown very attached to the characters. It’s a book rich in detail. It takes me back to where I came from (Chicago and its suburbs). It’s my safe place. I’m writing this, and I can’t think of any other way to describe it. It brings up an indescribable feeling. I recommend this book to anyone who loves romance, adventure, science fiction, and for those who want to contemplate the universe’s mysteries.