Book Log #3: The Time-Traveler's Wife, by Audrey Niffenegger

[annathepiper]

Why on earth hadn't I read The Time-Traveler's Wife before? I distinctly remember it getting recommended to me--and yet, it took a coworker loaning me her somewhat battered copy to bring this book properly to my attention.

And wow, I'm glad for that, because this was a wonderful read. The idea of the book is simple: Henry DeTamble has a genetic condition which causes him to inadvertently shift where he is in time and space. Rather like earlier incarnations of the Doctor, only without the hard-to-control TARDIS. ;) He can't control when or where he will shift, or how long he will be gone. Needless to say, this means he has a very strange life and has to struggle to have as normal an existence as possible.

What holds him together is the love of his life, Clare. The relationship between Henry and Clare is the driving force of this book, and given Henry's unusual condition, it means that the two of them have an extremely non-linear relationship: for example, Clare meets Henry for the first time when she is 6 and he is 36, but Henry's first meeting of her is when he's 28 and she's 20. Niffenegger does a marvelous job nevertheless jumping forward along the track of Clare's life as Henry jumps in and out at differing ages, with occasional sideways glimpses at Henry's jaunts when pertinent to the development of their relationship. You have to work a little to keep track of what Henry knows when, but that's part of what makes it all fun. And that Niffenegger cheerfully has Henry cross his own path multiple times during the convoluted course of his life makes it even more entertaining.

The ending is not surprising, as it is telegraphed well in advance, but it flows very naturally and very poignantly from what has come before. And it brought a tear to my eye when I was done. Highly, highly recommended. Four stars.

Comments

[tiggymalvern.livejournal.com]

A friend bought me that book for Christmas '06 and I read it in spring or so of last year. I found the plot and the idea fascinating - the author had given so much thought to the complications and issues of Henry's existence, to all the little details along the way (I adored the whole thing about the cage). I had nothing but admiration for the incredible nightmare it must have been to have worked out the timelines and keep track of everything, serious kudos to Niffenegger for that. And it was a pretty original format, tough to pull off in the modern world.

But - there always has to be one, doesn't there? - this was the author's first published novel, and damn, it does show. The alternating first person format dramatically shows up the flaws in her writing, because there's no distinction between the narrative voices at all. And maybe that's reasonable in places, because the upbringings and backgrounds of Henry and Clare aren't too dissimilar. But their life experiences diverge so drastically as they age, as Henry becomes more traumatised and bitter about the realities of his existence, and that should tell. And it just doesn't. Every section from 6-year-old Clare to middle-aged Henry sounds far too similar, basically (I assume) like the author, and that really dragged the book down for me. The choice of first person narrative I felt was a poor one for an inexperienced writer, and it destroyed any chance I had of really believing, of becoming absorbed in the book instead of admiring the plot intricacies from a distance. A real pity, because with a bit more experience and talent behind it, the idea could have become one brilliant novel, instead of an adequate experiment.

[annathepiper]

It intrigues me that you had this issue with the book--because this didn't bother me at all, and I'm trying to figure out why. The bits from six-year-old Clare's POV in particular stood out for me as having a different voice, specifically because the sentences were suddenly much longer with a lot of run-ons--rather like I would expect a six-year-old to talk if she's trying to tell a story.

Though I do agree that just about all of Henry's segments and most of Clare's adult ones had a similar voice. In both cases even though she's in first person, there's a very objective sense to what's going on.

Maybe it's because I didn't read this book in one sitting, but rather in bits scattered across multiple commutes over a couple of weeks, that the voice issue didn't strike me as a problem. Dunno!

[tiggymalvern.livejournal.com]

Yes, there was an obvious effort with Clare the kid to avoid any complex language, and keep it simple. But you've really hit it on the head with the objective comment - first person shouldn't sound so uninvolved, and especially not a first person child. That's why I found the book fascinating intellectually, but it completely failed to hook me emotionally - sad, when it bills itself as a deep romance.

[annathepiper]

*nods thoughtfully*

And here's more of me being intrigued that it struck both of us so differently. I can definitely understand why it didn't work for you as a reader, yet at the same time I was quite engaged, myself. This could, again, have been a matter of me reading in bits and pieces, or perhaps being much slower on the uptake than normal while reading. ;) Dunno!

And this is always a good sign to me when two different readers can walk away from the same book with notably different reactions. It makes talking about the work much more enjoyable. ^_^

[annathepiper]

By the way, did you know there's a movie version out this year?

[tiggymalvern.livejournal.com]

No, I didn't know that, thank you! It doesn't surprise me, though, given how much publicity the book got.

[annathepiper]

I didn't know either until I went a'Googling about the book, after my coworker loaned it to me!

I shall have to go see it, I think. I'd like to see how a movie treats this plot, and also, that guy they've lined up to play Henry is rather cute. As is Clare, for that matter. ;)