Synopsis: Audrey Niffenegger's innovative debut, 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.
My review: I really really liked this book. Once I started reading it, I didn't want to put it down.
It starts with the first time Henry meets Clare... she's known him since she was 6 but the 28 year old Henry has never met her! How confusing is that? They meet up and she talks to him about her childhood and how long she's known him for... even though he does not know her! She knows the older Henry.
Clare is 6 - Henry appears to her for the first time. He is in his 30s and he knows her name! What happened is - Henry is married to Clare in the future so he's known her for a long time and this is his first time meeting a young Clare. But the Clar married to him in the future met him when she was 6 until the first time 28 year old Henry meets a 20 year old Clare.
I'm not making much sense, am I?
Henry is a Chrono-Displaced Person and he disappears suddenly and finds himself in the past or the future. His mother is dead but he has gone back to the past and seen her when she was alive, he has met himself(both older and younger) so many times, so he has memories from his childhood of meething his older self. When he disappears(time travels), he leave all his clothes behind and arrives at his destination naked. He has no control over his time travelling, it's not like he closes his eyes and says where he wants to go... it just happens unexpectedly. I think I might say too much about this book.
Henry knows his future... he meets his daughter when she's 10 but in his present life, his wife is about to give birth to her. Clare, his wife has to live with this... knowing that he can disappear, without much warning, and not return for hours, she worries about him, scared that he might have appeared somewhere where he is killed. I have so many questions to ask... but I don't want to cos if you haven't read the book, it might spoilt it for you.
I know it sounds so confusing but this is a beautuful book... please read it if you can.
I just found out there's a movie coming out in 2008!!! Eric Bana(Hulk and Munich) and Rachel McAdams(Red Eye, Mean Girls) as Henry and Clare. I will watch it... definitely. I loved this book.
Anyone read it yet? Your thoughts? I must admit my review has not done this book justice... it is a well written book. The author thought about a lot before she decided to write this book. I wondered what would happen next, I smiled, I laughed, I was worried, I was sad, I was happy... I loved it.
About the Book:
DARK!
The end... was chilling - even after reading how he killed the people at his school, there was a horrible twist at the end.
Not to give too much away - it's a disturbing book, interesting but unsettling. I was wondering - there is a reason why he didn't kill his mother. I think he loved her in a twisted way... disturbing stuff.