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[starreview]
Classification: Personal Time Travel
The Time Traveler’s wife is one of the very few science fiction novels that’s been so successful, it’s no longer considered a genre novel anymore by some. In fact, I found my copy in the ‘Fiction’ section of the book store.
In The Time Traveler’s Wife we are introduced to Henry De Tamble, a librarian with a curious medical disorder (“Chrono-Displacement Disorder)”, and to Clare Abshire, an artist from a wealthy family. The book describes the unconventional love story between Clare and Henry, from the very beginning to its bitter-sweet end.
What makes the book different from any other romance is Henry’s disorder. All his life, seemingly at random, Henry is occasionally being transported in time to places of importance in his past or future. He has no control over the timing or the length of the trip. Although some may think this might be fun, it most certainly is not: it completely destabilizes Henry’s life, since at any given moment he cannot rely on himself to be present, not to mention the fact he always appears naked, which can be dangerous both in terms of unfriendly people and in terms of cold weather. As a result of Henry’s condition, when Clare first meets Henry, she is a little girl. When Henry first meets Clare, he is in his twenties – and Clare has already known him for virtually her entire life.
The book is not written in a linear fashion. Although there is some order – the chapters are arranged in a way that advances the plot – every chapter is situated in various points of time in Clare and Henry’s relationship.
I absolutely loved this book. All characters, both the main and the secondary, were fully fleshed. While reading the book I’ve grown to deeply care about them. It is such a romantic and wonderful book.
From a Time Travel perspective the book is a joy as well. Since the chapters do not appear in chronological order, it’s a very fun mental exercise to ‘connect the dots’, see which part fits where, and discover things at the end of the book that were just mentioned at the beginning.
To summarize: I highly recommend this book. Unless you really don’t like romantic stories, you will not be Disappointed. Everyone else, either Time Travel lovers or romantics at heart are going to love it – it’s that good.
Link to the book’s details on Amazon.com
If you’ve read this book, please vote below:
I second your opinion. It was a very good book.