It’s a book? Have I ever reviewed a book on here before? Blimey
What Is It
The Time Traveler’s Wife is the debut novel of American author Audrey Niffenegger, published in 2003. It is a love story about a man with a genetic disorder that causes him to time travel unpredictably, and about his wife, an artist, who has to cope with his frequent absences and dangerous experiences. Niffenegger, frustrated in love when she began the work, wrote the story as a metaphor for her failed relationships. The tale’s central relationship came to her suddenly and subsequently supplied the novel’s title. The novel, which has been classified as both science fiction and romance, examines issues of love, loss, and free will. In particular, it uses time travel to explore miscommunication and distance in relationships, while also investigating deeper existential questions.
What I Think
First of all, guys if you are reading this don’t worry this book will interest you too. Lots of science fiction elements and questions and not too much girly stuff.
Good, now that’s cleared up. Plot! Plot is something this book has a lot of though not entirely in the right order. The book follows the life of Time Traveller Henry and his wife / girlfriend / 6 year old friend (Time Travel causes odd things). It takes on both their perspectives at different points in time at random moments seemingly. The main part of the book follows the present but then will jump to a different time, location and character. Just carry on reading. It’s good.
The book centralises around knowing somebody all your life then meeting them for what is to them the first time. Time Travel causes things to happen in the wrong times.
Henry time travels when stressed or scared and ends up at random moments of his own time stream. Here he cannot change anything really yet can fully interact with things. Which questions free will and whether it exists. If you can’t change some things from happening and some things happen regardless then does it exist? Who knows. This book just touches upon this but it’s a scary thought. What if our actions are not our own. What if everything is part of a pre-determined chain of events that has already happened somewhere?
The characters are developed quite nicely. It’s all mostly in the wrong order but you get used to in. In many respects it’s a breath of fresh air because it’s a very different way of doing things. They’re all quite rounded. Flaws and so on. One travels in time and the other…. doesn’t
The writing style of the book feels uncluttered even though it has very complex themes. It’s all neatly dated and almost in a diary format. You get a date, place and name of who this bit is about. Rather a useful thing given the book.
I’ve sort of run out of things to talk about. It’s a book, it has lots of words and it’s surprisingly good. Go read it.
DailyGilson 