Rating: 
Summary: Haunting Love Story
Review: Henry has a special problem--he time travels. And not by choice. He suffers from "chronic displacement" and incurable genetic disease.One moment Henry be at working in the library, shelving books in the back stacks and the next moment he'll unwillingly find himself shivering, naked, and usually throwing-up, in some other part of time. He has visited himself at various ages, seen his parents in the early days of their marriage, and re-witnessed tragedies. He has also visited his wife, in her youth, long before they met. Matter of a fact, though they didn't meet in chronological years until he was twenty-eight and she twenty, she meet him when she was six and he was in his thirties, and already married to her in his real time. He continues to visit Clare throughout her childhood, influencing--albeit unwittingly--her view of the world. She grew up knowing that when she did meet Henry in real time, they would marry. . . She was simply waiting. Though the story is about Henry, it's really Clare's story. The story of waiting, of longing, of love. There is not a lot about Henry's time traveling experiences, except when they affect Clare or are momentous and life changing for him. This isn't a sci-fi or even a fantasy. His "chronological displacement" is treated matter-of-factly, and the immense trouble it causes him merely alluded to over the course of the novel. The Time Traveler's Wife is instead a moving and often tragic love story and one that I (an anti-romance reader) found engrossing and real. Sure, there were bits that were totally unbelievable to me--and they never had anything to do with time travel. Sex and miscarriages, for example, were given an unreal treatment. The one detail that I found most annoying was the description of a friend's Downs child. Having worked so closely with special needs, I knew that the child Niffenegger describes is an autistic child, not a Downs child. Why this was distracting, being such a small point, I don't know but it was. It--added to the unreal sex and miscarriages--managed to somehow lessen her credibility for me. The only other complaint I had was the needless complication with Gomez. Those who have read the book will understand and those that haven't can find out for themselves, I shan't spoil it. But, I have to ask--did Henry and Clare have enough things going on without adding that element? Cheap and needless, to my mind. Otherwise, this is a beautiful and haunting love story and it's hard to put down. Despite the more than 500 pages, I read it in a day!
Rating: 
Summary: Surprisingly Awesome Story!
Review: I'm usually the type of reader who shys away from "love stories", finding them too predictable and slow for my reading tastes. However, THIS BOOK IS INCREDIBLE!! I can't really describe the feeling one has after reading it: All I can say is that I had a half an hour long conversation about the characters and who they are as people with my mother at dinner that night. totally recommend this, read it, read it!!
Rating:
Summary: One of the best books I've read in a long time
Review: I started reading The Time Traveller's Wife yesterday. I'd had it on hold for a couple of months now. I started it at 5pm and I stoped reading at 11:30pm! I couldn't put it down, this book is one of the best that I've read in a while. So I'm a bit of a sucker for a love story. But it's a different kind of love story, (a time traveller's love story!) and I think Henry and Clare are great. Btw, as an aside, I love Henry's name: Henry DeTamble. And I love the fact that he's a librarian. Anyway...even if you don't like romances, you should give this one a go cos it's not just a romance, it's not a typical romance and it's not a trashy Mills and Boon romance. It's wonderfully written. It's so good, I'm thinking of buying it to add to my personal library.
Rating:
Summary: Unusual Love Story
Review: I finally bought this when it came out in paperback. I kept looking at it before, but could never make up my mind. I'm glad I read it. It is a very unique love story. In the beginning, it was difficult to follow the time traveling. I eventually got the hang of it and I really cared about the characters. The author shares amazing ideas about time, fate and causality. Henry meets Clare when she is only six, but he is an adult traveling back in time. It sounds a little weird, but he behaves himself until she is eighteen. Up until then, they just have a friendship. They are soulmates and Clare knows Henry for most of her life. She spends a lot of time waiting for Henry, but the story moves quickly. Time travel isn't all it's cracked up to be and Henry is in danger during many of the experiences. This is a great read.
Rating:
Summary: Amazing, wrenching, lovely book
Review: I was so captivated by this book that I lugged the hardcover version in my backpack while travelling in Central America. It is the ultimate love story - one filled with not necessarily getting what you want but being true to yourself and what fills you. There were points where I could not help but weep openly at the painful beauty of simply loving another being, flaws, time travelling, and all.
Rating: 
Summary: Horribly written
Review: Waht's funny is how all the people who like this book seem to be a bunch of gullible saps. Frankly, this is one of the worst books I've read in a while. But hey, that's contemporary lit for ya. This isn't any classic, like some dopes seem to think, but a rather trite, MFA'd, pretentious tale about two cardboard characters. Don't believe me? Then you haven't read enough. If you like real literarure, then you're going to see how poor this book is. But if you like maudlin, predictable, wannabe sci-fi mixed with mediocre characters and cliched vulgarity and the drip of a poem line here or there meant to sound 'deep' without any real understanding from the author, then you'll love this pap. The book is too long & it is by far one of the dullest books I've encountered. Just stop calling this 'well-written' when it clearly is not. Blaaah, ech, boo hoo you sad housewives.
Rating:
Summary: Can't get it out of my head
Review: Like a good song on the radio that you wish would never end, THE TIME TRAVELER'S WIFE is a great book that you'll wish would go on and on. Be prepared to have some kleenex ready for the final few chapters as they are tear-jerkers. The writing is excellent, along the lines of some of Min's novels or McCrae's Bark of the dogwood, and the plot is intelligent and interesting. Overall, highly recommended. Also recommended: Bark of the Dogwood
Rating:
Summary: Wonderful, supremely engaging time travel/love story
Review: Please, please do not buy into the review titled "people need to get lives." This is an absolutely wonderful novel. I was engrossed from the first few pages. This is such an original take on the time travel theme and the love story is very touching. I will not summarize the plot line, as that has been covered by other reviewers, I will just urge you to read this book.
Rating:
Summary: Up there with the best!
Review: Successfully employing the much exhausted subject of time-travel, this stunning debut novel from Audrey Niffenegger contains a poignant, thought-provoking story that is definitely hard to forget. While evoking the more classical aspects of love and good story-telling, Audrey Niffenegger manages to tie in the modernity of the main world the protagonists live in, creating a balance between the old and new, as well as the beautiful and vulgar. It is fairly difficult to find a boring part within the book as it flows superbly, despite the sudden flashes of time travel littered throughout it, and uses every technique possible to endear itself to almost every age group. A recommended read for a rainy day and the perfect companion to a steaming mug of hot chocolate.
Rating:
Summary: Truly unique and inventive
Review: With "The Time Traveler's Wife," Audrey Niffenegger takes you on a mind-bending journey that wrenches the heart. Her main protagonist, Henry De Tamble, is like a modern day (if less unintentionally funny) Billy Pilgrim, bouncing around in time and wrestling with the paradoxes and emotional hurdles he faces. A highly imaginative book...very much worth the read. If you're into writers like Niffenegger, Yann Martel, Kurt Vonnegut, etc., then there's a new writer you should check out: Greg Ippolito. His new novel, "Zero Station," is absolutely terrific, and an excerpt is available for FREE. He's still a relative unknown (a friend turned me onto his work)...but this is a must-read. You can check him out and read the excerpt at: www.ZERO-STATION.net. Don't miss it!
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