The Time Traveler's Wife

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Summary: Time Travel
Review: The novel is set in Chicago within the peacefulness of Chicago suburbs and the lovely Newberry Library. The two main characters are wonderfully written and it's easy to care for them.

This story has a wonderful pace and reads from both his and her point of view. You really feel the love between the main characters which transcends normal relationships because of his unusual trait and the nature of their relationship from the start.

The book has tragic moments but it brings together the characters and serves the story well. I would love to see this developed for the movies. Read this if you enjoy romance, families and a bit of fantasy in the form of time travel!

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Summary: thought provoking...
Review: really interesting novel...fabulous premise, although i found it often difficult to keep track of the jumps forward and backward through time. and then i started over-thinking the premise, looking for hidden characters tucked away behind this wall or that lamp post... and wound up with a headache trying to visualize the potential time travel traffic jams that might occur as father & daughter (& maybe all those lost 'unborn' children) "bounced" around the universe.

overall, however, there was a powerful love story that helped transcend all this chaotic clockwork...sort of. i had the distinct feeling that someone told the author her book was too long (or else she started to get the same brain-pain i was having) because the ending was a bit abrupt, hence, less-than-satisfying for this reader. i was also disappointed by the lack of character development/storyline for the secondary characters. but maybe that's just me...i'm not crazy about loose ends, especially after dedicating my time to reading/re-reading (to keep things straight) over 500 pages.

i was very invested in this book, but my return, while good, was not quite what i'd anticipated.

Rating:
Summary: WOW!!!
Review: I have always been a time travel novel buff, but this book surpasses just about any that I have read (although the Outlander series by Diana Gabaldon are excellent as well). At first some of the time travel confused me a bit, as we are flipping back and forth through time so often. However, everything starts piecing together and I found myself constantly saying "oh, okay now it makes sense!" as I read.

Not only is the time travel portion of the book intriguing and honestly makes more sense than most other "time travel" books I've read, but the characters, especially of Clare and Henry, are so slowly revealed that by the time the book ends, you feel as if you knew them. Their love story is heartbreaking and yet hopeful. This book will make you laugh and cry and has all the makings for a contemporary classic.

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Summary: Beautifully written!
Review: I stumbled across this book by mistake and hesitated to read it simply because it was 518 pages. To my surprise, I devoured this book in a few days and felt a pang of sadness when it was finished. The author crafts a story of something that is quite unbelievable and yet deftly makes it so very believable. I was hooked after the first chapter. Niffenegger managed to suck me in to this story so that I felt emotionally bound to the characters and their plight. It's a tragic story that weaves so much love/pain/joy/disappointment that it fairly bursts with emotion. Read it!

Rating:
Summary: Powerful, well-written, original
Review: "The Time Traveler's Wife" is one of the most interesting, powerful books I've read in a long time. Audrey Niffenegger did a beautiful job taking some of the most complex ideas - time travel, marriage, love, children, friends, literary and artistic allusions, religion, death, drugs, childhood, growing, loss, and what it means to be human - and weaving them together poetically and with amazing clarity. Her characters are wonderful, "real" people with strengths and flaws, and I really grew to adore them. Despite skipping around time at the same rate as Henry, the time traveler, the events are sequenced in such a way that you still witness each character's growth as a person, as well as discover many surprises along the way. Clare and Henry's story is one of the best love stories I've read in a very long time. This book also echoes important modern-day questions about the appropriateness of gene therapy, and what it means to be a human being. I highly and enthusiastically recommend 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.

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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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Summary: people need to get lives
Review: What is the deal with these intense reviews? This is hardly a book to get worked up over. It IS poorly written and pretentious, the characters are all over the place and they are never developed. The dialouge is meager at best, and her descriptions are rote. With that in mind, I don't think this is a terrible book- just a bad one & I can't for the life of me understand why certain reviewers are getting so worked up. If you enjoyed the book, fine- I have no problem with that. I did not. I do think it's trite and agree that the supposed "vulgarity" wasn't 'offensive' in the I'm a prude sort of way- but that it was totally out of line with the characters and the tone in the novel. And with that in mind, people seem to like this pap because it has a "mystery" attached to it. Oooh- what will happen next? Will she see him naked? tee hee. Just like in "The Lovely Bones" which is a terrible book, and "The Secret Life of Bees" which is a mediocre book (at very best), and "The Da Vinci Code" which is a mindless potboiler but at least knows it- "The Time Traveller's Wife" is no different because it too is filled with narrative cliches. It's amazing that low brow literature like this passes for quality because it's "different". Well, it ain't that different, and even if it was, different doesn't mean good.
With all this in mind, the glowing reviews are very suspicious- people who use terms like "brilliant young artist" to describe an author isn't just a casual reader, but generally a friend. And these overly positive reviews are not likely to be honest ones. They seem like gloated family members of the author with bones to pick with anyone who doesn't praise this book. And you know what? I don't praise it, and yes, it is poorly written, so there, nya!

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Summary: IF YOU LIKE LOVE STORIES
Review: This is one of the best love stories I have encountered so far in life. The love between Henry and Clare is the same as any other people; it is the way they go about it that is so different. Henry can travel through time. He cannot control it but is aware of some things that trigger it. When he travels he usually goes to the past and to points of emotional significance. He describes it as kind of like emotional gravity. And so, he frequently visits his wife in the past while she is growing up. This situation of course leads to many interesting encounters and begs many, many questions. The author deals with many inquires and problems that are associated with time travel through out the book. She actually does this in such a fantastic way that this is one of those awesome works of fiction that I find myself believing. Structurally it is organized very well and keeps the reader from too much confusion that can be caused by two Henrys in one place! Also, it is easy to tell the author is a reader, there are many fun references to books and music that make the characters so alive. All in all I do not wish to speak too much on the plot except for it being a love story. It is a fantastic read and I would rather not spoil it for you. It is not too difficult but entirely engaging. This is the first book in a long time that made me cry, and I am going to read it now for a second time! Other Amazon quick-pick recommendations: THE LOSERS CLUB by Richard Perez, [e-mail] by Tom Grimes

Rating:
Summary: An awesome read!
Review: I had heard some good things about this book so I decided to pre-order it when it came out in paperback. As soon as I started reading, I couldn't put it down. The characters are so engaging and interesting. At the end of the story, you feel as if you have known them your whole life. Henry DeTamble has Chrono-Displacement Disorder and can travel through time. He meets his wife when she is 6 and he is in his 30s. Even through all his time traveling, he and his wife are able to stay together. I think this particular book is a good study in human nature, in how people think and act and especially love overcoming all. I highly recommend it!