Rating: 
Summary: Time Travel and Loads of Fun!
Review: Though the time travel element is an unusual twist, don't let it deter you from reading this novel. It is handled very well, and I didn't have much of a problem following the story (regardless of the time flashbacks, etc). In fact, I personally found that the time traveling created really interesting conflicts for the characters, and even though the source of the conflicts is based on fantasy, the conflicts themselves are very real. Anyone who has been in love would be able to relate to the strong feelings these characters have for each other and the difficulty that Clare has with being periodically left behind. I highly recommend that you pick up this book --but be aware that it may be hard to put down. Other books I recommend: Life of Pi by Martel, The Losers' Club by Richard Perez
Rating:
Summary: Amazingly good for a first novel
Review: I love time travel stories. From Wells's THE TIME MACHINE to Finney's TIME AND AGAIN, from the romantic movie SOMEWHERE IN TIME to the action movie TIME COP. And this one was time travel with a wonderfully intimate and emotional approach. I even wept at the end, I confess it, though I also confess that I am an easy mark on that score (I've reread Tom Godwin's "The Cold Equations" every year for the past 14 to prepare for teaching it, and I've cried every time). I teach science fiction writing and I write it myself, and I know from long experience that you can't please everyone. A published story that I think is dynamite will bore some of my students out of their minds. A student story that I think is dismal will elicit heaven-high praise from just about everyone in the class. So it seems to be with THE TIME TRAVELER'S WIFE. I thought it was terrific, engrossing, well-written, well thought out. I loved Henry and understood perfectly why the child Clare found him fascinating. I sympathized with Clare, who waited so long for her soul mate, only to lose him too soon. Their daughter Alba charmed me. I constantly wanted to know what would happen next (isn't that the measure of a book?). The only parts that didn't interest me were the snippets about Clare's papermaking, and they were so short that I was willing to put up with them for the sake of the rest. There -- something in the book did not please me; the author was not 100% on my wavelength. But that small displeasure was balanced off by all the Chicago references (yes, I am a Chicagoan), including one to a very good restaurant in my own neighborhood. What truly fascinates me is how much people want to talk about this book. They have strong opinions pro and con, and that makes reading the reviews all the more fun.
Rating: 
Summary: Clever and Compelling
Review: I admit: I am an easy touch when it comes to time-travel books. I have loved such diverse books with this theme as "A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court", "A Wrinkle in Time," and "Time and Again." I was not disappointed by "The Time Traveler's Wife." The book both moved me and challenged me to think about a number of deeper issues in life (most notably, the true meaning of love in a romantic relationship). The underlying story concerns Henry, a librarian at the Newberry Library in Chicago, and Clare, his artist wife. Henry suffers from CDP (Chrono-Displacement Order) which whisks him from the present to another point of time (usually the past). One minute he may be in the stacks of the Newberry Library in 2003, the next minute he may find himself in a field (probably naked) in Michigan with his future wife as a child sometime in the early 1980's. The author does an excellent job of sequencing the book. Even though Henry is shuttling back and forth in every chapter, she manages to move the plot forward. You do feel that you see Henry and Clare meeting, falling in love, starting a marriage and going through the stages of their lives. You do get to know their family and friends and see life happen to them. However, I do feel that the author could have better developed all of her characters, particularly the supporting ones. I wanted to learn more about their close friends, Gomez and Charisse, and their troubled marriage. I felt that the landlady from Henry's child-whom he constantly visited in his time-traveling modes-was a sketch figure that could have been better developed. I wished that the author could have mined deeper into the inner feelings of Henry and Clare. Still I would highly recommend this book to most readers. (If time-travel books bother you, this won't change your opinion.) It is a good, hard-to-put down read. And at the end, you're exhausted by all the travel!
Rating: 
Summary: A good idea...
Review: I'm not usually one for 500-page novels, but the premise of this book had me interested enough to give it a try. I'm also not a fan of present-tense narrative, but I kept reading, and it finally dawned on me that without narrating each section in the present tense, as it is "happening", things would have been even more confusing. This is one book where present-tense narrative seems to make perfect sense. I am concerned that there was so little character development in the second half of the novel, when all the really devastating things began to happen to Clare and Henry (pregnancies, rapid aging, etc). I felt like there were chunks of the story missing...maybe edited out?...there just wasn't enough substance for me. The first half was so full of detail it was almost too much at times. You climb up a really steep rollercoaster reading this book and then zoom down to the end so quickly, it's hard to tell what's going on. I liked this novel, but I didn't love it. I'm all for new ideas, but prefer that they be fully developed. I feel like either a publishing deadline or a hasty editor has stifled this book's possibility. That's what I'm hoping it is, anyway.
Rating: 
Summary: Character assasination...to bad
Review: The truly unfortunate part of what could have been a compelling read, is the complete assassination of the characters emotions and feelings.
Starting a romance between a 40-year-old man and a 6-year-old girl, through her adolescence and adulthood is downright creepy. To add further insult to injury, the way her miscarriages are portrayed, without the emotion so desperately needed (writing something along the lines of "she laid in bed for weeks") is devoid of human spirit, the heart and spiritual side of living. And then to force her character to live out her life in the manner she does is downright unforgiving.
I just don't get where the author is coming from. She is cruel to her characters; the 'romance' aspect is so devoid of emotion that it is just sex rather than making love, which the author has no clue of how to write'
The purposeful violence heaped onto Henry is disturbing to say the least. I am also completely baffled by every character being so dysfunctional in their own way'why? Why do today's characters in books need to be dysfunctional? DO yourself a favor, if you must read it, support your local library.
Rating:
Summary: Clever and thought provoking
Review: I had high expectations for this book based on its reviews. I thought it was a slow start. I kept putting it down and picking it up every few day. I'm glad I persevered. Midway through it became interesting and I started getting into the story and thinking about Henry's timetravelling and its impact on people. I wondered how it was possible for Henry to be talking to himself. How could they be friends with Gomez? What happens to Alba? I agree with another reviewer that the story was a bit creepy too. Clare's devotion to Henry was romantic yet odd to me. I mean, she first meets him at age 6 and Henry appears in his mid thirties (I think). Each time she sees him he's aged differently. Clare's childhood and adolesence are so screwed up because of him. This would be a great book to discuss at a book club because there are so many questions one could talk about.
Rating:
Summary: An astonishingly good book
Review: This is an astonishingly good book. I was hooked from the beginning. The book is not only clever, but suffused with love and tenderness for its characters - an unusual combination. It reminded me of the time travel movie from 20 years ago starring Christopher Reeves. An elegant story.
Rating:
Summary: If time means nothing
Review: In Audrey Niffenegger's stunning debut novel, everything hinges on faith, love, hope, and timing in order to combat fate, foreshadowing, tragedy, and sorrow. Henry DeTamble is a man plagued by what will become known as Chrono-Displacement Disorder. This means he will be snatched out of one time and arrive in another, usually within his own lifespan. There are always two things he can count on when this happens. The first is that he will arrive without anything. The second is that he can never bring anything back with him. The only thing he returns with are his memories of what occur. When he is not time-traveling and doing what he can to survive, Henry is a librarian who, at the age of 28, is trying to lead a normal life. At 20, Clare Abshire is a paper artist who is already in love with the librarian she meets while doing a research paper. In fact, she has been waiting for Henry who has never even known of her existence. But the truth is, Henry has known Clare since she was six years old. She has provided him with food and clothing all through her childhood while he helped her with her homework and gave her some foreknowledge of her own future. The Time Traveler's Wife is a moving story about a love that crosses the boundaries of time and space. It leaves you wondering about all the possibilities and why it was meant to unfold the way it did. Henry and Clare's love for each other is the constant that the rest of the story revolves around. The story is told simply and well. None of the characters overindulges themselves with self-pity or histrionics. In fact, despite the title, the story almost completely reflects the fatalistic attitude that encroaches upon the hero as he makes the most of his existence.
Rating:
Summary: Well-written but not original
Review: The bodice-ripper version of Terminator
Rating:
Summary: Loved it!!
Review: I just loved this book. I wanted it to go on and on. I felt as if I was time traveling right along with Henry!
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