The Time Traveler's Wife

Rating:
Summary: Henry will travel through time for a long time in my mind
Review: This is one of those "chunky" books you look at and think, "when I have the time..." Fortunately for me, I found the time. I review many new debut novels for a large newspaper and read a lot of rehashed ideas. This book is fresh and I cared about it from page 1 to the very last. I cared about the characters, I found the plot not just satisying, but intriguing and interesting. At about page 400, I wished it was double in "chunk", because I didn't want it to end. The Today Show apparently brought the book to the forefront, now YOU keep it there. The book and Ms. Niffenegger deserves time in the limelight.

Rating:
Summary: Love Stands the Test of Time Travel
Review: The Time Traveler's Wife is a difficult book for me to review for it is unlike most other books I have read. I was resistant at first to tackle science-fiction , but I am glad I persevered. The ability to capture a love story in this world of unexpected disappearances and time travel would seem almost unattainable, yet Audrey Niffeneger has done it brilliantly. She makes me believe that Henry and Claire are soul mates. I believe that Clare is able to withstand the stress of Henry's travels and wait lovingly for his return while trying to live her life in the present. I believe that Clare knew Henry as a child and would wait for him to meet her in her future. Although this premise is very unbelievable, Niffeneger drew me in and kept me intrigued. I read, suspending reason, to find out where this unconventional path would lead. At the novel's conclusion I was still there.......believing.... wanting Henry to return............wanting this great love to continue beyond the gates of time and distance. I thought the section where Clare designed the Black Angel, in great despair and sadness.........but gave her wings so Henry might fly was a beautiful way of showing the great love shared by the two main Characters. Niffeneger has written a love story with a twist.If you are willing to take a chance on a very unusal book, I think you will be pleasantly surprised.

Rating:
Summary: Totally new book concept
Review: I find that so many books these days all sound the same. This story is romantic, creative and clever. I can't put it down! It is such an original plot line. I find myself confused yet amazed at the same time. This book is a must read. I wish this author has written other books and can't wait for her next book!

Rating:
Summary: Today Show Pick
Review: "The Time Traveler's Wife" is a good Today Show Book Club choice. As expected with a choice from the Today Show or any other book club that answers to advertisers, this is a very safe book. It doesn't take the risks of the more controversial but also overall better books like "My Fractured Life" and "Vernon God Little." It is a nice story that is very safe and very satisfying. It's a book you can talk to your friends about after or while watching the Today Show. That may not say much about the book, but in the same way it says it all. Nobody will dislike "The Time Traveler's Wife" just as nobody really dislikes "Secret Life of Bees" or "Seabiscuit" but at the same time it isn't as moving as some of the books out there that take risks which might not be appropriate for Today Show standards and practices.

Rating:
Summary: Funky, creepy
Review: Not what I expected. It was an interesting story line, but the relationship between Henry and Clare actually had me rather creeped out. I definitely wouldn't call it a 'love story', or 'romantic'.

Rating:
Summary: Circle of Time Travel
Review: In general, I like time traveler stories and this one is no exception.

Henry has a genetic defect that allows him to time travel. It's not nearly as glamorous as one might think, in fact, it's usually dangerous and frightening! Henry cannot control his time travel, although he seems to only be drawn to locations that have an emotional significance to him. He arrives at his destination confused and without clothing. He normally needs to be able to run fast and steal in order to survive his trips through time.

Along Henry's travels, he meets Clare. The most interesting thing about their relationship is that he meets her when she is six or seven and he is forty-three. He is coming from the future - a future in which they are married. Henry doesn't meet Clare until he is 28. Although Clare has known Henry all her life, Henry has never seen her before.

This book really made me think about time travel. Sometimes the Henry of the future does or says something that will directly affect someone in the past. For example, in order to get his doctor to give him the time of day, the Henry of the future looked up the birth certificate of the doctor's child, memorized the information and gave it to the Henry of the past in order to prove to the doctor that he could really time travel. What would have happened if Henry didn't do that? What would be the outcome?

The author makes it clear that the past cannot be changed. Henry has lived through many things and has tried to change the past, but everything is concrete. You could imagine this would leave a person feeling helpless and a slave to their own future. Henry has stated that he thinks people have free-choice in their present, but when exactly IS the present?

Trying to change the past doesn't work out. One day when Clare was a teenager and Henry was coming back from the future for a visit, she drew a sketch of Henry. While she was drawing, they were talking about how the past cannot be changed. When she finishes the sketch, she starts to put the date down in the lower right hand corner, however Henry stops her. He tells her that in the present, the sketch has no date on it. In order to test Henry's theory, Clare puts the date on the sketch anyway to see what will happen.

When Henry gets back from that trip, he finds the sketch to see the date, however there still isn't a date on it. When he asks Clare about it, she says she was paranoid that something might not go right or they might not ever meet, so trimmed the sketch to chop off the date.

So although they were trying to change the past to see its effect on the future, they couldn't. In the past she had always put the date on the sketch and chopped it off. Henry had just assumed when he saw the sketch that it had never been dated.

I'm going to have to go through and read this book again to make all the connections between the past events and future events. The book is so circular and the author never seems to skip a beat. The story was funny and sad and romantic and filled with action.

I highly recommend it.

Rating:
Summary: An Interesting and Unique New Voice In Fiction...
Review: I was very intrigued by The Time Traveler's Wife when I first saw it announced as the Today Show Book Club pick for October. The story seemed so unique and fresh. I find it amazing when an author can come up with an inventive, new concept to base a novel on. It seems to me that in this day and age many authors "borrow" ideas from their rivals, or simply just recycle an old plot to make it seem fresh. That's not the case with Audrey Niffenegger. This first time novelist manages to create a unique character with an unheard of medical condition. Henry is a CDP, Chronologically Displaced Person. Henry spends his life with the constant fear that he will suddenly time travel to another era of his life. His wife meets him in an orchard when she is 6 and his 36. He doesn't actually "meet" her until years later when he is in his twenties. Doesn't make sense? Don't worry, read the book and it will all come together.

This book is thick, with a very complicated story. You will find yourself slightly confused at times, wondering where in life Henry's disorder has placed him. Keep reading. Although it may feel as if you are trying to fit together some strange puzzle of time and places, they do connect, creating a beautiful and absolutley exceptional novel. The prevailing concept that I took with me from reading this book is that love can stand the test of time. In fact, in the case of Henry and Clare, love is absolutley timeless.

Rating:
Summary: Interesting.....( 3 1/2 stars)
Review: I found this book to be interesting, but not exactly consuming. I will say that I completed it quickly and easily, but I wasnt at all overly impressed by it. I thought it was sad. I wanted more from the ending. I suppose I wanted a sort of happily ever after that just wasnt possible...This was a somewhat big book and the idea of it is what kept me reading to the end..more so than the characters within. Would I recommend this? Im not sure... but I am glad that I was able to experience it.

Rating:
Summary: Quality
Review: It's nice to see a book of this caliber make so many best seller lists. And who can resist the story of a small publisher taking a big risk on this novel and having it pay off?

I passed "The Time Traveler's Wife" up several times because I was afraid it was going to be a mess. You've got nearly 500 pages of a very crafty plot. The main character slips in and out of time. No, he does not find himself on the starship Enterprise on one page and in a thicket in ancient Gaul on the next. This is more subtle. His time slips are of a few years, months, or even weeks. Sometimes he runs into himself at another age. Clare, whom he meets as a child, knows they will be together, but she is stuck on a regular time line. The possibilities for muddle are myriad, but somehow Audrey Niffenegger keeps it straight and keeps you involved.

Nonetheless some canny editing would have helped the story--Henry ends up naked on a strange street (which happens when he time travels) a few too many times. But just about the time you're ready to say "oh, no,not again," Niffenegger beings the tale to a satisfying close.

Imaginative and enjoyable, "The Time Traveler's Wife" is worthy of the fanfare and will please readers of multiple genres.

Rating:
Summary: creative, kitchy, but no koo.....
Review: after reading the Da Vinci Code, and Pillars of the Earth, I was ready for something altogether different.I was very disappointed in the content,and rather mudane flowof this book. Having each character (Claire and Henry) take turns in speaking what they are experiencing was a creative touch at first,but then it became an effort, no continuum of threading of the fabric of the story, whatever that was, and actually creepy to think that a young child would be enamoured by such a mysterious character who would disappear. Henry would remember the future or the past, but never knew why he would disappear, and appear in hostile situations when he time traveled. Save your money!!!