In case you haven’t noticed, I am trying to write something every day until Christmas. This may be a stretch for me. Those of you who frequent my blog know that I go for days, sometimes a week or more without making a post. This is the challenge I set for myself.
So, on to my book review.
I recently finished reading “The Time Traveler’s Wife” by Audrey Niffenegger.
Let me start by saying that if you like your endings to be wrapped up in a box with a pretty bow, this is not the book for you.
Rather appropriately, this was my “car” book. The book I read while waiting for my children at their various activities. As such, it made the reading somewhat disjointed. This book was perfect for that. By it’s very nature, it is disjointed. You get snippets of time, mostly present and past where the two main characters lives converge.
The main male character, Henry DeTamble, first meets the main female character, Clare Abshire , when he is 36 and she is just 6. Henry is actually only 8 years older than Clare in “real” time. What ensues is a somewhat chaotic relationship, but Niffenegger manages to coalesce all the experiences into a cohesive, interesting story.
I found the story to be well written, prosaic at times. For someone in their 40’s there are some wonderful references to the bands that were popular in the late ‘70’s and early ‘80’s that will bring back memories.
This is a messy, thought provoking, fascinating story that I thoroughly enjoyed. It is like real life, though, there is joy and sadness, passion and grief. Don’t expect a rainbow at the end!
