Book # 6: The Time Traveler's Wife

by Audrey Niffenegger
 
Frankly, I'm not one to love time travel books or movies.  My husband on the other hand LOVES time travel.  So much in fact, that he is dying to see the movie and has even considered reading the book.  So I knew at some point I'd be seeing the movie, and as books are almost always better than the movie, I like to read the book first.  I knew this book would be sad--it reeked of it--there was no way it could not be sad. 

This is one of those books that you absolutely love, but will require a box of tissues and at least a week to process and move on with your life.  I probably cried through half of it, and after finishing it this morning, I am still running parts back through my head.  And if I think too hard about it, I'll tear up.  (Okay, maybe the pregnancy hormones aren't helping!)  I even dreamed about it last night.  I read it so quickly (trying to speed through the sad parts and be able to get back to the real world) that my thoughts kind of began to mirror the book layout.  Kind of like after reading a Jane Austen book, you begin thinking in "Pray thee, tell me's".  It's a full out emotional roller coaster, and it's hard to climb off afterward.  Definitely one to read, and one I can see becoming a classic, but also one I don't want to reread as experiencing the emotional agony once is sufficient.

Besides the emotion, the book handles the concept of time travel well; having a husband who watches anything involving time travel means that it becomes a topic of conversation often.  My main issue with time travel is the whole multiple time lines and the whole "then they woke up" sequence, where only one person remembers the entire episode, but they can't say anything.  None of that messes up this book.  Time travel is handled well, and even believably.  It is incredibly well written and very intriguing to ponder. 

As for the end, I was left a little unsatisfied.  I wanted Clare to move on (not forget or find someone else), but live again.  I wanted her to interact with her daughter, to stop waiting, to be whole.  If she reached that point, we didn't see it.  And their last meetings--BIG LET DOWN!!  I wanted to hear the conversation; I wanted to know how long she spent with him.  I wanted to know what happened in all that time he was gone--what had Clare done, where was Alba, etc.  Yes, I'm slightly cranky about it.  After investing so much emotional stamina into a book, I wanted closure.  I didn't get it.  So now I'm left pondering what happened, while still experiencing Clare fading into a Henry-less life.  Perhaps that's the intent, but err...