Book - The Time Traveler's Wife

I joined a "Stay-at-Home Parent Book Club" the other day, and the book to be discussed was "The Time Traveler's Wife" by Audrey Niffenegger. Even though I read this book about 2 years ago, a lot of it has stayed with me and I was happy to hear others' reflections. It's a truly beautiful book that's more romance than anything else, but also plenty science-fiction to keep it cerebral. Even better - much of it takes place in Michigan (South Haven, Metta) and it is written gorgeously! The film adaptation of this book will be released in August of this year, starring Rachel McAdams and Eric Bana. I strongly encourage you to read this book before seeing the movie. Read on for a bit more about this beautiful novel.






Henry is a man who suffers from a genetic disorder, later coined "Chrono-Displacement," that results in him being able to travel through time. He can only travel to other moments of his life, both past and future, and he cannot control when he'll travel and where he will land. The disease is much like epilepsy, brought-on by stress and/or flashing lights. This is a really interesting way to establish Henry's dilemma: much more believable then sometime truly sci-fi like "your mom was from Mars."

Another great element to this novel is that it embraces the time-travel theory that Metta and I both like best: pre-determinism. What happened, happened and there is no way to change the future. There are no parallel universes and Henry is unable to alter his life regardless of how he intervenes in his past and future. Not that he doesn't try. Henry visits himself at various ages throughout his life, and he visits his wife throughout almost her entire life, starting in her early childhood. (Would you visit an elementary school aged version of your partner? I would!)

There are several frustrations felt by both him and his love, Clare, regarding the seeming lack of free will. For one, how would you deal with learning who you were going to marry at the age of 6? Or when you were going to die? Would you be interested in meeting the child your wife was pregnant with when she was 10 years old?

Henry suffers greatly trying to control his disease, and Clare does, too. While he is thrown about time without any warning, Clare is left alone and sick with worry. It's sort of a modern-day version of the Odyssey in some sense. Anyway, it kind of reflects the trials of any relationship dealing with miscommunications and the fear that comes with separation. A truly enjoyable and thoughtful piece.