[Book Review] The Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger

A funny, often poignant tale of boy meets girl with a twist: what if one of them couldn't stop slipping in and out of time? Highly original and imaginative, this debut novel raises questions about life, love, and the effects of time on relationships.

Audrey Niffenegger’s innovative debut, The Time Traveler’s Wife, is the story of Clare, a beautiful art student, and Henry, an adventuresome librarian, who have known each other since Clare was six and Henry was thirty-six, and were married when Clare was twenty-three and Henry thirty-one. Impossible but true, because Henry is one of the first people diagnosed with Chrono-Displacement Disorder: periodically his genetic clock resets and he finds himself misplaced in time, pulled to moments of emotional gravity in his life, past and future. His disappearances are spontaneous, his experiences unpredictable, alternately harrowing and amusing.

The Time Traveler’s Wife depicts the effects of time travel on Henry and Clare’s marriage and their passionate love for each other as the story unfolds from both points of view. Clare and Henry attempt to live normal lives, pursuing familiar goals—steady jobs, good friends, children of their own. All of this is threatened by something they can neither prevent nor control, making their story intensely moving and entirely unforgettable.

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tw: suicide, cheating, gory miscarriage 

Originally, this book wasn't on my radar for a while now. I had heard good things about it when it was released and when the movie came out but me not being super into romances I never thought I'd read it. When Erica Robyn Reads asked me not too long ago if I was interested in buddy reading it with her I thought, sure, why not? and although I don't regret picking this book up, I definitely can say I am a bit disappointed in it as a whole.

"Time is priceless, but it's free. You can't own it, you can use it. You can spend it. But you can't keep it. Once you've lost it you can never get it back."

The characters were a big issue with me. Before I start with them specifically, I think one of the biggest reasons I couldn't connect with either of the main characters is because we don't really get to know them in terms of emotions. They're going through some pretty intense stuff and we rarely get deep into how they're feeling about the things they're experiencing. I think that is one of the biggest reasons why I felt so detached from the story as a whole.  Okay, onto the characters. First, with Henry. I don't think Henry was a good person, there's a lot of spoiler-y evidence that backs up this claim. And I am not only talking about Henry before meeting Clare (also that Henry was an awful person) but also Henry after meeting Clare isn't good either. I think at first he treated her okay because she was a new person in his life but he definitely got more manipulative as the story progressed and his future with her became clearer to him. Personally, when it comes to Clare as a character I feel a bit bad for her. Her future is shaped and decided without her permission, and when Henry tells her that they get married it stunts her from growing into an independent person. Her only character identifiers are that she loves Henry and that she is a artist. She's one dimensional, boring, and is only around to benefit Henry. It's not romantic at all honestly and it felt like Clare's choices were taken from her.

When Henry tells her that they get married (at that point Clare is a teenager) Clare's life stops evolving. Her life is even more revolved around Henry than it was previously. She tries dating when she is an adult but she doesn't give the men the chance because she doesn't see the point. It honestly made me wonder if Henry was right, that fate was decided and couldn't be changed, or if him saying that made young impressionable Clare believe him. If she hadn't believed him and started dating someone else and actually gave them a chance would she still have ended up with Henry? The idea that fate is sealed is one thing (a thing I don't know if I believe in), but knowing it stops you from allowing yourself to live your life. 

"I wanted someone to love who would stay: stay and be there, always."

Henry also has a habit of treating Clare like she is a child (maybe because he knew her as a child) but he doesn't consider her opinions when making decisions that directly affect her life. I think it goes back to the women in this book not being treated the way they should be, and it being packaged as "romance". I don't want to get into details because of spoilers, but in my book chat with Erica we go into more spoiler-y detail, so keep your eyes out for that post! It should be up on Wednesday. 

The whole dynamic of their relationship honestly felt off to me. I think because Clare has known Henry since she was six, she has this unrealistic image of him, she basically puts him on a pedestal for all of her life as a child. He's this unattainable mysterious man who tells her he marries her in the future and is a time traveler. That kind of love story, especially for a teenager still learning about herself and relationships, that is going to be seen as epic and romantic. It feels wrong and because Henry has all the power/knowledge of their future when she's a kid, she almost worships him.

We get to know Clare's family, most I could not name because they weren't very memorable, and the drama around her family seemed unnecessary.  It didn't really add to the story at all and the book honestly could have been shorter than it was (over 500 pages...for a romance novel?) so if I would cut anything it would be the amount of Clare's family we get in the story. Other characters we meet are Charisse and Gomez. Honestly, I couldn't give you any information about Charisse other than she is into Gomez. Once again, another woman character who's description boils down to being in love with a shitty man. Gomez was creepy and shady. We are supposed to like him once he and Henry become friends but because I didn't trust Henry either they were both just super creepy to me. Gomez does a lot of not okay things and it's not really seen as a problem, which isn't cool. 

"I won't ever leave you, even though you're always leaving me."

The time travel aspect of the story was handled well and although the beginning is a little confusing because you have to get used to the story, once you do things are laid out as simple as possible for the most part. There are a couple things I am still confused about, which isn't a great sign, but overall I feel like I understood the way this time travel worked. I don't read a lot of time travel/sci-fi stories so I was worried it would be too much for me so I am happy that wasn't the case.

I think my favorite part about this book is the writing. Like I said, the time travel theme was easy to digest but it's more than that. The author has talent for dropping enough hints to get the reader hooked into the mystery of the whole story. No matter how many issues I had with this book, I do have to admit that I was hooked from the beginning. Sure, the middle lagged a little but I still started and finished it in a few days and when I wasn't reading I was thinking about how much I wanted to be reading. 

 "It's dark now and I am very tired. I love you, always. Time is nothing."

Overall, I cannot recommend this book. I think it's the opposite of romantic and I left the story feeling like Henry was the villain, not the love interest. From the awful scene of their first kiss, unhealthy toxic relationship, to the age gaps between them and problematic language I just can't see myself recommending this book to anyone. Even some of the quotes I use, on one hand you could see them as romantic but if you knew the context of the story they can be easily perceived creepy and unhealthy. Like I always say, if you're interested then you should pick it up, but I personally can't recommend it. I am interested in seeing the movie and seeing what changes the director/script writer makes in adapting the story though. 

Rating this book is so hard for me, because while reading the first half I assumed I'd give it maybe four stars but now that I've finished and I am looking at the story as a whole it definitely tarnishes the things I found good about the first half. So I feel like I just have to give it a low rating despite enjoying myself for the first chunk of the story. Also, the first chunk of the story is filled with more hope and happiness, the more you read the more depressed the story becomes. And honestly, it ends being pretty depressing too, and not in a thoughtful literary way but a bleak kind of way.


Thanks for reading!