Book review

The Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger

This book is about three years old and was a bestseller on all of the big lists. I just finished it, and after a pause for reflection, I still find that I have mixed emotions about it.

The concept is highly creative, original and well executed, and the writing is strong. You're engaged from the first page. It's pretty intellectual — with a wealth of cultural references, it will certainly put your general knowledge and education to the test.

The character development also gets high marks, though, by the end, it was hard to know if I actually liked any of the characters. While the author creates very authentic people in some regards (with all their pros and cons), she also makes them so morally ambivalent that it's difficult to always root for them, which is usually what you'd like to do when reading a love story. Henry reminds me of Holden Caulfield, and Clare seems to grow more like him as the book progresses. The characters definitely live for themselves — they don't face their issues in terms of contributing to the greater good — which lends a dark quality to the story and a feeling of it happening in a vacuum.

I think part of the issue is that the book is too long. There's plenty of graphically described action — it never lulls — but frankly, you're just worn out about 100 pages before it's over. Something happens right before the end that seems unnecessary and overly gory, and that's where it finally lost me. Also, the book builds and gets more intense with each scene causing you to expect a surprise ending, and yet it concludes rather quietly. The end was poignant, but also somewhat anti-climactic.

Still, it can be a good read, if you go in with the right expectations. It's an escape. It's entertaining, but not in an uplifiting way. It's a story. It's not a deep social commentary, though it has its moments. I came away wondering if Clare was the better or worse for having Henry in her life, and maybe that was the point. Perhaps that's the realistic element of love stories that never makes it into fairy tales.