The Time Traveler's Wife
Nov. 29th, 2006 09:00 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
apparentparadoxI just finished reading The Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger. I really enjoyed it. The basic story deals with a guy who jumps to some different time/place somewhat at random (usually caused by some stress). It's a great character study of how does one live one's life when they may suddenly disappear from "here/now" and appear at some other place and time -- and how do the people close to him deal with this problem as well.
There isn't much talk about time traveling causing a paradox -- Henry just says that he believes that he can't affect things (and has tried, but was unable to say something to stop someone from doing something in the past). Too many time travel books get hung up on that point, so it was nice to see a book where the "you may change the future by doing something in the past" isn't the main point of the story.
Henry (the time traveler) is a good character. Claire (who first meets Henry when she is 6 and later marries him) is a wonderful character. The interaction of the two is really interesting to behold.
I highly recommend this book. You can enjoy it on so many levels: as an atypical love story, as a way to get you to think about time [and how linear it may or may not be], or even as a kind of "mystery/thriller" novel [will Henry be able to keep his secret?]
There isn't much talk about time traveling causing a paradox -- Henry just says that he believes that he can't affect things (and has tried, but was unable to say something to stop someone from doing something in the past). Too many time travel books get hung up on that point, so it was nice to see a book where the "you may change the future by doing something in the past" isn't the main point of the story.
Henry (the time traveler) is a good character. Claire (who first meets Henry when she is 6 and later marries him) is a wonderful character. The interaction of the two is really interesting to behold.
I highly recommend this book. You can enjoy it on so many levels: as an atypical love story, as a way to get you to think about time [and how linear it may or may not be], or even as a kind of "mystery/thriller" novel [will Henry be able to keep his secret?]