The Time Traveler's Wife | 
 enlarge | Author: Audrey Niffenegger
Publisher: Harvest Books
Category: Book
List Price: $14.00
Buy Used: $1.55
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Rating:  1666 reviews
Sales Rank: 346
Media: Paperback
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 560
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.1
Dimensions (in): 7.9 x 5.3 x 1
ISBN: 015602943X
Dewey Decimal Number: 813.54
EAN: 9780156029438
ASIN: 015602943X
Publication Date: May 27, 2004
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Condition: Good shape, medium wear.
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Product Description
A dazzling novel in the most untraditional fashion, this is the remarkable story of Henry DeTamble, a dashing, adventuresome librarian who travels involuntarily through time, and Clare Abshire, an artist whose life takes a natural sequential course. Henry and Clare's passionate love affair endures across a sea of time and captures the two lovers in an impossibly romantic trap, and it is Audrey Niffenegger's cinematic storytelling that makes the novel's unconventional chronology so vibrantly triumphant.
An enchanting debut and a spellbinding tale of fate and belief in the bonds of love, The Time Traveler's Wife is destined to captivate readers for years to come.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 1661 more reviews...
 To each his own, but seriously...urgh... October 10, 2008
This is a copy of a post I made in the discussion forum, just thought I would expand it into a larger review. Spoilers, of course.
It's interesting how Henry meets Clare for the first time, sleeps with her, then decides he's "overcome with happiness" (page 16) and breaks up with Ingrid less than a day later. If you want to argue that it was love at first sight (which I don't believe in myself, personally) you might want to just ignore this comment entirely. I understand that his relationship with Ingrid was a troubled one, and that it would have ended anyway, but I just felt sorry for Ingrid. She's a sad character who has problems, and is, I think, far more interesting than Clare, who is about as bland and uninteresting as a wet dishcloth. Henry defends himself, saying that Ingrid was "patient. Overly patient. Willing to put up with odd behavior, in the hope that someday I would shape up and marry her...And when somebody is that patient, you have to feel grateful, and then you want to hurt them" (Niffenegger 161). Gee, does this remind us anyone in particular? Either this is sloppiness on the author's part, or Henry is just a hypocrite. Also, we don't really know how much the other characters know about Henry's condition. When did his father find out? When did Ingrid (who finds him in her apartment after he loses his feet and asks "When are you from?") find out?
Of course, some readers think this premise remarkably original. It's not! It's been done before. Read (or watch) Slaughterhouse Five if you want a similar premise written much more professionally.
I tried to like this book, I really did. Aside from my complete dislike of the characters, I think it would have been a better book if she had just cut out the second half entirely. Of course, considering all the drama and teeth-gnashing included in the second half, that might be why this book is so popular.
Dealing with loss, shame, and the imperfect October 5, 2008
(+)
For me, a gripping read
Character flaws (realism)
Emotionally engaging
Entertaining
Interesting character development
(-)
inconsistencies in the theory of time travel of of changing the the future
I'm omitting many details as to not give away too much of what the book provides.
Many of the reviews I read before actually reading this book alluded to the idea that it was about love. The back cover even calls it a love story. However, after reading it myself, I tend to gravitate more towards the idea that this book is really about loss: how we process it, how it tends to dehumanize us, how it simultaneously warps and reinforces what we consider as reality. Niffenegger does a wonderful job at tying the theme of love and loss throughout the pages of her book which is particularly why I was so consistently engaged while reading it.
The Time Travelers Wife is at times graphic, at times very terse and very raw, but never lacking in appeal. You won't be pleased if you're looking for a heroic and solid sci-fi drama. However, if you're looking to read a fiction about how imperfect people deal with the realities of relationship, of death, of growth, and of mystery then you'll neither be disappointed.
Henry and Clare's relationship isn't so static as to impose insincerity, but changes even as they change. There is an intercourse of ideas and mystery as both retain knowledge that the other cannot or will not possess. The fact that mystery tends to be interwoven even into our own lives is very prevalent in their story. This animates them in such a way as to make them more real to the reader. Selfishness, deceit, and unhealthy attachments stay paradoxically close to sacrifice, trust, and love.
Buy this book, it's definitely worth your reading!
 wonderful October 5, 2008
I don't usually rate books that I read, but this one really got to me. I absolutely loved this book. I plan on reading it again actually. It's a little hard to follow if you don't have time to sit and read it in one day, which I don't, but it's not so difficult that I didn't want to read it. I am a lover of all different authors and different styles of writing and I really enjoyed this and I recommend it to everyone!!!
One of my favorites. October 5, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
This is the type of book that makes images of cold windy days, the color of fall leaves, and big cups of coffee pop into your brain.
It's just beautiful. It's hard to put into words how lovely it truly is.
I actually couldn't really process it once I finished, and I know that opinions are very different in regards to this book. One of my friends even told me not to waste my time with it. Still, I think it was completely gorgeous, lush, breathtaking, and...just wonderful. I know I'm going on and on but it's that type of book that just hits you in the face and makes you feel like running out and finding a man/woman to experience a life changing romance with.
Melancholic Echo October 3, 2008
The Time Traveler's Wife is a heart-wrenching account of a time traveler, Henry, who spontaneously "travels." He cannot control when the time travel happens and it leads to a very unpredictable life. Henry meets Clare and thus begins a love story of two people who can never be completely together.
The Time Traveler's Wife will stay with you well after you've read the ending. I read the ending over and over again wanting to relive the last moment these two lovers were together. Melancholy follows the two lovers and propels you to keep reading. There is deep symolism in the novel; though the circumstances around the two main characters is outlandish, the feelings behind it are real. How do you truly be 100% with someone who can never be there for you? It's a question a lot of relationships face and Niffenegger answers it beautifully.
The movie is coming out this November and is starring Rachel McAdams and Eric Bana. I hope that the movie lives up to the book, though it will be hard.
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