May 2007 Host Colleen

The Time Traveler’s Wife by Audrey Niffenegger

Audrey Niffenegger’s compelling debut, is a powerful love story of Clare, an art student, and Henry, a librarian. Henry is diagnosed with Chrono-Displacement Disorder which periodically resets his genetic clock and he finds himself misplaced in time in his past and future. Henry is whisked around in time, he could disappear from one moment in time and find himself in an entirely different place in time ten years earlier or ten years later. Clare’s life moves ahead in the normal manner. They have known each other since Clair was six and Henry was thirty-six and were married when Claire was twenty-three and Henry thirty-one. Henry’s disappearances are spontaneous, his experiences unpredictable (his first order of business is always finding clothes as time travel relieves him of them), and at times, harrowing (not just for him, but for Clare also). This book describes the effects of time travel on Henry and Clare’s marriage and their attempt at living a normal life with jobs, friends, and children of their own.

-This is a wonderful love story of intense devotion between two people who share the best and worst of their unique situation. All but one (or two?) of us were brought to tears at events that occurred in the last twenty pages of the book.

-Although it was agreed that this was a great love story, Claire’s life just seemed to be too wrapped up in Henry’s life. Her character didn’t seem to grow or progress. She experienced much guilt in her single sexual encounter before she met Henry for the first time when he wasn‘t time traveling, whereas Henry had many prior sexual encounters and guilt did not seem to be a factor for him. Claire faithfully waited for Henry to return to their present life after his time travels. Only once did she leave to have dinner by herself while Henry was time traveling. She waited for Henry from the time she was six years old until she was 82 years old.

-The first-person point of view utilized by the author contributed to the fine details of real characters - their flaws and the (at times obsessive) love they share under extraordinary circumstances - it all sprang to life in this novel.

-Henry’s time traveling would occur occasionally during times of stress, even happy stress such as his wedding day and during the birth of their child. The reader was left anticipating when Henry would disappear and what obstacles he would have to overcome.

-Unfortunately, Henry had to face some of his worst fears through time traveling. He hated the cold and loved to run, yet he eventually lost his feet to the cold. He feared time traveling into an unusual cage with no entrance at his workplace - yet he did end up in the dreaded cage. This particular incident could have also been intended by the author as a way for Henry’s coworkers to discover that he was a time traveler.

-Some of the characters (especially Ingrid) were unusual, with sex, drugs, alcohol and punk rock contributing to their near bohemian lifestyle.