Review of a Book

“The Time Traveler’s Wife” is a debut novel of American writer Audrey Niffenegger. It was published in 2003 and got a resounding success. After a number of straightforward and not really noticeable books made manually, Audrey took the bull by the horns and wrote a fascinating one whereby captivated the world’s attention.

    The main idea of the novel is love carried through the diverse dimensions of the life. It is embodied by two protagonists Clare and Henry who are so-called victims of the fate-joker and can’t help taking its play in their stride.

Henry has a weird genetic disorder thus it is his inherent feature to travel through time. Having begun at the age of six he is unable to terminate this process till the end. Every “trip” starts absolutely unexpectedly and Henry is out of his depth to confront it albeit tries to find pharmaceuticals to become an ordinary man. He cannot take anything into the future or the past and in a view of such circumstances attempts to use this uncontrolled involuntary transportation usefully.

    Regardless of such pitiful conditions of life God has mercy on Henry and gives him an affectionate and caring wife Clare. Due to the Henry’s travelling they are familiar since her childhood and afterwards get married, try to give a birth to a child and attempt to tackle Henry’s “illness”. Characters can’t be completely content with their living together, because permanent being on tenterhooks makes them feel vulnerable and apprehensive. Fed up with sheer uncertainty they don’t believe in the possibility to take the problem on the chin easily. However, Clare and Henry love, adore each other and are behind all along.

    When Henry is 43, by coincidence, he has his feet amputated and becomes chained to the wheelchair. Time trips are more hazardous as can cause a horrible incident. Once it happens. Henry is shot by Clare’s brother in the past, but the repercussion is current. Clare is devastated by husband’s death; she can’t go without him, so stays a loner during the life devoting herself to the yearning for Henry’s comeback.

    Such a macabre end, but emotions it evokes aren’t monosemantic. Author made me feel stunned, close to tears that is obvious due to the depicted events, but at the same time there is a sensation of unmitigated happiness that a real amour exists, and the visual example of this fact is Clare and Henry’s wedlock.

    I fancy recommending “The Time Traveler’s Wife” to anyone with an interest in unusual stories. It’s impeccable book so you won’t be able to put down!