In her first novel, Audrey Niffenegger has created an unforgettable novel about love and time.
Henry deTamble is a librarian at the Newberry Library in Chicago. Good-looking, intelligent, he seems to have everything going for him. But Henry has a big secret -- due to a genetic condition he is an unwilling time traveler.
Claire Abshire is an artist who sculpts with paper, and who, through an unusual series of events, has known the adult Henry almost her whole life. Totally unable to imagine a life without Henry, she embraces the unique challenges of their relationship with quiet and unconditional love.
The reader encounters Clare and Henry through their own, first-person narrative. The story opens with Claire meeting Henry in the Newberry Library in Chicago. She knows him, but he doesn’t know who she is. Through interchanging narratives, Clare and Henry tell their story, including their first meeting when Clare is only six years old.
Henry explains to Clare that he has a genetic disorder, which will come to be called Chrono-Displacement, that causes him to travel back and forth in time. Clare begins to look forward to seeing him, taking steps to provide him with food and clothing for his visits.
Because Henry moves back and forth in time with dizzying regularity, Henry’s narrative jumps around a lot. He relies on cues from events and people, including Clare and himself, both at varying ages, to tell him where in time he is and how he ought to behave.This unwelcome time travel has no predictable pattern, and Henry cannot take anything with him, including the clothes he is wearing.
From the beginning there is a subtle sense of foreboding that permeates this book. The reader will suspect that Henry knows more about the future than he is letting on to Clare. And they will be right.
The Characters of Henry and Clare
Henry and Clare are touchingly endearing, two very different people who share a love which lasts over a lifetime. But there is sadness and plenty of it. Henry’s genetic issues make it difficult for them to have children. Clare never knows when he will appear or disappear, and as stress makes the situation worse, she cannot count on him in difficult times.
On the surface, Clare and Henry are a match made in heaven, a couple who have the sort of deep eternal love that many only dream of. Niffenegger fully develops both characters, exploring their feelings for each other, for their situation, and for the world around them. Unlike many novels, the characters' entire lives, including their families, friends, and careers, are important to the progression and climax of the novel.
Henry is, to put it mildly, irritating at times, and one wonders why Clare puts up with him. He tends to be self-centered and cynical, interested only in what makes him feel good about himself. At the same time, he has had so many experiences where his life is reduced to basic needs -- warm, shelter, food -- that these needs follow him into the other aspects of his life and influence his feelings and his behaviors.
Clare’s character is often too good to be true -- patient, kind, devoted, and loving. Her frequent concern and sadness never prevent her from loving Henry, even if it does cause some strain. She is a genuinely sympathetic character, and her gentle stability acts as a tempering balance to the chaos that is Henry.
Literary and Scientific Critiques of The Time Traveler's Wife
The time-traveling sequences have received a certain amount of literary criticism, ranging from a lack of concern for the effect continual time travel would have on Henry and Clare’s actual past/future to questions of destiny and free-will. Additionally there is some uncertainty in the literary world as to whether the novel should be classified as science fiction or romance, with several critics suggesting it be classified as a time-slip romance novel.
No matter what the correct classification may be, Niffenegger has written a unique novel that may well become an American fiction classic.
The Time Traveler's Wife, paperback edition, ISBN 978-0156029438, was published in 2004 by Mariner Books, a division of Houghton Mifflin Harcourt The author, Audrey Niffenegger, has written one other novel, Her Fearful Symmetry (2009). An art professor and accomplished artist, she has written and published two visual novels, four visual books, and three short stories.
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