Freelance Writing Jobs | Today's Articles | sign in

The Time Traveler's Wife Review

Journey into Audrey Niffenegger’s Best Seller

Jun 23, 2009 Jenna Galley

In The Time Traveler's Wife, Henry and Claire face the ups and downs of dating, love and marriage, as well as the added struggle against time.

The Time Travelers Wife takes readers on an incredible journey from the 1970’s to 2050’s in no particular order. This is because Henry, the husband of Claire, is a time traveler. Henry moves from one year to another, from one city to another, and then (sometimes) back again. The real excitement does not come from the places Henry visits and the people he meets, but rather in the relationship he forms with his soul mate and wife, Claire.

Claire and Henry

On the one hand, Claire and Henry are a typical husband and wife. Henry is a librarian and Claire is an artist. They go to dinner parties; they fight about finding their perfect home; they enjoy dysfunctional Christmas dinners with the in-laws; and they spend their early dating days in bed for weekends on end.

On the other hand; however, Claire and Henry are anything but average. For one, Henry meets Claire when he is 38 and she is 6 and he springs up from thin air, naked and confused, in her backyard. Henry and Claire are married when Claire is 22 and Henry is 30 and life continues this way. While Claire ages like everyone else, Henry flips around, sometimes appearing in two different time periods at the same moment. In a sense, Claire is married to several different Henry’s all at once. She never can be sure which one is going to pop up, naked and confused, in the middle of the kitchen.

The Touching Side Story

Perhaps one of the most heart breaking aspects of The Time Traveler’s Wife is Henry and Claire’s efforts to have a child. Claire suffers from multiple miscarriages over a ten year time span, for which Henry believes he is to blame. The recurrent loss puts an emotional strain on their relationship and provides a powerful side story that many readers can relate to. Couples all over the world suffer from recurrent miscarriage or problems with conception. Having Henry and Claire suffer from this problem brings their unusual story into reality. Not only does Claire have to deal with the extraordinary circumstances of constantly losing her husband to another time period, but she also struggles with overcoming the desire to have a child and the devastation of frequently losing this chance.

The Outcome

The Time Travelers’ Wife is an excellent narrative that hops from Claire’s point of view to Henry’s point of view throughout the novel. The additional characters, including Henry’s alcoholic father and his Korean neighbour, as well as their socialist friends, Gomez and Charisse, Henry’s crazy ex-girlfriend and Claire’s dysfunctional family, create the perfect balance of oddity and normalcy. The combination is refreshing and romantic as readers cannot help but fall in love with this perfect couple. Claire and Henry reflect the typical love story but with a twist that is anything but traditional.

The Time Traveler’s Wife is an excellent summer read, especially before the movie version, starring Rachel McAdams and Eric Bana premieres in November 2009.

The copyright of the article The Time Traveler's Wife Review in American Fiction is owned by Jenna Galley. Permission to republish The Time Traveler's Wife Review in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.

Here Today, Gone Tomorrow