The Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger

The Time Traveler’s Wife

The book The Time Traveler’s Wife is a young adult fiction novel by Audrey Niffenegger. This was the debut book by Niffenegger and was first published on January 1, 2003, but was also made into a movie in 2009. The movie received several awards, and the book received the Exclusive Books Boeke Prize. The author, Audrey Niffenegger, is currently writing a sequel to the Time Traveler’s Wife, and it will be published soon. Niffenegger was born on June 13, 1963 in South Haven, Michigan. She is a writer, artist, and academic.

The Time Traveler’s Wife is a romance and science fiction book for young adults. The two main characters, Henry and Clare, share an extraordinary love story that seem to be quite impossible. The story of these characters start when Henry, the mysterious librarian meets a smart, beautiful, and creative art student, Clare. The love story between these two seems impossible with many hardships and challenges that come along their way because Henry is a time traveler, but the bond of love keeps them strong. Henry’s disappearances are spontaneous and unpredictable, while Clare is patient and understanding. As they try to live a normal life like other couples, they are always threatened by a force that can not be controlled or stopped by human force or will.

The book takes on a different perspective than other books do in romance and science fiction. Yes, there are books that are science fiction and romance, but this book was written in the perspective of two people, Clare and Henry. Because of this structure, the readers are able to see the personalities and thoughts of the two main characters very easily. Additionally, each chapter is split by mostly a linear time period. Throughout a chapter, there would be different times to signal how much time has passed after the preceding event; this makes it easy to see the time that have passed and the important events that have passed before the next significant event.

Another observation to note is that sometimes, the characters would speak in French. This makes the book seem more realistic because it shows the characters’ interaction in a different language.

Lastly, there is a lot of foreshadowing in the book. This makes it more intense and engaging because it makes the reader want to read more and find out what happens later on. Honestly, the most beneficial approach to take while reading is keeping track of the foreshadows because these can be useful towards the end of the story.

Although The Time Traveler’s Wife is a very engaging, there were some times when the author could have done better. For example, sometimes there was not enough details about what was happening. The book was confusing at times as to why something was happening and why it was important because there wasn’t enough explanation for a course of action or an event. Another being the author sometimes including events that were not really necessary for the book’s plot itself. On the other hand, there were many elements of the book that absolutely exceeded expectations. The book had many foreshadowings, but not all of them were obvious, so she was able to surprise the readers towards the end of the story with something her audience did not expect. However, with the obvious foreshadowings, the author was able to keep the readers in engaged by making them want to know what happens later on in the plot. Finally, the mysteriousness of the book made everything very skittish. In a sense, this idea links to the foreshadowing - it makes the book more mysterious. Not only was the book mysterious, the main character was also very mystifying. Henry was very unpredictable. He is spontaneous and unpredictable, and his personality and his time traveling are what made the book very compelling. The book makes the readers constantly want to read more and know more about what happens in the end. This book did a very good job at keeping the reader’s attention the whole time.

This book is very outstanding because it had a combination of romance, science fiction, and a little bit of mystery. A amalgamation of these genres make The Time Traveler’s Wife the most extraordinary book. The book was engaging the whole time, so the reader would not have to worry about reading a boring book when he or she starts the story. I would definitely recommend this book to anyone who enjoys reading romance or science-fiction books. However, I would not recommend it to anyone who doesn’t feel comfortable reading explicit books that have a lot of uncensored sex scenes. Since the book values the theme love, there are many sex scenes.

Title: The Time Traveler's Wife

Author: Audrey Niffenegger

Publisher: Zola Books

Date of Publication: January 1, 2003

Number of Pages: (Ebook, special edition) 518

Genre: Science Fiction, Young Adult, Romance, Fiction, Contemporary

For my creative piece, I made wings because I think it symbolized the book. After Henry's feet amputations, Clare made him wings. She didn't want him to be trapped again; she wanted Henry to be able to fly away and feel freedom.