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A review by geofrog
The Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger
4.0
I must confess: I initially had no interest in reading this book until I was informed that the titular time traveler goes back in time and has sex with himself. Hearing this immediately made me think back to the many conversations I’ve had with people over the years about whether or not they would have sex with themselves. Those conversations mostly focused on ideas surrounding clones, incest, and masturbation, but I feel like the heart of those conversations is reflected in this book’s strange plot point. If you’re somehow curious to where I would fall in these conversations: Yes. I would have sex with myself, and yes, I’m completely aware that that’s very weird, and ethically gross if you think about it too hard. Weird hypothetical sex situations aside, the actual book is a love story about Henry, a man with a genetic disorder that causes him to time travel unpredictably, and about Clare, his wife, an artist who has to cope with his frequent absences. Content warning for miscarriage, death of a parent, adult/minor relationship (non-sexual), suicide (described on page), and mentions of suicide, rape, and homophobia. I must admit, I don’t like time travel stories and I’m not a fan of most time travel storytelling tropes. I feel like the different theories and rules for time travel in stories are either never done well enough, or done so well that it becomes convoluted and hard for me to follow. That being said, I love how we begin this story with Clare “meeting” a young version of Henry, with Clare already having met a future version of Henry and with Henry having no idea who she is. I like that each chapter begins with the characters ages in order to understand where we are in their timelines.
I can understand why some readers would be uncomfortable with the plot point that future Henry meets with Clare as a child (being naked when he time travels and knowing they eventually become romantically involved) but I do think that it’s unfair to try and attach real life realistic connotations to such a fictional fantastical situation, and Clare makes it clear that future Henry wouldn’t have sex with her no matter how hard she tried as a teenager. The heart of this story is romantic and doesn’t muddy itself in real world implications. However, this is just my personal opinion and your mileage may vary. Some readers may find this plot point disturbing and comparable to grooming, but I think that in the context of time travel as a genetic condition, this was a realistic depiction of two people who’s lives are intertwined but timelines are mixed up. It should be noted that Henry never treats younger Clare as anything but a child despite knowing their future together, and he goes out of his way to make their interactions appropriate and non-sexual and reaffirm his presence as something almost paternal or friendly. This plot point is still strange and weird, just not as sinister as critics make it out to be, in my opinion. I like the comments that the author has made regarding this part of the book and encourage those who feel uncomfortable with this plot point to search up her interview regarding the newest HBO adaptation.
Whenever I saw this book on bookshelves, I imagined that this book would be filled with flowery writing, and in a way it is, but much more subdued than what I had imagined it to be. I was very surprised to see how the author described sex and sexuality so bluntly. There were no flowery euphemisms or beating around the bush here. I liked that aspect as it was honest and raw, I just had assumed that those scenes would be framed in a way similar to a vague romantic poem. Seeing how Henry learns to adapt to his surroundings when he is thrust naked into the past was very interesting, and I don’t think I’d be able to adjust to living to a life like that. I like how Henry runs into younger versions of himself in his travels and I like how he interacts with each one differently depending on where they are in his timeline. While the protagonists’ lives are told out of order and out of sequence, there is a rhythmic feel to each snippet and it was easy to grasp the story structure despite the chronology of events. I like the small bits of world building surrounding Henry’s condition. The theories about Henry being a different species or the next step in human evolution were interesting, and I like how younger Clare remarks that if time travelers are real, what else is real? While these discussions made me ponder the answers to these questions, I’m glad that the story didn’t choose to explore any of those ideas too deeply and focused on the love story between these two characters. I loved the conversation these characters had about free will, the idea of God, and determinism. These deeper conversations made me wonder about the rules of time travel in this story. Is everything predestined, or does the timeline change every time Henry time travels? I love how young Clare constantly asks about the future while future Henry navigates what he can and can’t share. I love the small secret hints he drops about the future, and I love the moment where he realizes he’s said too much. I love when Henry figures out the meaning behind certain things in their lives when he time travels, like when he figures out the meaning behind something strange someone says to him in the future while he’s travelling backwards throughout time. I liked seeing teenage Clare’s inner darkness and how Henry chooses to let her indulge in it. What happened to Henry’s mom was so tragic, but I liked how it shaped Henry and shaped the story. Clare’s struggles with getting pregnant are tragic and I felt like it was done well in the context of this story.
Despite the fact that I loved this book, I did have some problems with it. All the non-white characters feel like caricatures and shallow stereotypes. I blame this on the author being a white woman and having written this in 1997. While she could have been more educated on how to properly portray non-white characters in the 90s, I do understand that the portrayals of non-white characters during this time period aren’t going to be up to today’s standards especially with the mainstream public perception of non-white people during the 90s and the aughts being filled with stereotypes and subtle racism. There are also a number of plot conveniences for the characters that, if removed, may have made for a more interesting story. The two biggest plot conveniences being all the characters are wealthy enough to not worry about money (besides when Henry is thrust naked back in time and must resort to pickpocketing) and Henry somehow maintains a job at the library despite disappearing for long periods of time. Logistically, this book felt a little too long and a bit drawn out in the middle despite only having around 500 pages, but I estimate that it only felt like this because I read it in mostly one sitting. I wish there had been a bit more conflict and subplots, but it also felt intentional to have this story be focused on the characters’ interpersonal relationships and histories. Despite all this, my problems with this story are eclipsed by my love for it.
My feelings towards this book and the backlash towards it can be summed up by a quote from an article where the author herself addresses the public reception of the story and the newest television adaptation.
From Rob Salkowitz’s Forbes article “Author Stands Behind HBO’s Controversial Adaptation Of ‘The Time Traveler’s Wife’”:
“Part of the issue with the reception of the show, she thinks, might be the result of mismatched expectations. Though The Time Traveler’s Wife sold well over 8 million copies worldwide and was previously adapted into a 2009 feature film starring Eric Bana and Rachel McAdams, it was never intended as a crowd-pleasing genre novel with simple conflicts and resolutions. “There are people who say it’s not sci-fi enough, and people who say ‘this isn’t a romance!’ and I’m like, ‘yeah, it’s a book.’ I didn’t want to peg it to anything so specific.””
I’ve seen a lot of romance readers negatively review this book because they expected a formulaic mainstream romance novel (with a time travelling twist) with the typical romance caricatures, but these characters are more complex than that. They’re messy, they’re unlikable. They’re imperfect. They aren’t the typical perfect romance protagonists that readers have become comfortable with, and this book isn’t a trope-filled romance novel. These characters feel like real people. Complicated real people dealing with an abnormal fantastical situation. I liked the exploration of this strange morally grey romance. I liked the introduction of a certain character halfway through the novel and how they shook up the character dynamics and the story itself. Clare’s multiple miscarriages and the reveal that her babies’ fetuses kept time travelling in and out of her womb and dying was insane. What happened to Ingrid broke my heart even though I wasn’t invested in her character before the end of her story. The implication that she thought she had met her future daughter only to realize that Alba wasn’t hers which later leads to her suicide was so dark. While I feel like her character wasn’t given enough focus, this oddly fit as we are following Henry through his non-chronological travels through his own timeline, and the subtle implications only made it more powerful for me. The ending was heartbreaking, but I loved how beautifully tragic it all was. I do believe that this story will only be effective if the reader empathizes with these characters, and I do feel like readers must have an open mind in order to do so with Henry and Clare. I highly recommend this book for fans of romance stories that aren’t completely revolved around stereotypical romance or tropes typically associated with the genre.
I can understand why some readers would be uncomfortable with the plot point that future Henry meets with Clare as a child (being naked when he time travels and knowing they eventually become romantically involved) but I do think that it’s unfair to try and attach real life realistic connotations to such a fictional fantastical situation, and Clare makes it clear that future Henry wouldn’t have sex with her no matter how hard she tried as a teenager. The heart of this story is romantic and doesn’t muddy itself in real world implications. However, this is just my personal opinion and your mileage may vary. Some readers may find this plot point disturbing and comparable to grooming, but I think that in the context of time travel as a genetic condition, this was a realistic depiction of two people who’s lives are intertwined but timelines are mixed up. It should be noted that Henry never treats younger Clare as anything but a child despite knowing their future together, and he goes out of his way to make their interactions appropriate and non-sexual and reaffirm his presence as something almost paternal or friendly. This plot point is still strange and weird, just not as sinister as critics make it out to be, in my opinion. I like the comments that the author has made regarding this part of the book and encourage those who feel uncomfortable with this plot point to search up her interview regarding the newest HBO adaptation.
Whenever I saw this book on bookshelves, I imagined that this book would be filled with flowery writing, and in a way it is, but much more subdued than what I had imagined it to be. I was very surprised to see how the author described sex and sexuality so bluntly. There were no flowery euphemisms or beating around the bush here. I liked that aspect as it was honest and raw, I just had assumed that those scenes would be framed in a way similar to a vague romantic poem. Seeing how Henry learns to adapt to his surroundings when he is thrust naked into the past was very interesting, and I don’t think I’d be able to adjust to living to a life like that. I like how Henry runs into younger versions of himself in his travels and I like how he interacts with each one differently depending on where they are in his timeline. While the protagonists’ lives are told out of order and out of sequence, there is a rhythmic feel to each snippet and it was easy to grasp the story structure despite the chronology of events. I like the small bits of world building surrounding Henry’s condition. The theories about Henry being a different species or the next step in human evolution were interesting, and I like how younger Clare remarks that if time travelers are real, what else is real? While these discussions made me ponder the answers to these questions, I’m glad that the story didn’t choose to explore any of those ideas too deeply and focused on the love story between these two characters. I loved the conversation these characters had about free will, the idea of God, and determinism. These deeper conversations made me wonder about the rules of time travel in this story. Is everything predestined, or does the timeline change every time Henry time travels? I love how young Clare constantly asks about the future while future Henry navigates what he can and can’t share. I love the small secret hints he drops about the future, and I love the moment where he realizes he’s said too much. I love when Henry figures out the meaning behind certain things in their lives when he time travels, like when he figures out the meaning behind something strange someone says to him in the future while he’s travelling backwards throughout time. I liked seeing teenage Clare’s inner darkness and how Henry chooses to let her indulge in it. What happened to Henry’s mom was so tragic, but I liked how it shaped Henry and shaped the story. Clare’s struggles with getting pregnant are tragic and I felt like it was done well in the context of this story.
Despite the fact that I loved this book, I did have some problems with it. All the non-white characters feel like caricatures and shallow stereotypes. I blame this on the author being a white woman and having written this in 1997. While she could have been more educated on how to properly portray non-white characters in the 90s, I do understand that the portrayals of non-white characters during this time period aren’t going to be up to today’s standards especially with the mainstream public perception of non-white people during the 90s and the aughts being filled with stereotypes and subtle racism. There are also a number of plot conveniences for the characters that, if removed, may have made for a more interesting story. The two biggest plot conveniences being all the characters are wealthy enough to not worry about money (besides when Henry is thrust naked back in time and must resort to pickpocketing) and Henry somehow maintains a job at the library despite disappearing for long periods of time. Logistically, this book felt a little too long and a bit drawn out in the middle despite only having around 500 pages, but I estimate that it only felt like this because I read it in mostly one sitting. I wish there had been a bit more conflict and subplots, but it also felt intentional to have this story be focused on the characters’ interpersonal relationships and histories. Despite all this, my problems with this story are eclipsed by my love for it.
My feelings towards this book and the backlash towards it can be summed up by a quote from an article where the author herself addresses the public reception of the story and the newest television adaptation.
From Rob Salkowitz’s Forbes article “Author Stands Behind HBO’s Controversial Adaptation Of ‘The Time Traveler’s Wife’”:
“Part of the issue with the reception of the show, she thinks, might be the result of mismatched expectations. Though The Time Traveler’s Wife sold well over 8 million copies worldwide and was previously adapted into a 2009 feature film starring Eric Bana and Rachel McAdams, it was never intended as a crowd-pleasing genre novel with simple conflicts and resolutions. “There are people who say it’s not sci-fi enough, and people who say ‘this isn’t a romance!’ and I’m like, ‘yeah, it’s a book.’ I didn’t want to peg it to anything so specific.””
I’ve seen a lot of romance readers negatively review this book because they expected a formulaic mainstream romance novel (with a time travelling twist) with the typical romance caricatures, but these characters are more complex than that. They’re messy, they’re unlikable. They’re imperfect. They aren’t the typical perfect romance protagonists that readers have become comfortable with, and this book isn’t a trope-filled romance novel. These characters feel like real people. Complicated real people dealing with an abnormal fantastical situation. I liked the exploration of this strange morally grey romance. I liked the introduction of a certain character halfway through the novel and how they shook up the character dynamics and the story itself. Clare’s multiple miscarriages and the reveal that her babies’ fetuses kept time travelling in and out of her womb and dying was insane. What happened to Ingrid broke my heart even though I wasn’t invested in her character before the end of her story. The implication that she thought she had met her future daughter only to realize that Alba wasn’t hers which later leads to her suicide was so dark. While I feel like her character wasn’t given enough focus, this oddly fit as we are following Henry through his non-chronological travels through his own timeline, and the subtle implications only made it more powerful for me. The ending was heartbreaking, but I loved how beautifully tragic it all was. I do believe that this story will only be effective if the reader empathizes with these characters, and I do feel like readers must have an open mind in order to do so with Henry and Clare. I highly recommend this book for fans of romance stories that aren’t completely revolved around stereotypical romance or tropes typically associated with the genre.