In general, I like time travel stories and movies, so I expected to like this one. And, in general, I did, except for some points which I'll get to momentarily. But first, let me explain the story:
Henry DeTamble is a not-so mild mannered twentysomething librarian with a slight genetic abnormality. He uncontrollably time travels, which is compared to an epileptic having a seizure. While he has no control over the time, place, or duration of his forays out of the present, in general, he ends up in places that are important to him. One common destination is to the home of his wife, and these tend to be when she is between the ages of 6 and 18. So, one theme of the book is a what-if. What if, growing up as a child, you knew your future spouse as an adult? (But then, when you first meet your spouse in real-time, your spouse is close to your age, and actually younger than those times you spent with him as a child. So, he has no present knowledge of those past meetings, because they are still in his future. Confusing, huh?) This what-if makes up a good portion of the book. By the way, if you think about it, the answer to the question is that you'll end up with a pretty messed-up person.
The cover states that the Chicago Tribune calls it "A soaring celebration of the victory of love over time." And maybe it's more of a love story than a time travel story. While forward and backward time travel is involved, there aren't any "visions" of the future and the past as you might see in more of a SciFi novel. Also, while the future and the past are known, it turns out that they can't be changed. With no hope of changing the past or the known future, the reader is left to wonder if there is any hope of changing the present.
There were a few other negatives with the book. It was a tad too "explicit" for my tastes in reading material. Also, it was just too l o n g and seemed to drag on for a bit, but then I'm a slow reader. Still, it was about 540 pages, and I wonder if the author could have told the same story in 200 or so fewer pages.
All-in-all, though, there were more positives than negatives. It was an interesting story that, other than its length, made for fast reading. The main characters and their predicament were interesting. But don't think about it too much. It's the kind of book that, the more you think about it, the more flaws you can find. Along those lines, I was going to give it 4 stars, but I think I'll instead make my rating
Three stars out of five.
Finally, if you read it, there was something I didn't understand, and maybe you can explain it to me. Near the very end of the book Clare made a piece of art. The way it was explained, it seemed to hold some significance for her future. But, I couldn't figure out exactly what it meant. (Maybe I should try reading it again.) But, my question is, what did this tell us about what her future would be like? I got the impression that it was supposed to be obvious, but maybe it wasn't.
3 comments:
I considered buying this one (in English) when I saw it in a small bookstore. Then I read the back of the book, a few random pages from the middle, and a few random pages from near the beginning, and thought, "I don't think so."
My brother got me some books for Christmas. I started "Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell" by Susanna Clarke. Now this one is odd, but I find it more a commentary on society and relationships than a book on witchcraft. However, it's getting weirder and weirder as it goes. I'm about halfway through and then I just put it down and never picked it up again. Too many translation jobs and other things, unfortunately.
PS: I admire you for reading "The Time Traveler's Wife" to the end. After all, I was too chicken to start!
Not only was it too "explicit" for me, I had a problem with him taking advanage of a young girl. There are better books out there if you are interested in the time travel theme-such as "The Doomsday Book".
Post a Comment