The Time Traveler's Wife

Hardcover, 518 pages

English language

Published Feb. 26, 2003 by MacAdam/Cage.

ISBN:: 978-1-931561-64-8
OCLC Number:: 636465068

(4 reviews)

Audrey Niffenegger's innovative debut, The Time Traveler's Wife, is the story of Clare, a beautiful art student, and Henry, an adventuresome librarian, who have known each other since Clare was six and Henry was thirty-six, and were married when Clare was twenty-three and Henry thirty-one. Impossible but true, because Henry is one of the first people diagnosed with Chrono-Displacement Disorder: periodically his genetic clock resets and he finds himself misplaced in time, pulled to moments of emotional gravity in his life, past and future. His disappearances are spontaneous, his experiences unpredictable, alternately harrowing and amusing.

The Time Traveler's Wife depicts the effects of time travel on Henry and Clare's marriage and their passionate love for each other, as the story unfolds from both points of view. Clare and Henry attempt to live normal lives, pursuing familiar goals--steady jobs, good friends, children of their own. All of this is threatened by …

Audrey Niffenegger's innovative debut, The Time Traveler's Wife, is the story of Clare, a beautiful art student, and Henry, an adventuresome librarian, who have known each other since Clare was six and Henry was thirty-six, and were married when Clare was twenty-three and Henry thirty-one. Impossible but true, because Henry is one of the first people diagnosed with Chrono-Displacement Disorder: periodically his genetic clock resets and he finds himself misplaced in time, pulled to moments of emotional gravity in his life, past and future. His disappearances are spontaneous, his experiences unpredictable, alternately harrowing and amusing.

The Time Traveler's Wife depicts the effects of time travel on Henry and Clare's marriage and their passionate love for each other, as the story unfolds from both points of view. Clare and Henry attempt to live normal lives, pursuing familiar goals--steady jobs, good friends, children of their own. All of this is threatened by something they can neither prevent nor control, making their story intensely moving and entirely unforgettable. (front flap)

29 editions

Anthony Burgess reviewed The time traveler's wife by Audrey Niffenegger

Surprisingly good story that's not too corny

4 stars

Starting this book, I was worried, that it's gonna be one of those heavy romance novels but I'm glad I stuck around. It sure is romance, no doubt about it, but the story was good enough to keep me interested until the end. I try to not spoil anything here, as always.

The mechanics of the time travel are well done. It left some questions open, but not enough to pull me out of the story. I especially like the way she goes about time paradoxes. It's a bit of an easy way to deal with it, but at least it's done consistently. Maybe that's just me, but I dislike books that try to come up with some complicated approach to some known fiction theme and end up creating obvious plot holes that distract me from the story itself. It could also be, that the story did a better job …

Starting this book, I was worried, that it's gonna be one of those heavy romance novels but I'm glad I stuck around. It sure is romance, no doubt about it, but the story was good enough to keep me interested until the end. I try to not spoil anything here, as always.

The mechanics of the time travel are well done. It left some questions open, but not enough to pull me out of the story. I especially like the way she goes about time paradoxes. It's a bit of an easy way to deal with it, but at least it's done consistently. Maybe that's just me, but I dislike books that try to come up with some complicated approach to some known fiction theme and end up creating obvious plot holes that distract me from the story itself. It could also be, that the story did a better job distracting me from these plot holes. 🤷🏼

The story itself was romantic of course, but the characters did a good job reacting to the situation at hand, they seemed believable, though the protagonists could have had a bit more depth. I didn't read it as critically as other books though, it was just an easy and enjoyable read.

It's not gonna be one of my favorites, but I would recommend it. If you just want to read something nice, give it a go.