Warning: Possible spoilers.
I bought The Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger a couple of years ago at a jumble sale for about fifty pence. Having seen a lot of hype over the novel and the film adaptation, I wasn't sure what I expected from it, but I fully expected to find that it had been over-hyped upon finishing it. I'm pleased to say that I was pleasantly surprised.
The plot of The Time Traveler's Wife concerns itself with the life of Henry DeTamble, who has a genetic disorder which causes him to travel in time and space, unwillingly and with no control over his destination. Additionally, the narrative tells the story of Clare, his wife: their meeting, meeting again, their love and their life together. The timeline spans from the 1960s to 2053, and the story feels vast and further-reaching than featured in the novel. Despite this vastness, the novel does not feel too large - possibly because of its focus on two main characters, with others as peripheral features. This helps keep the sheer scope of the narrative anchored and (overall) relatively sensible.
With this much time to play in, Niffenegger has several decades to deal with - as well as keeping some of the side characters very much to the side (such as Clare's siblings and Henry's colleagues) she keeps the world around her central love story fairly anonymous, characterising different times with different music for the most part. Events in the wider world are not discussed much - with the exception of brief mentions of certain events, such as 9/11 - and the focus remains very local.
There is a problem, however, with focusing on the central two characters too much - the supporting cast can feel extremely underdeveloped at times, and this can make the characters feel like they are there simply to fulfil a role - Charisse, for example, taking the role of "Clare's best friend", or Ben as "Henry's friend who has AIDS". Nevertheless, these characters do provide some small points of conflict throughout: for example, when Ben tries to help Henry find a drug to stop him time travelling.
Another small problem I found with The Time Traveler's Wife was the "cultural" aspect (for wont of a better phrase) - the narrative is filled with a huge amount of "arty" references to operas and classical music and particular foreign artists and authors. While I found some of them interesting and that they enhanced a scene, in equal measure I found myself feeling isolated, frustrated and that the reference was rather pretentious and served no purpose whatsoever.
Despite these small flaws, I think Niffenegger asks some profound questions on the nature of fate and determinism - are Henry and Clare together because they chose it of their own free will or because Henry has told Clare that that is how it goes and he has seen it in their future? Clare's response to Henry's marriage proposal emphasises this: "But you know, really... I already have." Their experiment with the drawing of Henry is thwarted, apparently, by the fact that how it finally looks is pre-determined (Clare changes it to how it "should" be because she does not want to change things) and generally their lives seem to be lacking a certain amount of free will: if Henry had not told Clare what happened in the future, would she have waited for him or found someone new? The questions Niffenegger gives rise to are not answered within the pages of The Time Traveler's Wife, but left to the audience to ponder and consider long after having finished reading.
Overall, The Time Traveler's Wife is a novel I did not have the highest of hopes for, but fortunately found that I was well satisfied by the story and the style of the writing. The novel feels huge and sweeping, but really has a very small focus on a love story, complicated by biology. I think it was interesting from a philosophical point of view and well worth reading.
Have you read The Time Traveler's Wife, or seen the film? What did you think?
There is a problem, however, with focusing on the central two characters too much - the supporting cast can feel extremely underdeveloped at times, and this can make the characters feel like they are there simply to fulfil a role - Charisse, for example, taking the role of "Clare's best friend", or Ben as "Henry's friend who has AIDS". Nevertheless, these characters do provide some small points of conflict throughout: for example, when Ben tries to help Henry find a drug to stop him time travelling.
Another small problem I found with The Time Traveler's Wife was the "cultural" aspect (for wont of a better phrase) - the narrative is filled with a huge amount of "arty" references to operas and classical music and particular foreign artists and authors. While I found some of them interesting and that they enhanced a scene, in equal measure I found myself feeling isolated, frustrated and that the reference was rather pretentious and served no purpose whatsoever.
Despite these small flaws, I think Niffenegger asks some profound questions on the nature of fate and determinism - are Henry and Clare together because they chose it of their own free will or because Henry has told Clare that that is how it goes and he has seen it in their future? Clare's response to Henry's marriage proposal emphasises this: "But you know, really... I already have." Their experiment with the drawing of Henry is thwarted, apparently, by the fact that how it finally looks is pre-determined (Clare changes it to how it "should" be because she does not want to change things) and generally their lives seem to be lacking a certain amount of free will: if Henry had not told Clare what happened in the future, would she have waited for him or found someone new? The questions Niffenegger gives rise to are not answered within the pages of The Time Traveler's Wife, but left to the audience to ponder and consider long after having finished reading.
Overall, The Time Traveler's Wife is a novel I did not have the highest of hopes for, but fortunately found that I was well satisfied by the story and the style of the writing. The novel feels huge and sweeping, but really has a very small focus on a love story, complicated by biology. I think it was interesting from a philosophical point of view and well worth reading.
Have you read The Time Traveler's Wife, or seen the film? What did you think?
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