The Time Traveler’s Wife
by Audrey Niffenegger

reviewed by Byron Merritt

There’s a lot to love about this book...and a few things some readers might resent. But one thing that can’t be denied is that the author, Audrey Niffenegger, has created an extremely unique style and presentation in The Time Traveler's Wife.

The story takes place in the first person narrative, but by two different individuals. First we have Henry DeTamble, a CDP (Chronologically Displaced Person) who struggles to stay in one time and one place throughout the book. He may be the next step in the human evolutionary process, making time travel a genetic choice rather than a mechanical one. He’s a young 27-year-old librarian by profession, and his life is soon up-ended when he travels back in time to meet Clare, an eight-year-old girl who will eventually grow up and become his wife ...and the beginning of their relationship will eventually be Henry’s downfall, too.

Clare, whom the book is really about, becomes The Time Traveler's Wife, and continues to wait for Henry to pop up at intersections in their lives. One minute Henry might be visiting her when she was twelve, the next when she’ll be 45. It’s a harrowing experience for the reader to try and come to grips with when and where certain pivotal moments happen, but occur they do, and the control which Mrs. Niffenegger has over her plotting is admirable to say the least! Jumping from time to time and place to place in the blink of an eye can be confusing, but the author handles it extremely well.

And although this story has the science fiction theme of time travel as a modus operandi, it isn’t what the book’s about. This is a love story between Clare and Henry with the all of the fortunate and unfortunate events that surround their lives during Clare’s growing up, the drugs and alcohol that Henry uses in order to keep him sedate to help prevent him from time traveling, the arrival of a child in their lives, and the eventual horrible consequences of Henry’s limited control over his time traveling abilities.

Any weakness in the story would have to be directed at the length of the novel (over 530 pages), and the slow cadence of the narrative. There are meals with families, parties, library scenes, and a smattering of other sequences which seemed to drag at times, making my reading of the story equally long.

But even with these issues, this is a strong piece of work. The gripping lives of these characters will draw most readers in and hold them tight, right up until the climax.