See The Sun

Unstuck in Time

Friday, December 7th, 2007 | Book

I’ve finished reading ‘The Time Traveler’s Wife’ on Wednesday evening and it’s just an amazing story and told in the most fascinating style ever! I’ve been blown away by the depth of the story that I have not been able to start reading a new book despite having the time and some interesting books that I only just bought. I’d definitely recommend this book VERY much!

Not only do I think is the love story between Henry and Clare one of the most romantic stories I’ve ever read but also is it a very real one, it spans over so many years and the happiness, sadness and problems that fill their lives makes it anything but superficial. What I also like about the book are the philosophical ponderings. They are not forced upon the reader really nor are there a lot of them but the fact that they’re there raise the writing above the average novel. I might not agree 100% with Henry nor with Clare but their opinions appear logical and understandable to me. Time travelling can be such a pitfall because it offers countless occasions for plotholes. In my opinion, the way Audrey Niffenegger has dealt with it - as a genetic disease that can’t be controlled at all and also that you can’t really change the past nor the future - works very well.

I do not think that belief in the existence of God includes the belief that every single fact is pre-determined and part of a bigger plan, although I do think there is a bigger plan. However, I like the way Henry describes determinism, that the bigger facts etc are determined but leave room for free will - that it is the opposite of complete chaos. What if we combine these 2 ideas? Everything that appears determined (such as existence, laws of nature etc) were not determined by an unknown figure but by God? Well, let’s not go there now…

What I didn’t like so much at first is that the writer constantly cuts from one time to the other and back etc. It makes the characters more vague. But within only a few pages the characters are already very well developed despite that and I didn’t mind the time cuts anymore - in fact I loved them! There are many details and quotes in the book I’m already starting to forget so I think I’ll have to re-read it again.

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