The Time Traveler's Wife

I have a confession. I am in three book clubs. Yes, three! It all started out when I learned I was staying in Winston-Salem after a 6 month training program. I had hoped to move to Charleston (SC) where my fiance is in med school, but the fates were against me, so in WS I stayed. Some of the guys I work with were also staying in WS, and they let me know about a book club their wives had started. So now I was in book club A. Maybe a month later, some of the girls I know from the training program approached me about their book club. I thought, what the heck!? I'm in a town where I may know 10 people tops...this is a great way to have a social life since the fiance is 4.5 hours away. Now I'm in book club B. The last book club is my favorite (sorry A and B!). There is a kitchen store/catering business not five minutes from my home. The owner's father is a pretty famous chef. Chef Don McMillan has cooked for several famous people (Maya Angelou, Oprah, Julia Child to name a few) and now teaches classes at The Stocked Pot. One of the series of classes is a book club where he chooses a book that has some aspect of cooking in it and then plans a menu for a class around the book. So now I am in book club C.

Wow, to make a short story long, I read The Time Traveler's Wife for book club A. I had seen the preview for the movie at the theater and fell in love. I was really pleased when book club A decided to read the book for the month of August (as well as The Hunger Games, but that will be a later post). The book did not disappoint. I was fairly confused the first couple of chapters, but I eventually got into the plot and fell in love with the characters. I am anxious to see how they are portrayed on the big screen. I had minor issues keeping up with the time travel issues; for example Henry at 40 something will visit child Clare so then in their 20's she'll know something about him that hasn't happened yet. Anyway, it's trivial when you consider the story is about their life together. It's a very moving story, and despite some slightly vulgar phrases (not that I'm a prude), I would recommend this book to EVERYONE!!! I only hope the rest of A enjoyed is like I did. I'll find out next Thursday.

9/1/09
I've decided, looking back on this post, that I need to do more summarizing of the book reviews, so here is my feeble attempt:
Henry is a time-traveler (hence the title). He meets Clare at the age of 28 (she's 20) in the library where he works. She knows who he is because when he is older, he visits her in the meadow near her childhood home throughout her childhood. They eventually get married and Clare struggles with the seemingly constant absence of her husband. They struggle to have a baby and experience continuous miscarriages due to the baby traveling out of the womb. Eventually, Henry figures out how he dies, and it's just a countdown till that day. The bittersweet part of it is that sometimes he travels outside his lifetime and spends time with Alba. He also sees Clare again as an older woman.

Trouble I had with the story:
1. Would they really have ended up together? She only talks to him at the library because he visited her later in his life when she was a child. He only visits her as a child because she's in his adult life. Circular logic?
2. Clare only gets 15 true years with Henry, and he even disappears during that time. Is 15 years enough after waiting her whole childhood and then having the rest of your life to live without him!? Better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all? Or: Ignorance is bliss?

Things I loved about the book:
1. Henry still gets to spend time with Alba and see her grow up through traveling.
2. Clare's absolute faith and love of Henry perseveres even through the hard times and knowing his end comes too soon.
3. Clare trying to house-hunt and Henry turning them all down until he finds the one he's already seen from time-traveling. I wish I could find a house that way!