The Time Travelers Wife

My next door neighbor said I should read this book and let her know what I thought about it. I've been on a bit of a kick lately where I'll read pretty much anything anyone says is good ... so I picked it up.

I just finished it a few minutes ago and I just got done crying. Lewis made the comment that I don't see scary movies so why do I read sad books? I don't really have an intelligent response to that.

My first reaction to this book is the author uses foul language kind of roughly. Every time she does it was kind of shocking. I kept jerking my head going "now why is that there?" but that's small potatoes maybe.

The story itself was very good. At the age of 26 Henry (present Henry) meets 20 year old Clare (who is always in the present and doesn't time travel). Henry has never seen Clare before, but Clare has known Henry her entire life.

Confused? I can only imagine how confused the author was when writing it. Henry has a disease that in the future will be called Chrono-Displacement disorder. He phases in and out of time. At any moment he will disappear and travel to a different time, usually to a place that had some impact on him. For instance, he travels over and over again to the scene of his mother's death.

And after he meet Clare at 26, he time travels to her childhood home, and sees her first at 6, and then several other times through her childhood until she is 18. In this way, Clare has known and loved him her whole life. It's this relationship, this love that keeps Henry safe. Appearing and disappearing throughout time is dangerous, and he often is beat up, abused and put in harms way. Knowing Clare gives his life some focus, and he can travel safely with her assistance. Though some things even she can not prevent.

It's being made into a movie which comes out in December staring Eric Bana and Rachel McAdams. She's a perfect Clare ... I think Bana will be okay.

SPOILERS BELOW. Please don't go any further if you don't want the ending ruined for you.

The thing that gets me that made this just so emotional ... Clare spends her entire life waiting for Henry. From her early childhood when she mets him ... she's always waiting for him to come back. When she does meet him as a grownup, and they do get married, she waits for him to come home every time he disappears.

Henry dies at 43, when Clare is 37. Henry time travels to the future (when he is younger) and visits with their daughter several times throughout her childhood, but never visits with his wife. She spends the remainder of her life waiting for him, because in a letter he leaves for her, he visits her one more time when she is in her 80s. The book ends on that scene ... but I just could not, do not want to, even imagine such a loss.

Definitely was a good book. Something I'll read again and again? No, probably not unless it for a book club or something. I'd be interested in anyone else's thoughts if they'd read it.