This extraordinary, magical first novel is the story of Clare, a beautiful art student, and Henry, a librarian, who have known each other since Clare was six and Henry was thirty-six, and were married when Clare was twenty-two and Henry thirty. Impossible but true, because Henry is one of the first people diagnosed with Chrono-Displacement Disorder: periodically his genetic clock resets and he finds himself misplaced in time, pulled to moments of emotional gravity in his life, past and future. His disappearances are spontaneous, his experiences unpredictable, alternately harrowing and amusing."The Time Traveler's Wife" depicts the effects of time travel on Henry and Clare's marriage and their passionate love for each other as the story unfolds from both points of view. Clare and Henry attempt to live normal lives, pursuing familiar goals - steady jobs, good friends, children of their own. All of this is threatened by something they can neither prevent nor control, making their story intensely moving and entirely unforgettable.
My complete love for this book is rather remarkable, given that I think anything considered a "romance" is fit only for being used to balance chairs with wobbly legs. However, it's a perfect blend of sci-fi and romance - so much so that romance fans probably don't even realize they're reading a sci-fi novel, and sci-fi fans aren't gagging from the overdose of love and soulmates.
What set this apart from every single other love story I've ever seen or read is that it's completely realistic. The main characters are REAL, and details about them like their love for punk music just add to it. Their relationship feels organic; it wasn't sappy, it wasn't something that just doesn't happen in real life (minus the time traveling, of course). It left me with this massive longing that I still remember all these years after reading it, whereas most romance and chick flicks and the like leave me feeling like I want to puke my innards out and then take a long, scalding hot shower.
It's also one of the very few Super Popular Books of the Year That You Can't Escape that actually deserved its spot.
Reading updates
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Started reading
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1 January, 2004:
Finished reading
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1 January, 2004:
Reviewed