Nur AqilahBook Review
Time Traveler’s Wife – Audrey Niffenegger
By Nur Aqilah
The Time Traveler’s Wife is a story about love, sacrifice and perseverance, put in the classic science fiction setting of time travel. The book, written by Audrey Niffenegger, has been turned into a movie and will sneak into local cinemas on Sep 3, starring Rachel McAdams and Eric Bana. Written in the first person narrative, the tale revolves around the lives of Henry and Clare, a married couple who faces the challenge of a rare genetic disorder threatening to cripple their relationship every time Henry disappears, and appears at another time.
Henry Detamble, a librarian, has a genetic mutation that causes him to travel through time whenever he feels pressured or uneasy. He’d disappear from view, vanishing without his clothes and other possessions and arrive naked at another time and place. For the most part, it’s a curse, as he has to turn to theft to find clothes and food until he comes back again to the present. Sometimes, he’d travel back to the past and see his younger self or the future and see what happens in that time. It was also on one of these time trips that he found his soul mate, Clare, when she was just 6 years old.
As for Clare, it might seem crazy at age 6 that she sees a man vanishing and appearing time and again at the meadow near her house. She’d keep clothes and food for him, track the times that he came and count the days he’d return. She fell for him as she grew up and waited for the day she’d meet his real self, not the one that time traveled. When Henry disappears, Clare lives as a single, enduring days without Henry; eating on her own, washing the dishes, watching tv by herself, all the while worrying about the safety of her husband. It gets to her eventually but she perseveres because she chose to marry a man despite his abnormalities.
The story can be confusing rolling back and forth with written accounts from Henry and Clare’s point of views. It helps that the dates and ages are stated each time Henry “time traveled”. Despite the disorientation, this book is a gripping read as it leaves readers wondering what will happen after Henry stops vanishing when he’s 43 years old. We fight to suspend as we are amazed each time we turn a page how powerful their love is despite the difficulties faced, with Clare having to spend days without Henry and Henry trapped in another time only wanting to come back to Clare. Absence really does make the heart grow fonder.
My recommendation? Read the novel first and then watch the movie. I promise you’ll have double the fun. Oh, and don’t forget the tissues as well. You definitely need them.