The Time Traveler’s Wife: book review

The ”Time Traveler’s Wife”, written by Audrey Niffenegger, is a love story about a woman named Clare Abshire who falls in love with a time traveler named Henry DeTamble. The book takes the reader on a journey through Clare and Henry’s life together as Henry time travels. During the bulk of Henry and Clare’s married life, he spends in real time with her. There are many other different times where he time travels. For instance, Henry first meets Clare when she is six years old, and he plays games and shares stories with her. Surprisingly, he is traveling to her time period  when he is thirty six.     It is revealed later in the book that Henry time travels because of a chromosomal abnormality. When Henry and Clare are both living in real time together and Henry is not time traveling, they are trying to find a cure for his chromosomal abnormality. Clare also ends up suffering five miscarriages before giving birth to their daughter Alba, who inherits her father’s gene of time traveling. Alba likes time traveling and at times finds it fun.     Henry ends up getting hypothermia and needing both of his legs amputated near the end of his life. Henry ends up dying at the young age of 43 because of his chromosomal abnormality and the book also explains that he went back in time and was shot by Clare’s dad and her brother.  His daughter Alba is still able to get to know her father because she is able to time travel. Henry also tells Clare that they will meet up again one day when Clare is an 82-year-old woman because Henry saw it with his own eyes while time traveling. The book ends with an 82 year old Clare knitting in a chair in a house by the sea shore and they meet and embrace in each other’s arms.     Even though the book is rather long in length, it seems like a breezy read.  It also seems confusing at times but once more of the book is read everything starts to come together and make sense. It is a well-written love story and the author is very descriptive of the character’s feelings. The reader can really envision how much Henry and Clare love each other. This is a must-read for anyone who likes reading love stories that represent such sweet sorrow. If you spend your days in a Borders or a library it wouldn’t hurt to check this story out.