The Time Traveler's Wife - Audrey Niffenegger

Perhaps for the first time ever in our little book club, we had a consensus of general “liking” of our monthly book. “The Time Traveler’s Wife” by Audrey Niffenegger will probably not be an enduring classic, nor will it change your life through any profound message, but it will most definitely keep you flipping the pages. And perhaps, like myself, you will find that you read the entire book in one sitting and are glad that no one was around to see you still in your pajamas at the end of the day with tears streaming down your cheeks.

The first item of this book that caught my attention was the title. Before I started, I asked myself why the book would be about the time traveler’s wife, and not the time traveler. When we look at other fictional works about time travel, their themes typically draw from one of two ideas, either the physical possibility of time travel and how this is achieved (think “The Time Machine” by H.G. Wells) or the causal relationship between past and future (i.e. “Back to the Future” movie trilogy). Niffenegger explores neither. We get a sliver of an explanation of the characters condition, namely, that he has a genetic condition that allows for his spontaneous time travels. As a group, we felt that this didn’t really add much to the story. (Although Erin really liked the disappearing mice!) Additionally, Niffenegger makes a strong point of not exploring the issue of whether or not one can change the future by altering the past. Partly, by making it impossible for the characters to do things differently even with knowledge of the outcome. So what, pray tell, is the point of time travel in this book? Niffenegger uses time travel as a means to build upon the theme of longing, as well as to provide a template for a fascinating study in character development.

The book’s title, “The Time Traveler’s Wife”, indicates that this is not a story about time travel, but in fact a book about it’s affects on others. Because of their unique situation, Clare is able to experience feelings from a bygone era, true, desperate longing. At times, the author all but hits you over the head with bird imagery pointing to this theme, but you will see Clare’s longing as a steady condition throughout the book. As a child, longing for the days when Henry will be with her. As an adult, longing for him to come home from his sudden absences. I think very few of us know this type of hopelessness. We live in a world that allows for instantaneous information of all sorts. Worry is almost obsolete because we have cell phones and e-mail, and 24-hour news coverage, etc. We have such vast knowledge of events that we seldom get to the point of real longing.

The second way Niffenegger uses time travel, is to really dive into unique character development. The omniscient role switches about halfway through the book. First, it’s Henry who knows what the future holds, and he helps shape Clare into the woman she will become. Then, as they meet in the present, there is a complete reversal. Clare is then the one who knows what Henry is like in the future, and helps him to become the man he will be. Because of this omniscience, the characters grow in ways unlike anything in the real world. Sometimes it is liberating for them because they have very specific experiences that they can wait for. For example, once Henry has seen their daughter in the future, it eases some of the pain of Clare’s barren womb. At the same time, in can be debilitating for both of them, because their sense of free-will is gone. If you are always trying to become the person that someone knows you to be, it is hard to just be the person you are.

The last point I will make is regarding the author’s subtle reference near the end of the book about Clare as the time traveler. In a sense this is true. Clare sort of does her own time traveling by going back to an era, when one really had no way of knowing if or when a loved one would be coming home; for her, longing is “time-traveling”. It is also evident in her coping. Clare is a “time traveler” for she is not content to live in her own time, but rather dwells on past events or looks forward to a future time.