The Time Traveler's Wife

I've been disappointed lately by books that were like wedding cake—they looked much better than they actually tasted. Several recent reads—Ella Minnow Pea, Jennifer Government, Calculating God—were books that were based on an extremely clever plot twist. Unfortunately, that's all these books had—an extremely clever plot twist. No character development, no plot. Just an extremely clever plot twist.

The Time Traveler's Wife does have an extremely clever plot twist. Henry has Chrono-Displacement Disorder; when stressed, Henry suddenly finds himself shifting, shifting, to another time. During one of these shifts, Henry meets his future (present?) wife, Clare, as a six year old girl.

But the extremely clever plot twist is just the hook that snags us into this book. It is the relationship between Clare and Henry (ever changing, yet ever remaining the same) that is the line that pulls us into the heart of the story.

Without giving away too much, Niffenegger uses the time shifts to add resonance to the characters (wonderfully flawed, all) and to create an intricate and intriguing plot.

The time traveling felt very real to me, as if there could actually be people in our world who have Chrono-Displacement Disorder, perhaps even friends or relatives. Possibly I could even time shift myself, if I gave it a try.

I felt myself losing track of time, traveling into another place while I read The Time Traveler's Wife. ;-> Recommended.