#23 The Time Traveler's Wife
So, what is it about this book that causes people to tear through it? I read it in three days. Doppleganger at 50 Books did the same. tabloidman read it in a weekend, and dobledorje read it in a handful of days as well. I guess it's just that the story moves along at a pretty good clip, and even though the book is a hefty 536 pages, you don't feel as though you're slogging through them at any point. It's just a really solid story. I liked it a lot.
So, the book is, at it's core, a love story. Don't let that scare you off, because it's not a bad sort of romance. No bodice ripping. It's just a more sweet and wonderful sort of love that fills the book from cover to cover. It's also sort of a sci-fi story too, but more Kazuo Ishiguro than Michael Chrichton. Basically the story details the lives of two lovers. Henry, who has a genetic condition that causes him to randomly travel through time (to both the past and the future, although generally to places that are related to him in some way), and Clare, his wife, who he first meets when she is six years old, and he is 36. When they finally meet in real time, she is 20 and he is 28, and she fills him in on the many times they have met over the years. The narration changes from Henry to Clare and back again. Sometimes in real time, and sometimes in the past or future, as they marry, try to have children, and grow older together. All in all it's a pretty satisfying story.
I know that it's lame and sappy of me, but I totally pictured Rachael McAdams and Ryan Gosling (from The Notebook) as the main characters. Not because they fit the character descriptions perfectly (although they came close), but because I'm a romantic sap, and I really liked The Notebook (the film, not the book - I couldn't even get through that). Perhaps if I'd read this at a different time I wouldn't have liked it as much, but as it is, I really enjoyed it for what it was. Not great literature (although it is very good), but just a nice solid story that I'm glad to have read. I might re-read it again in a year or two to see if I still like it as much.
So if any of you out there are looking for something good to read, I'd definitely suggest picking this up. It's a good book that will take a few days to get through (or longer, if unlike me, you have a life), and I doubt you'll feel bad about it after having finished. But hey, maybe you will. You people have odd tastes.
Next on the menu is? I don't know. I was going to read The Age of Innocence next, but now I'm not so sure! I think I'll check out my bookshelves and see what else is hiding in there.
So, the book is, at it's core, a love story. Don't let that scare you off, because it's not a bad sort of romance. No bodice ripping. It's just a more sweet and wonderful sort of love that fills the book from cover to cover. It's also sort of a sci-fi story too, but more Kazuo Ishiguro than Michael Chrichton. Basically the story details the lives of two lovers. Henry, who has a genetic condition that causes him to randomly travel through time (to both the past and the future, although generally to places that are related to him in some way), and Clare, his wife, who he first meets when she is six years old, and he is 36. When they finally meet in real time, she is 20 and he is 28, and she fills him in on the many times they have met over the years. The narration changes from Henry to Clare and back again. Sometimes in real time, and sometimes in the past or future, as they marry, try to have children, and grow older together. All in all it's a pretty satisfying story.
I know that it's lame and sappy of me, but I totally pictured Rachael McAdams and Ryan Gosling (from The Notebook) as the main characters. Not because they fit the character descriptions perfectly (although they came close), but because I'm a romantic sap, and I really liked The Notebook (the film, not the book - I couldn't even get through that). Perhaps if I'd read this at a different time I wouldn't have liked it as much, but as it is, I really enjoyed it for what it was. Not great literature (although it is very good), but just a nice solid story that I'm glad to have read. I might re-read it again in a year or two to see if I still like it as much.
So if any of you out there are looking for something good to read, I'd definitely suggest picking this up. It's a good book that will take a few days to get through (or longer, if unlike me, you have a life), and I doubt you'll feel bad about it after having finished. But hey, maybe you will. You people have odd tastes.
Next on the menu is? I don't know. I was going to read The Age of Innocence next, but now I'm not so sure! I think I'll check out my bookshelves and see what else is hiding in there.