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The Time Traveler's Wife (Paperback)

~ (Author) "CLARE: The library is cool and smells like carpet cleaner, although all I can see is marble..." (more)
Key Phrases: Mary Christina, South Haven, Reading Room (more...)
4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2,161 customer reviews)
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Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

This clever and inventive tale works on three levels: as an intriguing science fiction concept, a realistic character study and a touching love story. Henry De Tamble is a Chicago librarian with "Chrono Displacement" disorder; at random times, he suddenly disappears without warning and finds himself in the past or future, usually at a time or place of importance in his life. This leads to some wonderful paradoxes. From his point of view, he first met his wife, Clare, when he was 28 and she was 20. She ran up to him exclaiming that she'd known him all her life. He, however, had never seen her before. But when he reaches his 40s, already married to Clare, he suddenly finds himself time travelling to Clare's childhood and meeting her as a 6-year-old. The book alternates between Henry and Clare's points of view, and so does the narration. Reed ably expresses the longing of the one always left behind, the frustrations of their unusual lifestyle, and above all, her overriding love for Henry. Likewise, Burns evokes the fear of a man who never knows where or when he'll turn up, and his gratitude at having Clare, whose love is his anchor. The expressive, evocative performances of both actors convey the protagonists' intense relationship, their personal quirks and their reminiscences, making this a fascinating audio.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to the Audio CD edition.

From Booklist

On the surface, Henry and Clare Detamble are a normal couple living in Chicago's Lincoln Park neighborhood. Henry works at the Newberry Library and Clare creates abstract paper art, but the cruel reality is that Henry is a prisoner of time. It sweeps him back and forth at its leisure, from the present to the past, with no regard for where he is or what he is doing. It drops him naked and vulnerable into another decade, wearing an age-appropriate face. In fact, it's not unusual for Henry to run into the other Henry and help him out of a jam. Sound unusual? Imagine Clare Detamble's astonishment at seeing Henry dropped stark naked into her parents' meadow when she was only six. Though, of course, until she came of age, Henry was always the perfect gentleman and gave young Clare nothing but his friendship as he dropped in and out of her life. It's no wonder that the film rights to this hip and urban love story have been acquired. Elsa Gaztambide
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.
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Product Details

  • Paperback: 546 pages
  • Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt; X edition (May 27, 2004)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 015602943X
  • ISBN-13: 978-0156029438
  • Product Dimensions: 7.9 x 5.3 x 1.1 inches
  • Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
  • Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2,161 customer reviews)
  • Amazon.com Sales Rank: #59 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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    #1 in  Books > Literature & Fiction > Women's Fiction > Domestic Life
    #1 in  Books > Romance > Time Travel
    #4 in  Books > Science Fiction & Fantasy > Science Fiction

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Audrey Niffenegger
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First Sentence:
CLARE: The library is cool and smells like carpet cleaner, although all I can see is marble. Read the first page
Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
Mary Christina, South Haven, Reading Room, Merry Christmas, Father Compton, Library Boy, Field Museum, Jimmy Stewart, Lake Shore Drive, Michigan Avenue, Clare Abshire, Amit Montague, Thank God, Grant Park, Christmas Eve, Meadowlark House, Newberry Library, Cream of Wheat, Silent Night, Lake Michigan, Celia Attley, Ingrid Carmichel, Grandma Meagram, Iggy Pop, Violent Femmes
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Customer Reviews

2,161 Reviews
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4.0 out of 5 stars (2,161 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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804 of 887 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Powerful, well-written, original, September 4, 2003
By Diana (Emporia, KS USA) - See all my reviews
This review is from: The Time Traveler's Wife (Hardcover)
"The Time Traveler's Wife" is one of the most interesting, powerful books I've read in a long time. Audrey Niffenegger did a beautiful job taking some of the most complex ideas - time travel, marriage, love, children, friends, literary and artistic allusions, religion, death, drugs, childhood, growing, loss, and what it means to be human - and weaving them together poetically and with amazing clarity. Her characters are wonderful, "real" people with strengths and flaws, and I really grew to adore them. Despite skipping around time at the same rate as Henry, the time traveler, the events are sequenced in such a way that you still witness each character's growth as a person, as well as discover many surprises along the way. Clare and Henry's story is one of the best love stories I've read in a very long time. This book also echoes important modern-day questions about the appropriateness of gene therapy, and what it means to be a human being. I highly and enthusiastically recommend this book.
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472 of 525 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars Clever and Compelling, November 16, 2003
By crazyforgems (Wellesley, MA United States) - See all my reviews
This review is from: The Time Traveler's Wife (Today Show Book Club #15) (Hardcover)
I admit: I am an easy touch when it comes to time-travel books. I have loved such diverse books with this theme as "A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court", "A Wrinkle in Time," and "Time and Again."

I was not disappointed by "The Time Traveler's Wife." The book both moved me and challenged me to think about a number of deeper issues in life (most notably, the true meaning of love in a romantic relationship).

The underlying story concerns Henry, a librarian at the Newberry Library in Chicago, and Clare, his artist wife. Henry suffers from CDP (Chrono-Displacement Order) which whisks him from the present to another point of time (usually the past). One minute he may be in the stacks of the Newberry Library in 2003, the next minute he may find himself in a field (probably naked) in Michigan with his future wife as a child sometime in the early 1980's.

The author does an excellent job of sequencing the book. Even though Henry is shuttling back and forth in every chapter, she manages to move the plot forward. You do feel that you see Henry and Clare meeting, falling in love, starting a marriage and going through the stages of their lives. You do get to know their family and friends and see life happen to them.

However, I do feel that the author could have better developed all of her characters, particularly the supporting ones. I wanted to learn more about their close friends, Gomez and Charisse, and their troubled marriage. I felt that the landlady from Henry's child-whom he constantly visited in his time-traveling modes-was a sketch figure that could have been better developed. I wished that the author could have mined deeper into the inner feelings of Henry and Clare.

Still I would highly recommend this book to most readers. (If time-travel books bother you, this won't change your opinion.) It is a good, hard-to-put down read. And at the end, you're exhausted by all the travel!

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147 of 166 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Beautifully written!, April 5, 2004
By Monica Morgan (Galloway, NJ United States) - See all my reviews
This review is from: The Time Traveler's Wife (Today Show Book Club #15) (Hardcover)
I stumbled across this book by mistake and hesitated to read it simply because it was 518 pages. To my surprise, I devoured this book in a few days and felt a pang of sadness when it was finished. The author crafts a story of something that is quite unbelievable and yet deftly makes it so very believable. I was hooked after the first chapter. Niffenegger managed to suck me in to this story so that I felt emotionally bound to the characters and their plight. It's a tragic story that weaves so much love/pain/joy/disappointment that it fairly bursts with emotion. Read it!
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Most Recent Customer Reviews

1.0 out of 5 stars Not moving at all
I'm a cryer. I always cry at sappy love stories whether they be books or movies. This can barely be described as a love story and it didn't move me at all. Read more
Published 21 hours ago by T. McQueen

4.0 out of 5 stars see the movie
After you've read the book, see the movie. I rarely like a movie better than the book, and maybe it's a lack of imagination on my part, but the movie really brought the book to... Read more
Published 1 day ago by desiree

1.0 out of 5 stars Simply awful
Although the title sounds intriguing this book is simply a waste of time - even though it took me only a hundred pages to see that no plot had developed and the characters were... Read more
Published 1 day ago by Mark Twain

2.0 out of 5 stars more of a lust story than a love story
While I really liked the whole time-travel, meeting your spouse ahead of time, etc. story line, and the way the author presented it, a major problem for me was that this book came... Read more
Published 1 day ago by Linda

2.0 out of 5 stars Overrated and underwritten and full of plot holes
After seeing previews for the movie, and hearing positive reveiews from family and friends, I decided to read this book. I was told it was an epic, moving love story. Read more
Published 2 days ago by V. Garlock

2.0 out of 5 stars dull, dull, dull
I expected more, after hearing so many people say they had really enjoyed this book. I found it to be dull and weak. Read more
Published 4 days ago by Lottiesmom

5.0 out of 5 stars Oh No! He's Gone Again!
Chicago Librarian Henry DeTamble is married to abstract paper artist Claire Abshire. They were married when Henry was thirty and Claire twenty-two, however they first met when... Read more
Published 6 days ago by Tracy Oshima

5.0 out of 5 stars Great Read
This book was one that I could read over and over again. Its just like "The Notebook" it never gets old. Read more
Published 6 days ago by Lauren

5.0 out of 5 stars well written...will read again and again
i just loved this book...well written and it was difficult to put down!! highly recommended!! i will read it again (assuming that i get it back from my daughter! Read more
Published 6 days ago by Tovia Main Vasquez

5.0 out of 5 stars My favorite book
Well written, and a great story! I absolutely fell in love with Henry. This book had me laughing one moment, and it tears the next.
Published 10 days ago by Anna13

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