Saturday 31 October 2009

Fedora wearing Biggins reviews The Time travlers wife


If you wait around long enough you'll see me disappear. let me start by saying I was forced to read this for my English lit class an would have otherwise never even thought of reading it. Now I've always loved the idea of an unwilling time traveler disappearing into the past or future and having to adapt to the situation at hand. This book provided me with the "chrono-displaced" traveler I had wanted however it also brought his wife. Now I am aware the book was called The time travelers wife and I knew before reading it that it was a romance. I had seen trailers for the film and so I knew the general jist but was not excited in any way about reading it.

As I have already said I loved the concept and as I read I really enjoyed the way the book was set out. It was not set out in your typical linear way, it jumped backwards and forwards through time sometimes with Henry sometimes to simply shed some light on what was happening by going back to hear a anecdote from Clare. The book switches between Henry and Clare as the narrator but is always in first person, occasionally you get the same extract twice from their respective views. The book in theory was very good (although I did want the first time Henry met Clare in the past.) My problem is with Clare as a character as i found her boring and repetitive as everything you need to know about her is in th prologue at the beginning of the book.

The book is riddled with subtle symbolism and Henry's character development is really quite impressive as well as interesting to read. The book at the start was fun and carefree but when it reached the half way mark it quickly became dark and really rather depressing which while made the book better was a bit of a downer im not really sure it even had a happy ending although it definitely was meant to have one. The ending was the most depressing thing I have ever seen, read or watched. purely because of the books layout and the whole concept of an unwilling time travler this book manages to get a 2 out of 5.

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