Guest post
The Time Traveller’s Wife
Audrey Niffenegger
She who must be obeyed writes a blog. She who writes a blog asked me to write a guest post. And since she who must be obeyed, must be obeyed, here goes the guest post – a review of the above book.
I received this book (and others) from someone who loves me, as a birthday present, so I have been slow to criticise, but now that I have a very responsible job, I must be truthful and honest, and no, this doesn’t mean that I’m ungrateful to the person who gave me the present, who is also the person who writes the blog.
I had never heard of Audrey Niffenegger, this book, nor indeed the film which the little silver circle on the cover tells me – “now a major motion picture” (as opposed to a minor still one, I suppose?)
Let’s cut to the chase. I didn’t enjoy this book. You shouldn’t bother reading it. There, I said it. Now let me sum it up for you. Don’t worry about it being spoiled for you by me telling exactly what happened. That doesn’t really matter. There’s not much story to it anyway and if you have sense you won’t be reading it anyway.
Here’s what the back cover says:
“This is the extraordinary love story of Clare and Henry who met when Clare was six and Henry was Thirty six, and were married when Clare was twenty two and Henry thirty. Impossible but true, because Henry suffers fro a rare condition where his genetic clock periodically resets and he finds himself pulled suddenly into his past or future. In the face of this force they can neither prevent nor control, Henry and Clare’s struggle to lead normal lives is both intensely moving and entirely unforgettable.”
Let me clarify. It is not “extraordinary”. It is bizarre. For “unforgettable”, just leave out the “un”.
This kind of story would one time have been classified as “Science Fiction”. Not sure what it is today. But good science fiction either amazes you with fantasy or takes you places which might exist if some particular premise(s) were true. Someone often quoted as a great exponent of this is Arthur C. Clark. He begins by making some assumption about an invention or some law of nature being different from what we are used to. But having done that, he then goes on to recount what could easily happen. You find yourself dragged in, believing everything is real… you’ve bought into the original premise, everything else follows logically. You’ll never find yourself saying “But how can that be… he shouldn’t be able to do that/see that/whatever.”
This book falls at this hurdle. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t mind the assumption that this guy time travels. It’s what this leads to and what does and doesn’t happen, that I object to.
We are asked to believe that he gave stock tips to some of his friends which they could use to make a fortune but they, for some reason, don’t.
We are asked to believe that he lives in Chicago and appears out of nowhere, naked and has therefore come to the attention of the police as a trouble maker, but all of the time, there are a number of people (including a doctor) who know of his condition but keep it to themselves. The word doesn’t get out? No Sky News, CNN or NBC. It only takes the “report” of a child disappearing in a balloon for the networks to get their knickers in a twist; can you imagine trying to keep this story hushed?
There are many more examples but I won’t bore you. The bottom line is that the book is not consistent within itself. The characters are not believable, and whether you’re into soaps or Shakespeare, you know it doesn’t work, if they are not.
Incidentally, (not wanting to break the flow of my rant), the book is about the time traveller and his wife. I would guess that the decision to name it as “The Time Traveller’s Wife” was taken based on what sounded best for the shelves or the assumed readership but “The Time Traveller” would have been more accurate.
So, there you are. Don’t bother to read it. Read something worthwhile or instead go out for a walk, run or whatever.
And you thought Ms Picky was bad! But lest you think your reviewer just got out of the bed at the wrong side today, and to leave you with a positive recommendation, don’t just not-read-this-book, go out and buy/beg/borrow either of the following by Kazuo Ishiguro: The Remains of the Day or Never Let Me Go. You won’t regret it.