Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger || #reviewfriday

It was the summer break of my eleventh grade and I was curled up in front of the television with the worst case of reader's block. So then the great man that my Dad is, he gifted me this book in the hopes off alluring me back to the world of books.

It was a weird phase for me, I was long over my childhood Harry Potter era and just through my embarrassing Twilight era and beginning to question my credibility as a reader. I wanted to read a good book but nothing seemed to capture my attention. And Sci-fi books were never to my taste.

So I began reading this with a huge negative mentality. But before I was ten pages in, I was engrossed, enraptured and enthralled,once again bowing down to the master of books that is my Dad.

Name: The Time Traveler's Wife

Author: Audrey Niffenegger

Genre: Science fiction, Romance novel, Speculative Fiction.

I found it extremely difficult to believe that this was Niffenegger's first novel. The journey of the book is so smooth even with all the to and fro's in the time periods. The novel told in alternating first person focuses on the love story between Henry De Tample, a librarian and Claire Ann Abshire, an artist who makes paper sculptures. 

What makes their story unique is Henry's genetic disorder which makes him travel through time involuntarily. The first time Henry meets Claire he is twenty- eight. But the first time Claire meets Henry, he is in his forties. The transitions between Henry's time-travels and his day to day life is beautifully handled and at no time does the reader feel confused or out of the loop.

Also the novel is presented in a very normal way and never do we think of Henry's time-traveling as a super power or anything. It's treated by him as well as those around him in the same way one would treat a normal disorder. Even the readers won't be able to see Henry's disorder as anything else. Such kind of easy acceptance of a foreign concept can be achieved only by brilliant writing.

The common misconception that having the power to go back in our past and change things will make everything right is overridden in the book. Henry's helplessness and his inability to control his 'jumps', especially towards the end caused some weird sensations in me as a reader. In fact the latter half of the book contained a whole lot of emotional scenes which made me tear up quite a bit. This was one of those very few books, which I finished with tears in my eyes and a smile on my lips.

It is now a major motion picture. I can't say anything about the movie since I haven't seen it. But as a firm believer of "movies never do justice to the books" I would advice everyone to read the book before spending two hours in front of the idiot box. 

Also Niffengger has revealed that she is doing a second part for the book which will release in 2018. I was skeptical at first because I felt the book was complete on it's own. But I have been reading more and more about it and it seems to be good. It's the story of Henry's and Claire's daughter and the grape wine is that there is a love triangle. I am excited. I will catch you all in 2018 with a review of Alba De Tample's tale.

Rating- 5/5.