The Reading Monk

Another review that I’ve written for publication on Culturazzi Cognoscente Club. What follows is an excerpt:

“I met Clare for the first time in October, 1991. She met me for the first time in September, 1977; she was six, I will be thirty-eight. She’s known me all her life. In 1991 I’m just getting to know her.”

~ Henry DeTamble

Meet Henry DeTamble and Clare Abshire, who first met when Henry was 36 and Claire, 6. First dated when Henry was 28 and Claire 20, and got married when Henry was 30 and Claire,22.

Confusing? Yes, only for a while,  but all things  fall into place fairly quickly and soon you are swept away by Audrey Niffenegger’s writing, and the amazing love affair of Henry and Clare – one that you may have never read  before.

The Time Traveler’s Wife is an original love story that transcends life’s barriers of time and death, and offers a fresh, realistic, and intimate insight into the complications that the space/time continuum theory, (if possible) bring to the already complex matters of love and marriage. Yes, this explains the title of the book.  Henry deTamble suffers from a genetic disorder that causes him to time-travel involuntarily into the past and future. As a result, he becomes a reluctant time-traveler of sorts.

So far, the revelations about the theme of the book may make you mistake this for a sci-fi adventure novel. But it isn’t. At most, Henry’s time-traveling is only a backdrop to the real story.

At its heart, this book is about two people trying to make their relationship and marriage work, raising a family and staying together under extraordinary circumstances that are beyond their control. It is about trying to hold on to the simple time concepts of “here, now and the present moment” – things the rest of us can take for granted but not Henry and Clare, who are cruelly denied any such luxury by fate.

(Read the rest of the review here)

The Time Traveler’s Wife has received acclaimed praise since its publication in 2003, winning the Orange Broadband Prize in 2004 and the British Book Award in 2006. In 2007, it was adapted for screenplay. Written by Bruce Joel Rubin and directed by Robert Schwentke, it stars Eric Bana as Henry and Rachel McAdams as Clare. The film is due for release on 14 August 2009.

I give this book a rating of 5 out of 5. Fresh, original and totally mesmerizing. I cried many times while reading this book. Felt affected, dreamy and so deeply touched by the romance of Henry and Clare. The ending scene is just so totally beautiful that I read and re-read it 5 times, trying to hold on a little longer before finally closing the book. In short, I loved it and have been recommending it to everyone I know.

If you plan on getting this book (again, I highly recommend it), I would suggest a visit to this link to download Clare and Henry’s timeline just as an aid to keeping track of the dates and events so you have a sense of chronology.