Status
Available
Call number
Collection
Description
Clare and Henry, deeply in love, try desperately to maintain normal lives even though he has been diagnosed with Chrono-Displacement Disorder, a condition in which his genetic clock periodically resets, pulling him through time to the past or future.
Subjects
Original publication date
2003-07-05
Media reviews
The triumph of the book is the triumph of normality, of setting up a decent family life even if you are constantly dissappearing from it, of being loyal to somebody with what Niffenegger finally explains as a genetic dysfunction - chrono-displacement, as she calls it.
"The Time Traveler's Wife" can be an exasperating read, but as a love story it has its appeal: Refreshingly, the novel portrays long-term commitment as something lively and exuberant rather than dutiful and staid, evoking both the comforts it brings us and the tribulations we learn to live with.
Niffenegger, despite her moving, razor-edged prose, doesn't claim to be a romantic. She writes with the unflinching yet detached clarity of a war correspondent standing at the sidelines of an unfolding battle. She possesses a historian's eye for contextual detail. This is no romantic idyll.
About halfway through Audrey Niffenegger's debut novel, The Time Traveler's Wife, you realize you're going to be devastated. You love the characters, you're deeply involved in their lives, you can sense tragedy coming and you know it's going to hurt. But there's no way you can stop reading...
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Niffenegger structures the novel clearly enough that the timelines never get tangled, and her writing is so strong you'd keep going even if you did get confused. Show Less
Awards
Women's Prize for Fiction (Longlist — 2004)
Pacific Northwest Library Association Young Reader's Choice Award (Nominee — 2006)
Alex Award (2004)
Indies Choice Book Award (Honor Book — Adult Fiction — 2004)
John W. Campbell Memorial Award for Best Science Fiction Novel (Finalist — 2005)
British Book Award (Winner — Popular Fiction — 2006)
Arthur C. Clarke Award (Shortlist — 2005)
Great Lakes Book Award (Finalist — Fiction — 2004)
Exclusive Books Boeke Prize (Winner — 2005)
Sainsbury's Popular Fiction Award (Winner — Best Novel — 2006)
Locus Recommended Reading (First Novel — 2003)
AAR Annual Reader Poll (2004)
Whitcoulls Top 100 Books (14 — 2008)
The Guardian 1000 Novels Everyone Must Read (Science Fiction and Fantasy)
AAR Top 100 Romances (72 — Most Recent Rank - 2004)
Waterstones top 25 books of the last 25 years (No 2 — 2007)