The Time Traveler's Wife

The Time Traveler's Wife Summary | Plot Summary

This unique tale of love tests the boundaries and constraints of love, The Time Traveler's Wife, is an exceptionally heartwarming and endearing book that portrays the feelings and emotions of both Henry and Clare throughout their lifetime. Born in 1975, Henry teaches himself the skills he will need to survive as he travels through time, unable to change events he sees those he loves suffer repeatedly. He learns to turn negative outcomes into positives and live with his unusual genetic disorder. He is trust into his past and future without warning and has no control over his destination or the length of his stays. Brought on by anxiousness or nervous feelings, Henry experiences side effects that are similar to drinking too much alcohol; he feels woozy, lightheaded, experiences headaches and blurry vision and often vomits. His clothing never follows him into the next dimension and therefore he is always pursuing attire.

Henry and Clare's is a union between like-minded souls. The two try to guide and protect each other through Henry's traveling. A powerful, emotional and moving account of the trials and tribulations a devoted couple experience as they struggle to hold onto the present. The story also tells of the effects Henry's travel has on third parties, and how it affects his day-to-day life and those around him. Being a librarian who is inclined to disappear and return naked becomes a little hard to explain on occasions, especially when the library is full of people and you are running through the stacks naked.

The story tells of Henry and Clare's meeting, how they evolve as a couple, their desperate hope of conceiving children and failing repeatedly before they encounter success. The Time Traveler's Wife puts a new perspective on time travel and in effect sheds a different light on the subject. Henry may exist in the past or future without altering the time continuum. He may also exist in perfect harmony with himself whether that is younger Henry or older; therefore he is able to educate himself on the skills he will need for the events and outcomes he will encounter. Henry experiences times of beauty, heartache, desperation, embarrassment and physical torment; he is bashed, raped and eventually killed through the traveling. His daughter Alba is born on Thursday, September 6, 2001 and is the product of Dr. Kendrick and Dr. Montague's determination to aid the couple in keeping a baby. She grows up to be just like her father, Henry, a Chrono-Displaced Person; she too travels through time though she has more control over where she goes and when. After Henry's death Clare waits until she will see him again, this occurs when she is 82 years old.