The Time Traveler's Wife

I read "The Time Traveler's Wife" by Audrey Niffeneger two summers ago; it is a book that I frequently think about, and wonder if I'll ever enjoy a book as much as I did this one. It tells the heart - capturing story of Henry and Claire, yet theirs is no ordinary relationship. Henry has a genetic disorder which causes him to time travel, a frequent experience that he has no control over. It is this idea that makes "The Time Traveler's Wife" such a unique book. Claire first meets Henry in 1977 when she is six and he is in his thirties, having travelled back in time. However, when Henry first meets Claire in the present, she is 20 and he 28. At this meeting, Claire has met Henry many times before, in her chilhood, but he has no awareness of who she is, as in his present, he has not yet met her. The man that visited her throughout her childhood is his future self. It takes a while to get one's head around the concept of Henry's time-travelling; it is the same sort of idea present in "Back to the Future", but it is what really makes me appreciate the book from a creative point of view - the fact that the book is so well thought out and so beautifully created; a literary work of art. One of my favourite things when reading a book is to appreciate and experience an author's imagination; discovering scenarios than could not physically exist - yet seem so real. This debut from Niffeneger expresses this wonderfully. A film based on this book is due to come out this August (2009), starring Rachel McAdams and Eric Bana, directed by Robert Schwentke.