I think I'll just stick with the here and now

As promised, here come my thoughts on The Time Traveler's Wife.  THERE WILL BE SPOILERS!!! Do not read if you don't want to know some fairly large pieces of the plot.

Ultimately, I was able to read the book almost completely removed from comparison to the movie and only reflected on the similarities/differences between the two after completing the book.  What it comes down to, for me, is that the movie always felt like experiencing a great love story with some tragic elements to it, whereas the book felt like a Shakespearean tragedy that raised all kinds of philosophical questions.  Don't get me wrong though, as this isn't to say one is better than the other but simply that they each felt vastly different for me.  

I greatly enjoyed the style of writing in the book, which utilized flashbacks and alternating sections from Henry's point of view and Clare's in order to develop the characters.  This built up a history for each character within the back of the reader's mind so that by the time the serious business starts to go down the reader can better feel what each of them is experiencing.  Strangely enough, though, the story portrayed felt much more like "The Time Traveler" rather than "The Time Traveler's Wife."  While the sections from the point of view of Henry and those from the point of view of Clare felt fairly balanced, it always seemed as if Henry were the one narrating the story and Clare was merely providing some additional insight.  This wasn't necessarily an issue for me in reading the book or even something I would consider to be a negative, but was simply something that I noticed and found odd considering the title.  

While the movie does portray some of the tragic elements at the root of Clare and Henry's love (the fact that Clare is so often sad/lonely/miserable/worried/scared in Henry's absence), for me the actual chemistry and love between these 2 characters came through much better on the screen.  For me, in the book their love is something that is pointed out, stated as a fact, rather than something that is demonstrated and felt.  You know that they HAVE to end up together and get married because that's how they are in the future and that's just how it is (based on Henry repeatedly explaining to people how nothing in the future can be changed or avoided), but you don't necessary see why it is these people would actually love each other.  In fact, a lot of it is just disturbing when you think about it... I mean, Henry is in his late 30's-early 40's when he travels back in time and spends time with young Clare between the ages of 6 and 18.  Henry's character discusses in the book how he has to exercise extreme self restraint when he sees her in her teenage years (some being towards the lower numbers of the teenage years), and ultimately, her first time "making love" with him is on her 18th birthday when he is 41.  He's 41 and in his present time, he's married to Clare who is 33, has had a baby (as well as numerous miscarriages) and certainly doesn't look how she did at 18.  While the writing for this scene did make a point of having Henry note he's fond of the marks on older Clare's body, there's still a lot of discussion about her youthful body and I'm sorry...this is just feels weird rather than sweet and romantic. 

So Henry is always older (and already married to or at least with Clare) when he visits her younger self.  After their little rendezvous on her 18th birthday, there is a 2 year gap between when they see each other, and their next time seeing each other is actually when they are both in the present time together when Clare is 20 and Henry is in his late 20's.  He doesn't have any memories of her yet since all of his encounters with younger Clare happen for him when he's in his late 30's-early 40's and so he has no idea who she is.  He's selfish, kind of a jerk, has drug problems, and there's just nothing there that really explains why it is that she wants to be with this guy (aside from how she loved being with him when he's 40 and because it's what Henry has always told her is how it is in the future and the future can't be changed).  This was the one thing I had a hard time with - not really feeling the connection between them.  At least not a non-physical connection.  There are several pretty explicit bedroom scenes in the book and honestly, if I hadn't seen the movie I would have no clue why it is these two people love each other, aside from a good time in the bedroom and because they just know they have to end up with each other. 

I realize this is sounding quite negative, yet I actually did enjoy reading the book!  I just don't necessarily think that it is the mushy love story many readers find it to be.  I suppose this is because for me, all of the aforementioned issues tie into the more fundamental underlying themes of love, fate, destiny, morality and free will.  There were several times in reading the book I asked myself "wait, so which came first?  The chicken or the egg?"  I just wish the book had shown more why it was that Clare and Henry together in the present time loved each other, removed from her memories of the past and their knowledge about the future.  

There were so many tragic elements to the story, there was never a point in the book where someone wasn't suffering in some way and Clare and Henry in particular suffer through every part of the book.  Clare is in a constant state of waiting, from the beginning of the book where she is 6 years old and starts waiting for Henry's future visits to the end where she is 82 and has been waiting for his visit (to be the first time she sees him after his death) for 47 years.  The book even ends with her discussing how her life has been a constant state of waiting.  For Henry, he is just hopping from one form of suffering to the next, sometimes enduring more than one at a time, including physical and emotional suffering.  That is life though, right?  Suffering and trying to find love to make the suffering not as painful.  The thing is, though, Henry and Clare's love is often the source of their suffering.  I suppose that's also a part of life and maybe that's kind of the point.  The suffering of life is inescapable.  Even if you can time travel and know everything ahead of time, you still have to suffer right along with everyone else. 

There were so many big issues brought up through Henry and Clare's story, and I am still pondering many of them (particularly the extent to which my actions would change if my perception as to the amount of free will I have changed and how much, if anything, I would want to know about my future if that were ever an option).  I would recommend the book for anyone who is interested in the nature of love, free will, fate, morality, destiny and, of course, time travel.