The Time Traveler's Wife

I was a little unsure about reading this at first. My wife had read it and loved it, but she was hesitant to recommend it to me – she knows I love time-travel stories, but she thought that the romance elements would turn me off. I was also kind of worried because the central conceit of a time traveler who gets ‘unstuck' in time was a story that I'd known had been done excellently in both text and film (Kilgore Trout in Slaughterhouse Five and Desmond Hume from Lost, respectively). I was worried that this one wouldn't hold up in comparison.

I was pleasantly surprised to find this an absolutely amazingly written, powerful tragedy of a story. Henry and Clare are two souls, travelling alone through their lives, connecting for what seem to be all-too brief moments in time. And yet, they soldier on through those difficulties, knowing that the moments of togetherness are worth the moments of loneliness. I tend to dislike a lot of ‘romance' stories, because I don't think they really understand what mature, long-term love is, but this. one. gets. it.