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Balancing an extraordinary storyline with a matter-of-fact, entirely plausible writing style and all too humanly flawed characters, The Time Traveller's Wife relates the impacts on the two main characters' lives of Henry's rare and seemingly impossible medical condition. The first person in history to be diagnosed with Chrono-Displacement Disorder, the condition causes his genetic clock to intermittently reset without warning, continuously relocating him into his own past or future. Essentially time travelling and unable to control when he leaves, where he goes or how long he is to be misplaced in time, these unpredictable and often dangerous journeys are predominantly triggered by stress and often add a dark, troubling element to the novel, which at times can also be light-hearted and extremely funny.
The author avoids confusion by clear-cut and apparently effortless storytelling.
Related not chronologically but in shifting, non-linear time periods, the author nevertheless gives a strong sense of progression and avoids confusion by clear-cut and apparently effortless storytelling, writing in expressive, beautifully descriptive prose that resonates with intellectual, emotional and psychological depth.
Although the novel touches on many intermingled themes such as moral ambiguity, the many different kinds of love, loneliness, sacrifice and constant, unshakable loyalty, the real focus of the novel is of time and the way in which it changes us. At times heartbreaking, invariably poignant, this is a haunting and peculiar novel that is at once powerful and subtle, dramatic and understated. Pick it up and you'll find it literally impossible to put down again.
Im sorry but i have to disagree completely. The storyline, once you finally get to grips with Henry's time travelling (which takes a while), is lifeless. Admittedly i think it might just be that i can't really relate to or feel compassion for the whole time-travelling thing but even so i just dont understand what the fuss is about this book? Im willing to accept that im no literary critic but pages from the end i can only say that the book has left me bored.
@ Anonymous#1, I'm going to have to disagree with you and take the side of the author; I certainly didn't find the book nor the storyline boring. The time travelling aspect makes for some interesting and intriguing twists that left me wondering where the book was going next, and of course (without spoiling the book), the introduction knowledge of the future leaves you guessing when that is actually going to fulfil itself.
However, each to their own 
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