The Reading Group Reads...
The Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger
MAY 3rd SAW the members of the Reading Group, old and new, meet at Kent House
to discuss Audrey Niffenegger's best selling first novel "The Time
Traveler's Wife". (Actually, one new "temporary member",
Harry, did not contribute directly to the discussion even though his name was
repeatedly called during the evening.)
"The Time Traveler's Wife" is the story of the relationship between Clare and Henry. Henry, a somewhat selfish, womanising 28-year-old librarian first meets Clare (20) when he is already involved in an on-and-off relationship with another woman. However, when Clare meets Henry for the first time she is a child of 6, he is a man of 42 and he has been married to her future self for 12 years. It is clear from this brief summary that there is a twist to this love story, and the twist is that Henry is subject to sudden, relatively short but uncontrolled excursions to other times and places. This often lands him in embarrassing or dangerous situations and results, amongst other things, in his rather capricious morality. He rationalises that stealing clothes and money to survive is acceptable, but that using his knowledge of the future to make a fortune on the lottery or stock market is not. However this attitude is not inflexible - and there was discussion on whether this arbitrariness was a weakness of the plot or a reflection of the pragmatism of the character. Another effect of the time travel is that Henry's attitude to the child who will become his wife, and Clare's response to the man who will become her husband, are conditioned by their foreknowledge of these future partners and relationships.
Stories of time travel are not new, and love stories even less so, but Audrey Niffenegger's combination of the two, with its complex interweaving of events, is beautifully told and engrossing. Some of the group felt that the book was too long and that the author's inexperience as a novelist was apparent; others enjoyed the extra insight into the lives of the characters, were reluctant to reach the end, and are hoping for a sequel. The discussion was animated and passionate. (Indeed, one member of the group, excluded from the room - most unfairly in his opinion forcefully insisted on rejoining the rest, although it was apparently the snacks he wished to share rather than the debate.)
- Weds June 7th: Middlemarch by George Eliot: 8 pm at 2 Heath Road, Swaffham Prior
- Weds July 5th: The Cement Garden by Ian McEwan: 8 pm at School Lane, Burwell