The Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger

I'm not sure I think this book is science fiction.  It definitely has a SF premise - what happens if you're unstuck in time?  Can you have relationships?  Can you have a job?  Can you have sanity?  If you can't count on time working linearly, how does that work in this very linear world?

Spoilers!




That sounds very SF, but I think Niffenegger meant it as a metaphor and a set up to tell the emotional story.  One of the basic themes of the book is longing, and how better to illustrate longing than to have your main characters be outside looking in much of the time?  Henry because he spends much of his life living outside his "correct" flow of time and so is, in many respects a ghost;  Claire because she spends so much of her life waiting for him, from when she's very young to very old.  Many things I've read about the definition of SF say that if the SF themes are used as a metaphor, it's not really SF, and that rings true to me in this case.

Another reason it didn't feel very SF to me is the scale.  There's a lot of potential with a premise like this to create a very large-scale book; having the time travel create problems larger than how Henry is going to get out of locked spaces and if Claire is waiting at home for him while he's gone.  The closest this book gets to that is Henry winning the lottery so they're set up financially for life, and that with no consequences.  All the consequences in the book are very personal.  No societal involvement at all, beyond the normal what's socially acceptable and what's not. Very domestic.

On the plus side, it doesn't read as if Niffenegger wanted to write a love story and decided to include SF elements she didn't understand very well to add "color." I hate that. The SF elements were very well thought out and were integral to the plot and the story.  She obviously knew what she was doing, she just wasn't interested in writing a SF novel. 

It was a pretty good novel.  I liked the characters, and the premise, SF or not, was fascinating.  Niffenegger didn't flinch from the uglier and more emotionally wrenching aspects of involuntary time travel, and Henry and his life was believable.  It was all internally consistent so as to not strain the reader's willing suspension of disbelief too much.  It kept me reading.

The ending really disappointed me, though.  I didn't like that Claire couldn't get over Henry's death, and that Henry made it that much harder for her by telling her he'd visit her.  She'd become so accustomed to waiting, for him in particular, that it was easier for her to hold onto that promise for decades rather than letting go and living her life.  He needed to just let her let go, first.  I don't find that perpetual longing romantic, I find it unhealthy.

So, I'd recommend this novel, but not as SF.  If you like time travel stories, give it a try, regardless.