The book is The Time Traveler's Wife
Apparently they are making this into a movie, which I suppose is a good thing. But it is the detail and complexity that makes this an exceptional story, and this will not come through in the movie. So the movie will just be the romance, without all the angst, the wonder, without all the fear, and the flashy appearances and disappearances of some naked hottie male actor without all the ... whaver.
OK, back to the novel. Henry DeTamble is born in 1963, and meets his eventual wife (the time traveler's wife), Clare Abshire, when he is 28 years old, in 1991. She is a few years younger. They get married and are very much in love until one of them eventually dies.
Sound kind of boring, I know, but wait, there's more.
He is of a modest background with two artist parents, and she is of a very wealthy background with a father who is a lawyer or something and a totally neurotic mother. Her family lives in Michigan, in a nice big house in a rural area.
I know, Iknow, still doesn't sound very interesting. The interesting part is this:
Henry has an unusual disorder that causes him to occasionally travel in time. It is hard for him to predict when it will happen ... he cannot stop it or conjure it, though he learns that certain things make it less or more likely to happen. He feels a bit sick, dizzy, hen suddenly he is somewhere else .... and, somwhen else. With nothing. No clothing, no possessions, only his wits.
Fortunately for Henry, many of these sorties into the twilight zone bring him to a quiet meadow in the woods just out of sight of the palatial Michigan home of this cute, smart, and very cool little girl named Clare. This is a meadow in which Clare likes to play alone. The first time the strange 30 or 40 something year old naked man appears out of nowhere in the meadow, she is young enough to not be totally put off. This allows a bit of a relationship to develop. Eventually, they fall in love (well, she falls in love with him, he is already married to her).
Because he travels around in time enough, and is a smart guy, he has figured out most (but not all) of the times he will arrive in the meadow. So Clare has a list of dates and times, and makes sure there is a stash of clothing, food, and drink for her mysterious crush-to-become-lover. The clothing is especially important in the dead of winter.
That's all very interesting, but it gets much more interesting than this. The story is further complicated by the fact that many, perhaps most, of Henry's forays in time are more unexpected and not prepared for in any way. Henry becomes well known to the Chicago police (he lives in, and often time travels to, Chicago) as a strange guy who likes to walk around in alleys with no clothing on. His co-workers in a Chicago atheneum known as The Newberry Library think of him as a strange guy who occasionally disappears (like for a long lunch or something?) but often leaves a pile of clothing behind. Henry learns to steal clothing form clothes lines, pick pockets, defend himself from attackers, break into any sort of locked building. He gets pretty good at this, and actually ends up teaching his young self (whom he occasionally visits) how to do these things.
So, you can see, the story can get quite complicated.
You know, not too far into the book if you are paying attention, that this is not going to end well. You wonder, what happens if these two have a child? You worry about the interactions among friends, coworkers, and especially relatives. There is a moment when you see what looks like something very bad happening to Henry in the future, but you can't be sure what it is. But you never have a sense that Clare and Henry are not going to stay married. That never seems in doubt. 'Till death do they part. Like the song goes: "To all things there is a season, time time time ..." But since Henry is a time traveler, you can imagine that nothing is so certain or simple as even death.
The story explores all the usual questions about time travel, but only briefly. There seems to be a sense of fate ... you can't change the present by messing with the past ... yet you can change what people know about the present (or future) a little. So the DeTamble family gets to skim a little off the stock market, but they don't alter world history. There is no butterfly effect in this book, only a vague sense that there is not much you can do to change the future, but you can make minor adjustments that will not have a large effect no matter what you do.
The suspension of disbelief is easy given the very high quality of the writing. I thought the ending was overcomplicated in the story telling considering how utterly simple the actual events are (compared to the rest of the book) but I sensed the writer wanted to tie up some threads.
To the person who gave me this book as a gift: Thanks. I love you too.
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Bleh.
Prolly just haven't read this yet:
http://scienceblogs.com/sunclipse/2008/12/book_announcement_until_earth…
I take it you did not like the book? Or is it my review that you find Bleh-ish?
The movie has been finished and it's due for release in a few months (The Time Traveler's Wife).
One of my friends, Fiona Reid, has a decent part in the movie and she thinks it will be great.
I think not Bleh. I liked the book. The movie, we'll see.
Perhaps "bleh" was in response to:
"I only blog about important things that you need to know about."
Mr. Pretension ;)
Greg, JanieBelle and I thank you for the qualification. :)
M: Well, but you see, Ana, even though she may or may not actually exist, knows me too well to have even read that part of my blog post.
It is scary knowing that people who never miss anything are watching.
Why's it there if not to be read and appreciated?
Greg knows me well enough to know that I read all of his blog post and that I never find his writing bleh. I did not like the Niffenegger. Gimmick-driven drivel bleh. And if I remember correctly, even the gimmick breaks down at some point in inconsistency and dubiousness; but it was years ago I read it. I remember being turned off by her english language usage too, but you see here how I write, so go ahead and roll your eyes at me about it and take what you can from the book. I don't mean to discourage reading, just think you could do better elsewhere - like with 'Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress' which, if I existed, I would loan you (but I would have to buy another copy cuz I've already lent out two with no return).
Hm. Blake. You wrote a novel! Sorry, your comment got trapped because it had a link.
Everybody go read Blake's novel!
Who is Blake?
Just out of curiosity, is there any actual evidence that this is how things would work, if time travel was even possible? A lot of the depictions I've seen appear to implicitly assume that The Course of Events has some kind of problem-solving ability, which seems absurdly anthropocentric.
Blake Stacey as in Science after Sunclipse, a Scienceblogs.com production.
Azkyroth: I'm not sure how to answer a question about how something works if it actually worked that way when it really doesn't.
In this book the relationship between time travel and changing the future is personalized. The husband could tell the wife a number of things he knows, but does not, but not to avoid changing the future, but rather, to control the kind of angst she is forced to experience. But he does tell her some things or she figures it out. I mean, if your husband goes into the future you might be able to tell something about where he's been when he comes back, just on what he does NOT say....
What I find interesting and perplexing is that while he travels through time alone ... with no possibility of bringing along material possessions ... what about his stomach contents and stuff? I mean, shouldn't there be a semi-ordered set of piles of stuff from between his teeth, chunks of food in a acidic bath, bile, watches of chime and piles of feces, perhaps sprinkled with bladder contents?
It turns out that sometimes the suspension of disbelief is a great convenience.
I loved the book, but I found it necessary to focus and backtrack a bit to keep track until I became accustom to it.
I believe the movie is coming out in January. January of last year, possibly.
Eh, it was alright. I guess. I don't recall anything about which doesn't speak well for it I suppose.
I read the book. The end totally creeped me out (the last fifth or so) but I loved it anyway. Ana, if you existed you would have enjoyed it more, perhaps. It must be difficult to read and not exist at the same time. The words would go right past your eyes.
Great book! I read it a few years ago.
I read this several years ago! I am not generally into romances. Not even a little. But this was such a wonderful book. I couldn't put it down. HIGHLY recommended!
"I remember being turned off by her english language usage too,"
Turned off by her English language usage, when you seem to have a problem with that yourself... Yeesh.
I liked this book too. I read it years ago and there were parts that were disjointed, but time traveling must be somewhat disjointed too, yes?
A fantastic series in the time travel/romance/somewhat science-themed (slightly a stretch)/Historical fiction/Scottish history-Jacobites/Standing Stones/Revolutionary America/burning at the stake/ and MORE is Diana Gabaldon's Outlander Series. There are seven whopping 1000-page books in the series and they are FUNNY too. Gabaldon has an M.S. in Marine Biology from Scripps Institution of Oceanography and a Ph.D. in quantitative behavioral ecology. Her books are full of detail about plants, animals, and 18th century medicine. Very excellent. Her website is here: http://www.its.caltech.edu/~gatti/gabaldon/gabaldon.html
Oh My, I love Gabaldon! As I said, I'm not generally into romance, but man, Gabaldon really is a great writer and it's so much more than just romance. Plus her female characters always kick ass.
Turned off by her English language usage, when you seem to have a problem with that yourself... Yeesh.
I rise to defend the honor of my beloved friend, Ana!
(Not that she, if she existed, would need me to do this.)
Even if Ana were a sucky writer, one can still end up not liking a particular use of the language. There is not a particular scale of quality, but rather, a multi dimensional complex set of different kinds of writing. My wife, mother in law, and some other peoople are all reading these books by a particular author and loving them, so I tried one out and could not get past page three ... didn't like the use of langauge at all. Meanwhile all these highly educated people including those with advanced degrees in English Literature and stuff are loving it.
As for Ana's writing: I am in the very small group of people who have seen Ana's writing in every form writing can exist, on a wide range of topics, over several years. I've seen her formal letters, her college essays, her activist prosology, her dashed out hand written notes taped to cookies, all form of email and I can tell you that I have both stared at what she has written having no clue what she means at some times, and been enthralled at her clarity and inspiration at other times.
It is almost as though the actually existed...
I vote for yes, one of the best books over a given year. Not necessarily this year. You really must keep more up to date with your readings, Dr. Laden.
I read this book a while back (maybe last year or so) and put in on my top 10 list.
And I read a LOT of fiction, not just pulp.
This year The Mistress of Spices has made it to my top 10 list as well, and The Wood Wife
Niffenegger is a strange writer. Her other books are .. different, but worth a look.
cringe ... I second Laden. One doe not have to be a great writer to know when you are not reading what you like. (Or vise versa). As to the famous non-existing Ana's writing, I can't say. I hear she uses invisible ink.
Good book, but definitely borderline creepy.
oh... by "cringe" I meant the commenter known as "cringe" (see above) ... I was not cringing.
I've put it on my Christmas wish list on my Amazon account!
The Mistress of Spices
Good one.
Greg, what about a list of your top 20 books (fiction) and/or non-fiction? Lists about other people's favorite books and music or movies are my favorite.
Cheers!
It is almost as though the actually existed...
It is almost as though she was actually a blogger!
A blogger? A sock puppet, more likely!
Yes, I second Monica... What else do you enjoy? Something tells me we have similar tastes in fiction.
I believe there is a meme out there which serves this purpose.
cringe: your purity is no match for my wit
Greg Laden: thx and all, u r sweet - but whaddaya mean u don't understand? ;)
all the rest of y'all: you cannot make me do it - i will not pick up the Niffenegger again - uh-uh - i am comfortable being in the minority - have no need to reevaluate - reconsider - maybe grow...humph.
Kate and Anni: i will have to pick up The Mistress of Spices - my neighbor asked earlier today for clove oil...
Does your neighbor have a toothache?
Is that what that was about? Not that I know of. I do know that he does have a sick beta fish, and a girlfriend who bakes?
What does she bake???????
Yes, thank you Greg, for qualifying your remarks with the word "published".