The Time Traveller's Wife

It took me a year till I finally found the book. This is amongst the few book that I read by words and read it till the last page. And sometimes I skimmed it just to find again some of my favourite chapters. I like love stories. Especially those that involve travelling as part of the story. This book has what I like. Even more interesting as the main character not only travel through space, but also time.

The main character is Henry de Tamble, a handsome guy who can travel back and forth to the past, the present and the future. I know you'll think it's awesome. But not for Henry as he can't control when he suddenly travel through time, disappearing from the view, leaving behind his clothes and stuff. He'll arrive naked in the other time and another place. For most the part, this is a curse. Henry often has to turn to petty crimes to find food or clothes because of this, make him sometimes has to run from people, thug or police. Eventually, Henry returns to his present time, bringing only some injuries he's suffered back with him. On of the places he travels often is the meadow behind Clare's house, a  6 years old who's actually his future wife.

Despite of the title, it isn't a science fiction about space-time continuum. It's a touchy story about two person who has to live with this curse as part of their story live. Their love has to pass through patience, faith, fear and hope. There are happy moment that all girl dream of and enjoy it as long as possible. But for Clare it can be a painful one as she can't know when Henry suddenly disappeared. Become tough when Henry is not around, Clare can't have her peace of mind. Henry can possibly pop up in the middle of war, in the jungle, in the market.. all the unpredictable place. 

"Our life together in this too-small apartment is punctuated by Henry's small absences. Sometimes he disappears unobtrusively; I might be walking from the kitchen into the hall and find a pile of clothing on the floor. I might get out of bed in the morning and find the shower running and no one in it. Sometimes it's frightening. I am working in my studio one afternoon when I hear someone moaning outside my door; when I open it I find Henry on his hands and knees, naked, in the hall, bleeding heavily from his head. He opens his eyes, sees me, and vanishes. Sometimes I wake up in the night and Henry is gone. In the morning he will tell me where he's been, the way other husbands might tell their wives a dream they had: "I was in the Selzer Library in the dark, in 1989." Or: "I was chased by a German shepherd across somebody's backyard and had to climb a tree." Or: "I was standing in the rain near my parents' apartment, listening to my mother sing." I am waiting for Henry to tell me that he has seen me as a child, but so far this hasn't happened. When I was a child I looked forward to seeing Henry. Every visit was an event. Now every absence is a nonevent, a subtraction, an adventure I will hear about when my adventurer materializes at my feet, bleeding or whistling, smiling or shaking. Now I am afraid when he is gone" -- Clare

Yes indeed it's a pretty rough love stories. But so much romantic as both Clare and Henry has their way to deal with it. Their love for each other is never questioned and their hope is never extinguished. Henry expressed his love for Clare in a letter to her after they've been for married for many years:

Clare, I want to tell you, again, I love you. Our love has been the thread through the labyrinth, the net under the high-wire walker, the only real thing in this strange life of mine that I could ever trust. Tonight I feel that my love for you has more density in this world than I do, myself: as though it could linger on after me and surround you, keep you, hold you.

The book is brought up into a movie, starring one of my favourite actress Rachel McAdam as Clare. While for Henry de Tamble, I wished it was starred by Christian Bale (haha!). Unfortunately, the movie isn't as intense as the book. There's just something not right, especially at the scene when Henry disappeared. The shouldn't picture it like erasing Henry with rubber eraser. Weird. For that particular reason, I trashed out the DVD from my collection and back to the book.