The Time Traveler’s Wife – Audrey Niffenegger
Posted on: 2 September 2008
- In: Romance
- 4 Komentar
The title promises a tantalizing story. A time traveler? I love stories that involve time paradoxes! Time traveler’s wife? Even better! I’m always drawn to stories that takes a fantasy element and puts it in an everyday context, i.e. focusing on the ordinary rather than the extraordinary. This must be a story about how time travel affects the life of this couple. A quick look at the blurb shows that this is indeed the case.
And so we follow the love story between Clare and Henry. She first met him when she was six and he was thirty-six, already married to her future-self. He first met her when she was twenty, having spent her childhood with him, and he was twenty-eight, ignorant of her and their future. I like how at any given time one of them always knows more than the other, while the other is clueless about their history together. I especially like the parts when Henry is with young Clare, or with Alba. I feel that it is these parts that show the full effect of time travel on the relationship between the characters.
Unfortunately, the rest of the story is a bit bland, offering almost no internal conflicts between Clare and Henry, as if their only problem in this world is time travel. We see very little of how they fall in love, for example, only that their love is “meant to be”. And the fatalistic nature of the time paradox is rather depressing at times.
So, three stars from me. The novel has a great premise and some good parts, but on the whole it falls short in the execution.
4 Tanggapan to "The Time Traveler’s Wife – Audrey Niffenegger"
5 Oktober 2011 pada 11:40 pm
Assalamualaikum.. Mba femmy.. Iri banget sama english-nya..so excelent,,how did you do that??really want to improve my english, but I need a partner to talk to..I mostly use bahasa whole my life..coz I hve nobody to practice(esp in speaking)..du u hv any suggestions? Jazakillah khoir..
6 Oktober 2011 pada 8:37 am
Wa’alaikumsalam, Restu. Thank you for your kind words.
I think the best way to improve your English is by immersing yourself in it. Read a lot of books. Watch a lot of movies without subtitles to practice your listening skills. This was how I mainly learned English when I was young.
For writing skills, join a mailing list of your favorite subject. Choose a subject that you’re passionate about, so that you’ll feel compelled to share your opinion with other members of the list, and in doing so learn how to articulate your thoughts in English. In the past I was interested in religion, so I joined a religious debate mailing list. Discussing the subject with other people who have different opinions certainly honed my writing skills.
For speaking skills, it’s true that it’s difficult to practice without a partner. I’m a little rusty myself in this particular area due to lack of practice. One of the things you can do is read your books out loud, a trick I learned from my grandfather. That way your tongue is used to pronouncing English words, and when the time comes for you to talk in English, it wouldn’t feel so awkward. I don’t have any suggestion about how to find people to practice your speaking skills with, as I haven’t found a way myself. You can try creating an English-only day with your family at home, but in my experience, it doesn’t last long, but you can try.
I hope this helps.
11 Juni 2011 pada 12:52 pm
I watched the movie and cried. Would the book make me cry, too? We’ll see.
11 Juni 2011 pada 1:18 pm
I really want to watch the movie, but unfortunately haven’t had a chance to do so.