Book Review - The Time Traveler's Wife

Title: The Time Traveler's Wife
Author: Audrey Niffenegger
Pages: 536
Publisher: Vintage Canada
ISBN-13: 978-0676976335
Source: Purchased
Rating: 4 stars

From the back of the book: When Henry meets Clare, he is twenty-eight and she is twenty.  Henry has never met Clare before; Clare has known Henry since she was six.  Impossible but true, because Henry finds himself periodically displaced in time, pulled to moments of emotional gravity from his life, past and future.  Henry and Clare's attempts to live normal lives are threatened by a force they can neither prevent nor control, making their passionate love story intensely moving and entirely unforgettable.  The Time Traveler's Wife is a story of fate, hope and belief, and more than that, it's about the power of love to endure beyond the bounds of time.

My Thoughts: This was my second attempt to read this book.  The first attempt I didn't even make it through the first chapter before I set it down to read something else.  When this book was referred to me by a fellow group member on Goodreads, it provided the motivation to pick it up and give it another try.  I am pleased to say that it was a good thing I did.
Henry and Clare are beautifully written, no matter what time they are in.  Niffenegger has created characters that live and breath and, best of all, feel solid and real.  I was more interested in what was happening to them because of this.  I didn't mind investing the time to read their story because it was an interesting tale happening to interesting people.  There was no magic wand to wave and make all the bad stuff go away.  There was no miracle cure to help everyone live happily ever after.  That alone makes the book worth reading.
The author also handled the time travel aspect smoothly.  So smoothly, in fact, that I stopped paying attention to the date and age markers at the start of each chapter because I was wrapped up in the story.  There was usually a mention of when/where Henry either was or was coming from and there was no real interrupt or jarring in the flow of the writing from that.
All in all, a really great read.  Thanks, Aths, for recommending it for Refer a Book Friday.