Books and Cooks: The Time Traveler's Wife

For someone who's allegedly smart, it took me long enough to realize that my book club discussions might be good blog topics. All together now: DUH! Our group meets once a month, and we all bring a food mentioned in or inspired by the book to munch on as we discuss. Tonight's choices:

WE'RE READING:

I'M SERVING: ROASTED CHICKEN AND MUSHROOM RISOTTO

All of us were in awe that this was a first novel. Keeping track of the structure alone must have been heinous (one of us imagined a room full of sticky notes keeping track of Henry's time jumps). I managed to avoid entanglement in the time travel logic by going theater and engaging my willing suspension of disbelief. Rather than keeping track of dates, I just checked the ages of the characters and went with it. Most agreed that the love story was the core of the book, that watching the Clare/Henry interactions as she ages, having known him most of her life, and he slips in and out of emotional moments was the best thing about the book.

As a heavy romance reader and writer, I'm not sure that I agree. Clearly, the relationship between Clare and Henry kept the narrative going, given that there isn't a chronological flow to what happens to them. Still, I think I'm more of a romance purist than I thought. Their final meeting, when Clare is in her 80s, didn't resonate for me the way it did with some of the others.

All in all, Niffenegger's debut is a great read. Interesting, unusual, but not pretentious in the slightest (despite the chemical formulae and DNA deconscruction that crop up from time to time). I'd read her again.