Before I even started this book I had more than one inquiry into why I was going to read it. I have never had a problem saying how much I DID NOT like The Time Traveler’s Wife. The review was also cross-posted at Estella’s Revenge – A Zine About Books.
I remember a woman I no longer speak with asking me once why I didn’t like the The Time Traveler’s Wife and I said well the time traveling babies for one and she was all, well that made sense to me, and right then, I knew the friendship was over. Ok, I’m not that big of a bitch but are you kidding me? Sure, it may have made sense but it still remains one of the most ridiculous things I had EVER read in my entire life of reading. And before I move on here I feel I should mention that I watched the movie, of course I did, Eric Bana and Rachel McAdams, I love them both. I guess I’m just used to Hollywood destroying great novels and this led to genuine intrigue because with my over the top dislike for this book I had an odd feeling that it wouldn’t make a bad movie and what do you know, I enjoyed it. The parts I had liked from the book where mainly the parts put on screen and although I still chuckled at the time traveling babies I found it easier to accept in movie form.
The thing with Audrey Niffenegger and why I was so ready to read her new book, Her Fearful Symmetry was because she isn’t a bad writer, in fact until I read the new book, I had The Time Traveler’s Wife rated 3 of 5 stars on Goodreads because for a first novel I did find her writing style to have a certain impressive flow to it. But this has now been lowered to 2 stars after rating Her Fearful Symmetry 1 of 5 stars. Her writing skills are over shadowed by statements which read like sentence fragments from a plot that in too many places seems underdeveloped and others needlessly overdeveloped, which I find interesting because it is apparent that she did a lot of research for this book. So much so that the write-up in the back totes her as an employee which I found even more intriguing until realizing it was an extremely unfortunate oversight in the editing as she only volunteered there during research for the book. The write-up is so misleading I allowed myself to become excited thinking she was going to spend a lot of time focusing on the famous Highgate Cemetery in London, which is now on my list of places I plan to spend AT LEAST a full day exploring when I finally make it to London, but not due to any glorious descriptions from her. There are many famous people buried there, Karl Marx for one, she over-mentions him about five times. I get it, Karl Marx is buried at Highgate Cemetery in London. I heard you the first time.
Aside from the cemetery this novel centers on two generations of twins and their family secrets. Ghosts and death are a prominent theme but just like with the time traveling babies I found myself bursting out laughing when after the passing of one of the characters their lover lays on the bed of the deceased and masturbates, then later returns to masturbate again only to have the ghost brush herself against him and apparently he can feel it and she passes her dead cold hands over his body and his penis and IS THIS REALLY HAPPENING AM I REALLY READING THIS?
I don’t understand why Niffenegger felt it necessary to volunteer at the cemetery and to take the guided tours when really we are only taken on ONE tour through the cemetery and even that is rushed in description due to conflicts with the characters. Because of the fascination I hold with cemeteries I did appreciate her writing on some of the history of Highgate but the link that is supposed to be drawn to the character studying it, is so weak it falls way short and is rarely addressed other than in simple yes or no questions asked of the character. This was a novel where the characters I liked faded off into the background and weren’t paid enough attention, and characters I didn’t like and felt offered little or no value at all to the story resulted in highly descriptive wastes of time.
When I compare this book with The Time Traveler’s Wife I have to say what I never thought I would, that I liked it 1 star more. I felt short changed on a book that had a lot of potential. This novel had many things I love to read about, twins, death, cemeteries, ghosts, and yet it failed to develop any of the characters enough for me to care at all what happened to them or they were involved in down right absurd story lines that had nothing to do with Highgate. Overall, a very disappointing read.
