Book to Movie: The Time Traveler's Wife

Summary: This clever and inventive tale works on three levels: as an intriguing science fiction concept, a realistic character study and a touching love story. Henry De Tamble is a Chicago librarian with "Chrono Displacement" disorder; at random times, he suddenly disappears without warning and finds himself in the past or future, usually at a time or place of importance in his life. This leads to some wonderful paradoxes. From his point of view, he first met his wife, Clare, when he was 28 and she was 20. She ran up to him exclaiming that she'd known him all her life. He, however, had never seen her before. But when he reaches his 40s, already married to Clare, he suddenly finds himself time travelling to Clare's childhood and meeting her as a 6-year-old. The book alternates between Henry and Clare's points of view, and so does the narration. Reed ably expresses the longing of the one always left behind, the frustrations of their unusual lifestyle, and above all, her overriding love for Henry. Likewise, Burns evokes the fear of a man who never knows where or when he'll turn up, and his gratitude at having Clare, whose love is his anchor.

Review: So it's been 2.5 years since I've read The Time Traveler's Wife,but I remember the essential story. They really did capture the essence of the story, while making Clare a bit more bitter, which was a good thing. I had no doubts that Rachel McAdams and Eric Bana could capture Clare and Henry. It wasn't that I visioned Rachel as Clare and Eric as Henry when I read the book but the casting was perfect.

I also loved that it was filmed in Chicago. I was worried that they'd change the location of the movie to fit Hollywood and they didn't. I think that Chicago is as much a part of the story as any other character.

Sure they had to leave a couple subplots out, it's to be expected when the book is 560 pages and the movie was 108 minutes. Nonetheless, the romance of the story was very much there and that's what I wanted to see. The special effects of making Henry disappear and reappear were wonderful. It looked like they just erased him from the screen when he would time travel.

My complaint about the book was that I didn't always follow the time travelling and would find it confusing at times. The movie made it easy to follow and understand.

I will admit that I cried a couple of different times, especially when Alba was introduced. I think the parts with Alba and Henry affected me more now that I'm a mom and I see the relationship between my husband and daughter.

I often describe The Time Traveler's Wife to people as a cross between The Notebookand Ghost but I don't even think that does it justice.

Did you see it? Did you like it/hate it? How do you describe it to those who haven't read it?

Book to Movie Final Take: 4/5