kstar797

I was apprehensive about reading this book because of its thickness and its potentially cliche premise. Any author who writes about time traveling instantly has some obstacles to overcome. There's the need for some consistency in story-telling, difficult when you're main character's deal is not being chronological. And there's the need for a (somewhat) plausible reason for the main character's affliction: a reason to suspend your disbelief and invest in the story in the first place. I think Niffenegger succeeded on both counts. The skipping about takes some time to get used to, but within a few chapters the author uses some plot threads to show that if the reader is patient, the holes in the plot will become congeal. Also, as a point of reference, she added the current date and Clare and Henry's current ages, so if you did get lost in the logistics of the plot, there are always some facts to re-orient yourself. The suspension of disbelief, for me at least, was covered by the amount of secondary characters who knew the secret and the number of times Henry had to prove it to these characters. Not only did Niffenegger make Henry's proof entertaining, she made the proving integral to the unfolding of the story. Quite good. The author made the point of describing the time traveling as a genetic defect and giving the reader the impression that in the future, this defect becomes more commonplace (i.e. the scenes with his daughter set in the future). I must also say that I am a little bias to the author. She grew up in the town I work in (Bookman's Alley is a block down the street from my bookstore). The book often takes place on streets in my neighborhood in Chicago and South Haven, Michigan, is a ten minute ride from the city in which I went to college .

2022-11-14 16:02