The Search for True Love
I just finished reading The Time Traveller's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger and oh god, the story is stunningly beautiful I wept in the end. It made me realise that love knows no boundaries and it takes loads and loads of patience to succeed. Also, it taught me to appreciate what I have before time forces me to appreciate what I had. (see, it's not mere fiction, it's value-laden, okay)
I saw the book in MPH last week and fell in love straightaway with the cover and the synopsis. It is so full of mysteries I couldn't wait to distangle at the end of my reading. Who wouldn't by looking at the photo of a girl standing next to a pair of man's shoes and clothing in the middle of a meadow? And the synopsis goes like this:
In the beginning it's kinda boring and slow and pretty messed up too - with Henry travelling forward and backward to the past and future, and back to the present due to genetic disorder (so it's neither magic nor witchcraft). But once you're used to that, the story is very melodramatic and emotional *dunno why but it reminds me of PS I Love You* Btw, I dunno how Clare can be as patient in coping with his frequent absences and most of the times not knowing where he has been to, or rather, which date and year. I know I can't. But it's still tolerable, knowing I can reach my hubby through the phone and Internet. So this Henry and Clare met when she was small (and he, grown up) and she grew up with him around from time to time. I must say that Clare is very brave for believing such stranger and even helping him with food, money and clothing (since he'll need to time travel without em). But what can you do when he is the person you're gonna marry in 16 year's time? So, yeah, her world basically revolved around him and gosh, they were really in love. I wish I could be like them too. Btw, she met Henry back only after 2 years but that Henry din know her at all because he hadn't started travelling to her childhood years yet. Only then their passion started blooming and nourishing. Each had their own troubles with their own families but was okay with it. They got married eventually. Their love was, however, put to test with the constant absences and failed attempts to conceive a baby.
Henry kept finding ways to cure his disorder with the help of Dr. Kendrick, a geneticist, who din believe him at first until he told Kendrick about his unborn son and that he immaterialised right in front of his very eyes and appeared a few minutes later. After 6 miscarriages (due to the genetic disorder), Clare finally gave birth to a daughter, Alba (who can also time-travel). Henry then suffered a lot from the drugs he took to stabilise himself but the worse was when he time travelled and got frostbite and hypothermia that his feet were amputated and when he was mistakenly shot during one of his visits to Clare's. He knew instantly that he's gonna die and was totally prepared for it without Clare in the present knowing. He died during a party he had purposely organized just so that Clare will have friends and families when he bid goodbye. He even left her a letter telling her not to wait for him but in the end the story unfolds with Henry visiting Clare when he was 43 and she 82. They embraced and that was the end of the story... (yeah, yeah, he's dead so what.. at least they had the gift of time manipulation through time travelling~)
I really admire Clare for waiting for Henry although she herself is not sure about the future. I admire her for being able to cope with his abnormality, though at times she wishes she could go wherever he goes. I admire her for sometimes being glad when he's not around but relieved when he's back. I admire her in every way and I salute Henry for doing the things he does and for loving Clare unconditionally. It makes me ponder: what would my life be without hubby... Technically, I've grown up, or rather transited from my late adolescent years to adulthood with him around, giving me love, support and everything I need. As the years passed, we've developed a certain inexplicable connection between us that has just been finalized with marriage recently, and I've never been happier. I love it when we can just lounge around in silence minding our own business yet still feel loved at the same time. Thus, I just can't bear the slightest thought of parting with him, but it must be done for the time being. It has been 7 years plus and we still giggle at our silly jokes like it used to be then. So I pray to God everyday to keep our love stronger than ever. I just don't want to live my life without him that I really count on the 'till death do us part' oath to come true. Even so, I wish it could happen to me before it does to him.....
Gosh, this story has really gotten into my head in a creepy, specific way!!
p/s: I just learned that this novel won the Exclusive Books Boeke Prize in 2005 and a British Book Award for Popular Fiction in 2006. And I just can't wait to see the movie version (featuring Eric Bana and Rachel McAdams) which is scheduled for release this month!
I saw the book in MPH last week and fell in love straightaway with the cover and the synopsis. It is so full of mysteries I couldn't wait to distangle at the end of my reading. Who wouldn't by looking at the photo of a girl standing next to a pair of man's shoes and clothing in the middle of a meadow? And the synopsis goes like this:
"This is the extraordinary love story of Clare and Henry who met when Clare was six and Henry was thirty-six, and were married when Clare was twenty-two and Henry thirty. Impossible but true, because Henry suffers from a rare condition where his genetic clock periodically resets and he finds himself pulled suddenly into his past or future. In the face of this force they can neither prevent nor control, Henry and Clare's struggle to lead normal lives is both intensely moving and entirely unforgettable."
In the beginning it's kinda boring and slow and pretty messed up too - with Henry travelling forward and backward to the past and future, and back to the present due to genetic disorder (so it's neither magic nor witchcraft). But once you're used to that, the story is very melodramatic and emotional *dunno why but it reminds me of PS I Love You* Btw, I dunno how Clare can be as patient in coping with his frequent absences and most of the times not knowing where he has been to, or rather, which date and year. I know I can't. But it's still tolerable, knowing I can reach my hubby through the phone and Internet. So this Henry and Clare met when she was small (and he, grown up) and she grew up with him around from time to time. I must say that Clare is very brave for believing such stranger and even helping him with food, money and clothing (since he'll need to time travel without em). But what can you do when he is the person you're gonna marry in 16 year's time? So, yeah, her world basically revolved around him and gosh, they were really in love. I wish I could be like them too. Btw, she met Henry back only after 2 years but that Henry din know her at all because he hadn't started travelling to her childhood years yet. Only then their passion started blooming and nourishing. Each had their own troubles with their own families but was okay with it. They got married eventually. Their love was, however, put to test with the constant absences and failed attempts to conceive a baby.
Henry kept finding ways to cure his disorder with the help of Dr. Kendrick, a geneticist, who din believe him at first until he told Kendrick about his unborn son and that he immaterialised right in front of his very eyes and appeared a few minutes later. After 6 miscarriages (due to the genetic disorder), Clare finally gave birth to a daughter, Alba (who can also time-travel). Henry then suffered a lot from the drugs he took to stabilise himself but the worse was when he time travelled and got frostbite and hypothermia that his feet were amputated and when he was mistakenly shot during one of his visits to Clare's. He knew instantly that he's gonna die and was totally prepared for it without Clare in the present knowing. He died during a party he had purposely organized just so that Clare will have friends and families when he bid goodbye. He even left her a letter telling her not to wait for him but in the end the story unfolds with Henry visiting Clare when he was 43 and she 82. They embraced and that was the end of the story... (yeah, yeah, he's dead so what.. at least they had the gift of time manipulation through time travelling~)
I really admire Clare for waiting for Henry although she herself is not sure about the future. I admire her for being able to cope with his abnormality, though at times she wishes she could go wherever he goes. I admire her for sometimes being glad when he's not around but relieved when he's back. I admire her in every way and I salute Henry for doing the things he does and for loving Clare unconditionally. It makes me ponder: what would my life be without hubby... Technically, I've grown up, or rather transited from my late adolescent years to adulthood with him around, giving me love, support and everything I need. As the years passed, we've developed a certain inexplicable connection between us that has just been finalized with marriage recently, and I've never been happier. I love it when we can just lounge around in silence minding our own business yet still feel loved at the same time. Thus, I just can't bear the slightest thought of parting with him, but it must be done for the time being. It has been 7 years plus and we still giggle at our silly jokes like it used to be then. So I pray to God everyday to keep our love stronger than ever. I just don't want to live my life without him that I really count on the 'till death do us part' oath to come true. Even so, I wish it could happen to me before it does to him.....
Gosh, this story has really gotten into my head in a creepy, specific way!!
p/s: I just learned that this novel won the Exclusive Books Boeke Prize in 2005 and a British Book Award for Popular Fiction in 2006. And I just can't wait to see the movie version (featuring Eric Bana and Rachel McAdams) which is scheduled for release this month!
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