One of my favorite books of all time. If you saw the movie, do yourself a favor and actually read the book - it's about a million times better than the movie.

Niffennegger is one of the best writers to hit the best seller list in the last 25 years. Despite the sometimes confusing time-travel element in this book, the author's writing style and language makes it an absolute joy to read.

Don't let the science fiction element of the novel throw you off. This might be a very untraditional love story but it IS a love story at heart. The ending, which was left out of the movie, is the best part of the book and stays with you for a long time after you've read it. ( )

I didn't get around to reading this until after reading Niffenegger's second book, and actually found myself out of step with most other readers I know by preferring that to this, her breakthrough novel. The first third of the book was a struggle for me, despite the wonderful writing (I would kill for her talent), as I kept battling to follow Henry's various peregrinations through time and make sense of some of the more obscure parts of his predicament. Why is he always naked when he arrives somewhere new? Why does he always return to the scene of a childhood tragedy and why do we never 'see' it through his eyes but only when he tells the story to Clare? Why, with all his time-travel, does he seem perplexed to meet Clare in the first pages of the book (shouldn't he at least understand conceptually what was going on?) And so on...
Only once I'd firmly put aside any and all questions about the mechanics (and the multiple contradictions in those mechanics) was I able to immerse myself in the story. At its core, it's a very traditional love story -- boy and girl meet cute, fall in love etc. etc. But the device at the core of the story -- the time travel -- is what made the story transcend the ordinary and simultaneously made it more difficult to forget the author and completely believe in the characters. In contrast, in Niffenegger's second book, by the time the slightly surreal elements appear in the story, the reader is already caught up in the characters and their various situations; the 'real' and 'normal' becomes slightly surreal so gradually that it's easier to accept. In contrast, in Time Traveler's Wife, you are immersed in it from the very first pages, and I struggled with that.
The ideas underlying the story -- that of the persistence of love, of the idea of waiting, of whether having an intense love that ends is better than living safely (as Clare argues to Henry's father midway through the book, at their first meeting) -- are generally well explored, but the secondary characters felt like wallpaper to me, in the book to illustrate something about Clare or Henry rather than as players in their own right.
I'm glad I've read this -- at least it will get some friends off my case -- but I was hoping it would prove to be one of those books about which I end up saying "I can't believe I waited so long to read a book that is now my favorite!" Niffenegger is a wonderful prose stylist, but that's not all it takes to be a great novelist, and cool weird plot elements also aren't enough, on their own. ( )

This book was beautifully written and a wonderful love story. ( )

A very unique love story is probably the only way to describe this novel. Romance is in general a genre I don't read, but from the get go this book had me hooked. An added bonus is the fact that this novel had me in tears which is not an easy thing to do even 'My Sister's Keeper' which itself is a moving story didn't reduce me to a crying wreck. Follow the lives of Henry and Clare a young couple who although have found their soulmate in each other have their lives complicated by the fact that Henry has a genetic condition that means he disappears and reappears suddenly to signficant points in his life. ( )

Wow. Couldn't put the book down! Wonderful storyline, a joy to read!! Splendid writing. Fell in love with both, Henry and Clare. I would recommend this book to people who enjoy love stories, with an edge, and I would read this book again in a heartbeat. I can't wait to see the movie, so that I can see how horrible it is compared to the book. Kudos. ( )