My hubby’s not a time traveler but I feel like he plays one in a movie. Sorta. 🙂
I guess I should explain, LOL!
For those of you who aren’t familiar with the book TIME TRAVELER’S WIFE by Audrey Niffenegger (movie opened this weekend) – here’s the basic premise. Hero/Henry has a genetic defect that makes him time travel, although he has no real control over when it happens or how long he’s gone. Claire is his wife. If you’ve seen a trailer on TV for the movie, you get that much.
So without going into spoilers it’s obvious TIME TRAVELER’S WIFE is a paranormal – not based in reality – yet I found myself identifying with Claire both when I read the book and saw the movie. (Sure the movie had to leave lots of the book out – the book was LONG – but still it worked for me.) I’ve thought long about why the book and movie touched me so deeply and I think it has something to do with being a military wife.
I identified with Claire and how much of their married life she spent waiting for Henry to return. He frequently missed holidays, nearly missed their wedding. And would he be there for the birth of their child? She didn’t know where he was or how long he would be gone – often the case for military wives these days.
When Henry traveled, he often landed in tough and dangerous situations. Claire sometimes got her husband back bruised or wounded. Doesn’t take a rocket scientist to see how that one links up to the fears of a military spouse holding down the homefront.
Since sometimes Henry would travel to see her at different points in Claire’s life, she could find herself confronted with an old soul mature husband carrying burdens or the young man she married could show up (albeit at times she seemed to like the more mature Henry.) I would say that after TDYs and deployments, military spouses return different emotionally – how could they not? Sometimes in good ways, sometimes not so much.
Ultimately, I think it was the uncertainty of day to day life for Claire that reached out to me most. And yet, as she tells Henry at one point, she wouldn’t change a second. She loves him that much.
Have you seen or read TIME TRAVELER’S WIFE? What did you think? (If you have plot spoilers in you response, please note it at the start so folks who want to be surprised can skip it.) If you haven’t seen the movie or read the book, what paranormal book or movie felt real to you in spite of the “unreal” premise? How come?