Book: The Time Traveler's Wife: Pages 109-230-something

Wow, I'm really ripping through this book, huh? I feel like the last part of this review was a little tedious and overlong, so I will attempt to be perhaps a little more about the summary in this outing. This will be helpful because I've also covered a lot of ground.

"Christmas Eve, One (Always Crashing in the Same Car)"

This is a brief chapter where a 40 year old Henry finds himself at Clare's home on Christmas Eve, and offers up a rare glimpse into his past for the ever vigilantly curious Clare. He regails her of the story of the death of his mother on Christmas Eve when he was six years old. A combination of nervous driving on his mother's part and unfortunate conditions cause a highway collision in which Henry's mother is decapitated and in which he avoids a similar fate thanks to a random time jump.

This is a rare and important detail for the book as it informs Henry's aversions to driving and Christmas Eve, which are dealt with in more detail further in the book as we are exposed to a younger and 'current' Henry before he starts meeting childhood Clare. We are also informed by Henry that he has traveled back to the moments around the crash numerous times and has viewed it from almost every conceivable angle; a Hell in every sense of the word. It also gives a glimpse into the psyche of the time traveler and the reasons behind his strained relationship with his father; not to mention his all around "fuckedupedness" (from the book, I swear to God). It is, chronologically, also the first Christmas Clare spends with Henry (as Henry is 40 and has presumably spent many with Clare). It's not an altogether happy occasion, but it offers an informative glimpse into the rhythm of their narratively confused relationship.

"Christmas Eve, Two"

This section is a logical progression of the last chapter where we are now shown through Henry's narration the reaction he has to Christmas Eve. He's 25 and much younger and presumably less equipped to handle the post traumatic survivor's stress associated with the death of his mother 19 years earlier. After aimlessly wandering the Chicago streets and taking a generally glass-half-empty approach, Henry finds a local bar and proceeds to drink his problems into oblivion. As with real life, the problem becomes alcohol poisoning and before long he's waking up in a hospital with a pumped stomach, a seedy bartender whom he occasionally has sex with, and the realization that he indeed has an actual death wish (most likely to escape from the traumas of his life as well as the complications of his condition).

The second half of this section deals with a 17 year old Clare growing ever more concious of the fact that she and future-Henry are approaching a two year gap in which the next time they meet he will be current-Henry and have no knowledge of their meetings. Clare is spending the day doing the crossword with her grandmother and after a brief walk to the meadow they end up chancing on a 40 year old Henry. He introduces himself to Clare's grandma and then he disappears after which grandma raises some pointed and pertinent questions for Clare. It seems that the dangers and pitfalls of dating someone who blinks in and out of your timeline are constantly presented to Clare, but she chooses to ignore them. This speaks largely to the passion a person like Clare must have, but also speaks more broadly to the irrationality of love and the things one will ignore to achieve it. Clare, and by extension, the reader are left to question whether her actions are foolish, impassioned love or genuine emotions.

"Eat or Be Eaten"

This section introduces us to two of the more prominent characters for the next half of the book; Gomez and Charisse. Right from the get-go Gomez is singled out as an intriguing character. One gets the impression that he's up to no good, or simply has an unrequitted if not unnoticed lust for Clare. Either way Henry seems to take no issue with it. The chapter sets up Henry as a stupendous chef, Gomez a borderline anarchist, and the group as a whole to be something of a eclectic Bohemian collection of humans. The chapter name itself sets up an almost primal feeling that plays out over the section between Henry and Gomez primarily (though other characters get swept up) to establish dominance and to size each other up. The relationship, even as it evens out throughout this portion of the book, never quite sits comfortably as if both are at once intrigued and keeping the other around to keep an eye out. Gomez is threatened and therefore dwarfed by Henry's unique existence, while Henry is threatened by Gomez' lack of effort and carefree nature. It reads at once both comfortable and tenuous which is an interesting dynamic to explore.

The rest of the section deals with Gomez meeting a future Henry who knows and imparts tidbits of wisdom about his future to him and disappears, thus proving that he does indeed time travel. Gomez shares a conversation with Clare at first apologizing, the agonizing over future-Henry's secretive nature, and finally warning Clare to distance herself from her future and inevitable counterpart. We also get an intersting insight from Clare that even if she wanted to, distancing herself from Henry would be impossible as their lives are inextricably entwined. Indeed, when one steps back and takes in the bigger picture it is clear that both Clare and Henry's pasts and, by extension, futures (which in some cases are their pasts) are so tangled that it is questionable if either can paradoxically exist without the other. This brings into play again the question of fate and that, even if she wanted, is it even possible to change the fact she will be with Henry one day?

We are next treated to an amusing scene in which current-Henry is woken early in the morning by his future self; the two of which seem to have become extremely comfortable or even blase in their reactions to one another. Current day Henry even seems to resent his more confident, together future self and is torn between that resentment and the fact that one day with time he will be everything he currently resents. It's moments like this that make The Time Traveler's Wife such a fun read. A Violent Femmes concert is attended and we are shown that present day Henry is not yet entirely the man Clare loves and that he indeed has a darker and less morally light past than we may have believed. Interestingly, it's a future Henry whom reassures Clare of his past self's dedication to her and the eventual corrections he'll make to be with her.

"Christmas Eve, Three"

This section details both the first time Clare and Henry spend a Christmas together (discounting the previous one where future-Henry traveled backwards to 17 year old Clare), and sets up all sorts of potential disasters. These dilemmas are present in any relationship, but the hook here is the amplification they enjoy thanks to the peculiar condition Henry has of evaporating into time at any given moment. This event also plays as an indicator of Henry's devotion to Clare as he has never spent the holidays with a girlfriend or as sober as he ends up being. Clare's family responds reasonably well to Henry, if not a little unfairly because Clare's older brother Mark has just brought home his recently engaged, pregnant girlfriend as well. Henry does a good job of dodging most of the awkward moments, and after a time the reader sees the cracks in the facade Clare's family tries so hard to conceal. Overall, the scene plays out more or less normally. Clare's family one by one warms up to Henry in unique ways, Clare's mom seems to be a slight alcoholic with anger issues, and Henry sneaks every night into his girlfriends bedroom. Pretty standard stuff.

Standout moments include the fact that even though none of Clare's family has ever met Henry, some of them seem vaguely familiar of him. There is even a tantilizing throwback to "After the End" earlier in the book where Mark and his dad seem distressed that they are seeing Henry again ("After the End" was the vague appearance by Henry confronted by Mark and his dad in which both the reader and Clare have no idea what happened). Of course Henry tries desperately to stay in the present and only travels once in Church for a thankfully brief moment to his own apartment in the future. The future Henry calms him and tells him everything will be fine. There is also a scene at a party where Henry admires two young kids dressed in old school punk attire and muses why someone so young would harken back to an older age of their own free will. Not for a lack of love for the genre (he takes great interest in the children's interests), but it seems he begrudges their right to choose the era of their appearance as he obviously cannot. The section ends as Clare breaks down on the drive home, embarassed of her mother's behaviour and Henry calms her as he has (and will) lived with much more awkwardness.

"Home is Anywhere You Hang Your Head"

Henry has decided to propose to Clare, but first he must confront his estranged father and ask his permission and for the rings his mother wore. This chapter is more or less straight forward in which we learn that his father is not so much an angry, drunk, wretch of a man so much as he is Henry but for the loss of the love of his life. What begins as anger and resentment both on Henry's and the reader's parts, turns to pity and sadness as we realize that Mr. DeTamble has lost the ability to play music and his last tangible connection with his dead wife. He inquires about Clare and after listening for a time, decides its time to give up his wife's rings. Henry leaves his father, and one gets the impression that the elder DeTamble is a possible foreshadowing of Clare or Henry without the other. It's also hopeful that his dad will get his life together as Henry reveals that sometimes he still sees his mother happy and alive in the past, and suddenly Mr. DeTamble has a connection again.

Author's Note: Ugh, I was doing the whole chapter by chapter thing, but I am at the end of the book and this was just feeling tedious and a bit redundant. So, what I've decided I would do is that when I finish I will write one more post about this book and make that a comprehensive review. But since I have been writing this post for two days while still reading, I may as well have something to show for it. Overall, this chapter by chapter thing was a good learning experience.