Categories: book-review
Tags: book review
Date: 31 October 2007 20:21:42
This is a book that I have been meaning to read for ages and ages and finally finished at the weekend. And I had to blog about it, because I thought it was utterly wonderful. It is only (I think) the fourth book to ever make me cry, and cry doesn't begin to describe it - I was utterly wracked with sobs at the end.
The basic premise is pretty unbelievable - it's about a youngish couple (around my age now) where the husband, Henry, has a genetic disorder which means that he is suddenly transported out of "now" and travels in time. He first meets his wife, Claire, when she is 6 and he is an adult, even though in real time he's only 8 years older, and the book charts the complications of their relationship given that he can suddenly disappear at the most inconvenient moments (including at their wedding, although only for a few minutes and nobody noticed as he'd gone to the gents!) and Claire has no way of knowing when he'll reappear. However, despite the unbelievable premise, it was written so well that I found it really easy to suspend disbelief and just go with it, and I found the relationship utterly convincing. I thought often as I was reading it how it reminded me of my own relationship - although HD isn't time travelling (well, not that he's admitted to anyway!) we have spent pretty much all of our relationship snatching bits of time together and then enduring separations due to distance, and I found a lot of the way Claire talked about her separations from Henry ringing very true. Maybe that's why the book affected me so deeply - I related so much to the relationship on such a personal level, that when it turned into a weepy it was impossible not to be affected.
It's an absolutely remarkable first novel, by Audrey Niffenegger. Definitely recommended.
Now I've just started reading Alastair McIntosh's "Soil and Soul". I'd added it to the list for my book group and it got pulled out of the hat this week. I'm really pleased - another one I've been meaning to read for ages. Normally we read novels so it was possibly a bit naughty including it, but I did warn the other girls it wasn't a novel so hopefully they will enjoy the change of scene. Already I'm really enjoying it - maybe because a lot of it is set in Scotland it's another one that will feel more personal. I wasn't sure when I started the introduction - I think McIntosh is a really inspirational person and I was looking forward to reading about his campaigns for the community buy-out of the Isle of Eigg and against the quarry in the Isle of Harris, but to start with I found his writing style a bit difficult to get into. Now I'm into it though I'm just sitting back and enjoying his thoughts and his use of words - although he's a campaigner you can tell he's also a poet. Wonderful stuff.