I am always going, and she cannot follow.

I am reeling. I stayed up till 4 AM today to finish this book, right to the very last page. (Let me emphasize that this book clearly has no right to be called light reading; in my seeming preference, sadly, of YA novels, I am not used to such a thick piece of work.)

But yes, for the past two days I have been stuck to it like glue; it's so enticing. Beforehand I was kind of skeptical--The Time Traveler's Wife could just as well be another one of those Nicholas Sparks novels I never liked. It wasn't. It held its own.

If I'm right, Clare Abshire (female protagonist, and, duh, the time traveler's wife) loved Henry DeTamble for 76 years. Imagine a book that spans that long into the plot! And yet I came out of every chapter actually caring about these two. 

It's an odd tale; one tinged with the complications of science fiction and even further complicated by love, marriage, family...to quote Henry, und so weiter. I am impressed with the intricate plotting and the incredible detailing--though I have to admit, I was a bit bored by some parts. Some parts. Minor ones. The descriptions were vivid and the emotions were raw. I couldn't have wanted anything more from a dramatic romance.

The Time Traveler's Wife evoked in me feelings of both grief and joy. Here is the only spoiler I will give: the ending is not a happy one. But then, if you really thought about it, it will dawn on you: love can transcend even the worst of things, things even worse than your husband randomly flying off into the portals of time, not knowing when he will come back. So is it still not a happy ending?

In this book, the waiting is the hardest part--you will feel that in the characters' longing for each other. For permanence. You will share in their grief, their bliss, their passion. Well. I don't really know about you--I did.

I look forward to The Time Traveler's Wife being hailed as a classic, because to me it already is. And if it already has achieved that, I guess I'm not surprised.

*I have not yet seen the movie version, although I have to confess I used the actors to dream up the scenes. I hope it will do the book justice, but in my opinion, it really doesn't need it anymore.