Critical Article Summaries

Summary One

Audrey Niffenegger’s first novel, The Time Traveler’s Wife, shows her creativity for writing through the unique storyline. How the idea of this novel was portrayed and how it was finally written is all shown in the final product. The author wrote the novel in a way only a true artist could understand. Audrey Niffenegger started the book with a title and the story grew from there. “So I wrote down this title and after a while I started to think about it. I couldn't think of a way to make it a picture book because still pictures don't represent time very well, so I decided to write a novel." (Benedicte) This author, before writing novels wrote books that were illustrated by her as well. She based her storyline on a small topic that created the title and with all words representing this idea, created her novel. Her novel is the journey of the warm loving marriage of a couple from Chicago. She didn’t just write about any relationship between two people, this was the original idea behind this love story. The main character was a time traveler and could reminisce in his own past while the present is still proceeding. Being an artist, her creative mind went to work and she changed the whole outlook on a love story. Audrey had a unique way of writing her novel, The Time Traveler’s Wife. The story line is different from a regular book that goes from beginning to end of a character’s life. She started by writing the ending of the book and kept two timelines, one of the present time in the story and one of Henry, the time traveler, and where and when he was coming from. Audrey says, “I wrote the book scene by scene, out of order.” While writing this novel, she experienced a new way to look at life on a “day to day level”. (Benedicte) The whole concept of time traveling and love stories made her think about different aspects in life and how they affect us all. “Ordinarily you just breathe, but if you think about breathing it becomes this very strange activity.” With all the different events in this novel the main thing that grabs this author’s attention is the main character’s marriage, she is very curious and fascinated with it. The Time Traveler’s Wife was this artists first novel. She went at writing it a whole new way and the finished product was a best seller with a unique storyline that anyone can read and love.       

Benedicte, Page. "The Bookseller." Literature Resource Centre. Business Media, 24/10/2003. Web. 19 Oct 2011. <http://galenet.galegroup.com/servlet/LitRC?vrsn=3&OP=contains&locID=ko_k12hs_d21&srchtp=athr&ca=1&c=37&ste=18&stab=2048&tab=2&tbst=arp&ai=U16829218&n=10&docNum=A110574627&ST=Audrey Niffenegger &bConts=2191>.

  Summary Two          

With an original title, and meaningful thoughts in the novel, it is instantly a book worth the read. The Time Traveler’s Wife is a story of Clare and Henry. Clare was six and Henry was thirty-six when they met. They got married when Clare was twenty-three and Henry was thirty-one. Henry is a time traveler and is pulled into the past and future of his life. He has no control over where he goes or when he’ll return. Audrey is interested in the relationship between these characters and is puling the reader into feeling the same way. It’s different how these two character’s meet. Henry is already married to Clare before Clare even knows who Henry is. Because of their odd meeting, Clare’s childhood is not a normal one with off and on visits from her future husband. While reading the relationship between these two, you can feel the connection that Audrey has built between them. She jumps back and forth between character’s view points and the most interesting part about the novel is how different and disorganized the timeline is. There is humor and violence and love and heartbreak all within the novel. This is not only a great novel but it is a promise. A promise that the kind of love that Clare and Henry share is out there for everyone and reading this book proves that.

DeLint, Charles. "Book Review." Literature Resource Centre. Spilogale, Inc., 05/2004. Web. 19 Oct 2011. <http://galenet.galegroup.com/servlet/LitRC?vrsn=3&OP=contains&locID=ko_k12hs_d21&srchtp=athr&ca=1&c=31&ste=18&stab=2048&tab=2&tbst=arp&ai=U16829218&n=10&docNum=A115567301&ST=Audrey Niffenegger &bConts=2191>.

Summary Three

“Writing allows me to make the daydreams very complex and artful.” (Allen) Audrey Niffenegger, the author of The Time Traveler’s Wife, explains why she writes the way she does. She has been writing and making art since she was a child and to her it’s a way to express and record her daydreams. Thinking about her characters and what they do and say to each other does the routine of her writing. They are the main idea of the story and she wants the readers to feel connected to them. “At the beginning of a project I probably spend 90 percent of my writing time thinking and 10 percent actually moving my fingers across the keyboard.” She writes her novels out of order, starting with anything but the beginning. When she starts a novel, it all begins with a title and a specific image she has. For The Time Traveler’s Wife, it began with the title and the image of an elderly woman sitting by a window with a cup of tea. That idea grows from a series of questions that eventually leads to a story. Everything in that story has a meaning and was written as it was for a reason. This author has a very interesting way of writing her novels. In the end, they turn out very well done and her creativity is spread on paper through her own thoughts and words. 

Allen, Robert. "The Writer." Literature Resource Centre. Kalmbach Publishing Company, 07/2010. Web. 19 Oct 2011. <http://galenet.galegroup.com/servlet/LitRC?vrsn=3&OP=contains&locID=ko_k12hs_d21&srchtp=athr&ca=1&c=4&ste=18&stab=2048&tab=2&tbst=arp&ai=U16829218&n=10&docNum=A227280899&ST=Audrey Niffenegger&bConts=2191>.