Saturday, November 14, 2009

Bad Girls' Book Club: The Time Traveler's Wife

O.K., so I'm being totally lazy and just stealing the discussion questions from Also, I never got a chance to re-read the book, so my recollection is a little too fuzzy to come up with any good questions of my own.

As always, feel free to add your own questions in the comments.

  1. Why do you think Niffenegger used the title The Time Traveler's Wife instead of just The Time Traveler?
  2. The story is sometimes told by Clare, sometimes by Henry. Did you like how it was organized? How did their different perspectives help you understand their love?
  3. For Clare, there is always a sense of waiting. Discuss the different ways she is waiting throughout the story. What roles do longing, anticipation and absence play?
  4. Who is your favorite character?
  5. How does their desire for a child affect their relationship?
  6. Do you believe Alba will have a better life than Henry? How is her perspective on time travel different than his?
  7. How is their relationship changed by the fact that they experience events at different times--I.E. Clare experiences in her childhood what Henry will not experience for decades?
  8. Is this story fatalistic?
  9. Do you agree with Henry's rule of keeping the future a secret from himself so he can live as normal a life as possible? Discuss the times that he breaks this rule and whether you think those are good decisions.
  10. Did you like the ending?
I have not seen the movie. However, based on a conversation with Sylwia who has seen the movie but not read the book, the movie sounds different from the book in some key areas. In other words, this is a discussion about the book. If you've only seen the movie you're welcome to participate, but you'll be talking about something completely different in many ways. If you've seen the movie and read the book, feel free to fill us in on the major differences.

I only have time to answer one of these questions at the moment. It's one that Sylwia and I talked about yesterday. Why did the author call the book The Time Traveler's Wife and not The Time Traveler? Because this story was about her. Yes, it was about Henry, and Henry was the main character, but this was Clare's story. Also, as Sylwia pointed out to me, what did Henry contribute to their relationship? In all honesty, I had to answer, "not much."

There's more I want to answer, so I'll be back later in the comments.

O.K., I have to run for awhile. Happy discussing!

Don't forget--our next discussion will be in January and it will be on The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society.

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