The movie The Time Traveler’s Wife has been heavily promoted on television these last couple of weeks, featuring frequent commercials with the sweeping cliche music and generic romantic drama scenes. I can’t say that the trailers appealed to me. I thought it was too reminiscent of a bad Nicholas Sparks adaptation with a touch of fantasy added. However, I recalled that the book which it is based upon was heavily praised, and that Brad Pitt and Jennifer Aniston quickly snapped up the rights to it. I decided why not read it before it comes out to see if it will be any good? I mean, the movie has Rachel McAdams and Eric Bana, even if the book totally blows, I’ll still see the movie.
What happened is that I quickly demolished the book, reading it in a span of a few days, even though I was extremely busy. Should have been studying for my summer session finals in microeconomics and business management, but it was not time wasted. The Time Traveler’s Wife is a modern day classic. It has instantly rocketed to the top of my all-time favorite novels. This is the perfect summer read. It has its comic moments, and certainly its fair share of steamy romance. However, this lighthearted and sizzling frivolity is weighted by the underlying tragic nature of the novel, the overall literature-like quality, and the well-written and well-researched text from the first-time author.
