August 7, 2013

Good evening fellow readers! So of course I found a new challenge to participate in the hopes of proving myself better than the last. I picked up this challenge from The Chronicles of Radiya and very much look forward to 30 consecutive (hopefully, gulp) days of blogging.

Day 6: A Book That Broke Your Heart

It’s a book that I read only last year. I had yet to see its movie companion so was unaware of the tragic ending. Maybe you’ve heard of it?

The Time Traveler’s Wife by Audrey Niffeneger

SPOILER ALERT

I’m sorry but I can’t describe how the novel was heartbreaking without spoiling the end. First let me say, it’s a beautiful piece of literature. Niffeneger’s writing is masterfully written and even more so considering that she weaves a tale of time traveling which is a concept that can get messy quickly.

In case you don’t already know its a novel that follows Henry DeTamble who has the ability to time travel. Except it’s not so much an ability as annoyance as he can’t control it. He literally will be going about his daily life and just zap somewhere in time either in the past or the future. He hates every part about it except for the fact that it brought into his life the greatest thing that ever happened to him; Claire Abshire.

Claire meets Henry for the first time when she is a little girl and they quickly become friends. She grows up with these mysterious trips from the funny man and soon falls in love with him. But a relationship isn’t simple when time travel is involved.

They go through ups and downs as in every typical romance, but the thing that makes this novel so special is Niffeneger’s writing. She fleshes out these characters so beautifully so that it feels as if they were your friends that you’ve known forever. You become apart of the story as you see it play out before you, invested in a way that never happens with other novels.

THIS IS WHERE THE SPOILER IS (ALTHOUGH YOU CAN PROBABLY ALREADY GUESS WHAT HAPPENS)

One day, Henry gets suddenly zapped into the past right into the path of a gunshot and dies. I just– I couldn’t handle the actual physical pain I felt for Claire. They were in a kind of love that was so rare and true. They were meant for each other as time proved again and again and it was so unfair that he died. It was so unfair that Claire couldn’t grow old with him. It was so unfair they couldn’t get happy ending while many less deserving characters do so.

It’s a heart breaking and tragic novel, but also a beautiful piece of literature and I would read it again.

What novel broke your heart (considering you’re not the grinch)? Share it below and happy reading!

Book Review: The Time Traveller’s Wife (Audrey Niffenegger) (keepwatchingthewords.wordpress.com)
“The Time Traverler’s Wife” by Audrey Niffenegger (prologuebookreviews.wordpress.com)

In the famous words of Snow White, “I’m wishing (I’m wishing) for the one I love, to find me (to find me) today.” In this case (actually in most cases) the one that I love is a book.

I came about Wishlist Wednesday hosted by the ever so lovely Pen to Paper. (Please check out their blog, it’s awesome).

Wishlist Wednesday is a meme that allows you to turn the spotlight on a few books that have been sitting on your get-to-eventually list for a while. Books that you dream of claiming their rightful spots on your bookshelf.

I know I usually pick three books to spotlight, but this week one book has consumed me. It’s all I can think about and find myself constantly going online to read everything I can about it. I’m afraid I’ve become obsessed and all I ask from the wishing fairy this week is a copy of The Long Walk by Stephen King.

Every year, 100 boys enter a contest called the Long Walk, and the winner gets all his heart desires. Each contestant has to maintain a pace of 4 miles per hour or more, or else he gets a warning. If the boy who gets the warning can keep walking 4 miles per hour or faster for the next hour, the warning is revoked. However, if the boy collects three warnings, the next time he slows down, he’s shot in the head and out of the game.

Doesn’t it sound absolutely fascinating? Almost a touch of hunger games except even grittier. It’s not horror in the obvious way, it’s more of a psychological horror; coming to terms with an unavoidable death. I simply can’t stop thinking about it. I have to read it. Soon. This won’t be on my wish list for long!

What’s on your wish list this Wednesday? Share it below and happy reading!