Sometimes I binge read. Right now I'm loving the thought that at home is a book waiting for me, and it was wonderful reading on the bus into London last night. So much more pleasant than driving. Last week it was The Kite Runner. This week it is The Time Traveller's Wife. It took me a while and a reassuring conversation with Wendy to get into it. And it has proved to be worth it.
The reason it proved difficult to get into is that it is a rather complicated idea in that the lead character, Henry, travels back and forward in time. However, he is restricted to only travelling to places in his and his future wife's lives. So no dinosaurs or Jesus for him, then. Each chapter is introduced with a date and a reference to the age of Henry. Sometimes he meets himself so a chapter might begin with something like 24 December, 1991. Henry is 24 and 36. That's when it gets downright confusing. Usefully it's all written in the first person so it is possible to work it out. But sometimes it is a bit like the film Momento. Incidentially, do not search for the hidden extra on the DVD for that film. There is a hidden bonus feature where you can see it in chronological order. Don't do it, it only makes it worse. I saw it and was so much more confused.
I'm now 200+ pages into it and I think I've cracked it, and that has proved rather rewarding. It's a bit like a pistachio nut that you really struggle to get into, but when you go, it's oh so good. Incidentially, the best tool to open a pistachio with is one of those curved cheese knives with the two fork prongs on the end. Those two prongs work a treat on the tight ones.
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