This book is one that truly touched my heart as I read, lifting me up and dashing me down with the main characters in their daily struggle. It speaks to the heart as a true love story should, exciting the nobler feelings of ones self and leaving the reader with hope and happiness, like one feels after swimming in the ocean and lying on the beach in the sun.
I would recommend this book to most age readers, from young teens to grown women and men, as this book is written in a practical style, but conveys so clearly the emotions, tragedies and triumphs of a couple facing extraordinary challenges that it carries whoever reads it along with them. It is sans flowery language and vapid prose, conveying things in a clear, simple way by letting the reader watch what happens and identify with the emotions for themselves.
It is a book set throughout the lifetime of a woman and man, going from the late 70's into the new millennium, as science and history are discovered and made. The book focuses on the lifetime of the woman, as the main male characters lifetime becomes hard to define. Even so, the story line encompasses his life as much as hers. He is an unwilling time traveler, trapped in a chromosomal misfortune that sends him back and forth to periods in his past and future without his consent or preparedness. He is forced to learn how to survive by necessary theft, breaking and entering, pick pocketing, and other means. He somehow finds someone he can share his life with, and who will keep him connected to a point in time, through time, despite time. She is a little girl beset by a stranger at a young age. An unexpected visit from an "angel" evolves somehow and becomes a friend, a confidant, a crush, a lover, and more. She waits for him, always. She never knows when to expect him, or not expect him. She loves him always.
The erratic interrupted relationship somehow blossoms and grows into something bigger than them both. They become more than the sum of their parts, and manage to create something anyone would be blessed to have. The writer puts a science fiction twist on the complications of a relationship, making what would seem insurmountable possible, and giving us a point of reference for our own love. This is definitely a love story, but is so accessible to all reading types by it's frank simplicity that it speaks to many, interested in science fiction, love, adventure, and a fun reading experience.
This was made into a movie recently, which fell so short of the mark in conveying the books deep character and plot development, that I can honestly say it was the _most_ disappointing movie adaptation of a book I have ever seen. Comparing the book to the movie can only be described as comparing a NY Strip steak to cow manure. Really not worth anyones time to watch, unless it's just pure curiosity. The character development was shallow, huge amounts of the book were cut out of the film, relationship development was nonexistent, and even the effects of the movie were lacking.
Overall this book takes one on a fun, exciting journey through the lives of two people, progressively portraying feelings, situational comedy, science fiction and the truest sense of love that can be felt through a book. I would recommend this to all readers, and especially women and men that have felt true love.
