Aurorina

I am reading this novel. Actually I saw the adapted movie first, and it inspired me to read the original book.

Basically, it’s a love story.  Like all the romance, there always is something unusual happening, like car accident, like severe illness, like war, like death…… With all the variaties of unusual things, there is still a different, unique, you’ve never heard of element, Time Travel.

Yes, Henry time travels. There is no specific pattern of when or where he is gonna travel. He travels when he is under much stress, or excitement, or anxiety, or anything that makes his heart race fast, his blood pressure raise high. But he travels as well when he is sipping a tea, sitting at the balcony and reading Sunday newspaper. He travels to places he knew. He also travels to somewhere that he’s never been to, sometimes with total strangers all around him. The only pattern of his travel seems to be that he travels a lot to the place or people or event which is important, unforgettable to him. It’s like gravity which attracts him to it.  It is fun, if you could think it positively. But most of the time, it’s troublesome, or even dangerous. And it’s really embarrassing, because he couldn’t take anything with him when he travels, that means, he travels naked.

Clare met Henry for the first time when she was 5 years old. Henry was in his early thirties. He traveled. You could say that Clare didn’t have a happy childhood. She was lonely. She was worried about her mother and her dad and their relationship. She often spent time after school in the open lawn area  invisible from the house  behind a ridge. Henry was like her spiritual friend who showed up every now and then, helped her solving all kinds of problems, mostly academic, and also personal. Clare wrote down every date when she met Henry. There were 152 different dates, from the first time till the last time when she was18 years old. And Henry traveled from his early 30s to early 40s. Then there was a 2 year gap when she didn’t see Henry at all. Henry told her they were married in her unseen future.

God knows how much Clare loves Henry, not just in the future, but also present.  Clare misses Henry so much when she couldn’t see him. She believes that she is gonna see Henry again, but she doesn’t know when and where.

One day when Clare is 20 years old, she steps into the Newbery Library to look up information required by the professor for the homework of her art class. There, unexpectedly, she meets Henry, younger than she’s ever seen him. She won’t blame Henry for not recognizing her, because she knows this young Henry doesn’t even know her at all. Clare is very well prepared to ask Henry out for a dinner and a long nice talk. She knows he won’t turn her down, not because she is pretty and sincere, but she will be his beloved wife. Finally, the life together with Henry she has always been longing for is waiting ahead of her.