The Time Traveler's Wife (by Audrey Niffenegger)

I started listening to this book on audio, and I was enjoying it, even the creepy thing about how the guy who reads Henry's half is the same guy who reads the Alexander Hamilton biography that I had been listening to earlier that day. (Thank god he doesn't over-emote that book the way he does TTTW because it would drive me bonkers.) But then I went over to a friend's house, and I picked up the book on her nightstand, and I flipped it open and said, "Huh, I don't remember this part." And then flipped a few more pages. "I don't remember this, either." More pages. "Or this." More pages. "Or... this."

So caveat emptor, because the audio version of this book isn't just abridged, it's brutally abridged. And it made me angry, because they cut out things that add real depth to the book (Clare's speech about how she never chose Henry, and Henry never chose her either, which is a neat idea); and important incidents and plot lines (Clare's near-rape, and she and Henry's revenge); things that clarify parts of the book (Henry's haircut, Henry's reluctance to see the Violent Femmes), and even whole characters (Ben, who appears out of nowhere in the audio version, because we never meet him, see him making Henry the drugs, or anything of that nature).

I can understand some minor incidents being excised from the book, but I think they really gutted the audio version of this book, much to its detriment. So I cast aside the audio once I had this all figured out, and just read the physical book. And it's a great book, and it made me weep, and made me ponder the nature of time and love, and broke my heart. It's far above and beyond your average "book with the word 'wife' in the title." Really, truly worth reading.