Arrived late at Animah's. ("Sorry I was time travelling.") The others already tucking into delicious Yong Tau Foo. (I'm sure that if Animah ever wanted to stop being a lawyer she could always set up a very profitable stall somewhere.)
It was a most enjoyable evening of friendship, booktalk and conversation. The Time Traveler's Wife was very much enjoyed by the group, even Kumar, the only guy in the group who said he is a real sucker for a romance! Well, well.
Our resident geneticist, Sham, who was leading the discussion anyway, rubbished the science but gave us a talk on genes anyway just to show she knows her chromosomes. We decided that Niffenegger should have used theories of physics rather than biology to convince us that time travel was possible (we have a vacancy for a resident quantum physicist!) ... but suspension of disbelief is the main thing anyway, this is fantasy.
Interesting point raised: if the gender roles in the book had been reversed i.e. the woman was the time traveller, would the book still have worked? Would a husband have waited so faithfully for his time-travelling wife?
Also, if your husband slipped back in time to make love to your 18 year old self with a perfect body, would your thirty-something self get jealous?
Also, how could Brad Pitt and Jennifer Aniston possibly play the leads in the film. (Kumar votes for Angelina Jolie ... but then he always suggests her for every film role.)
Our evening ended (as usual) with Jessica's tales of the haunted houses of Bangsar, complete with tales of bodies in suitcases, bodies in drains. She's such a good story teller, although of course embroiders for effect. I think she could make a killing (no pun intended) if she started Ghost Tours of Bangsar much like the ones we have in London. She certainly knows all the local haunts!
