I’m listening to The Time Traveler’s Wife audiobook, and I noticed a character misused the word “momentarily.” This is one of my pet peeves — “I’ll be with you momentarily” is wrong unless you mean, “I’ll be with you for a moment, and then I’ll be gone again.”
Anyway, now I’m wondering, did the author (Audrey Niffenegger) use the word wrong, or did the character use it wrong? If it was the character, then the author was astutely observing that people use that word wrong all the time, and her characters should be no exception. But in a way that’s worse, because it reflects poorly on our culture’s literacy. So I don’t know who to be mad at, Audrey Niffenegger, or society!
On a different note, this is the second time I’ve read this book, and between readings I read The Odyssey. It turns out that there are quite a few references to The Odyssey in The Time Traveler’s Wife, and I totally missed them the first time! They aren’t crucial to the story or anything, but I enjoyed “getting” them this time around.
I missed them too- like what?
“I felt like Penelope, weaving and unweaving.” Stuff like that. She closes the book with a quote from the Odyssey, and it’s referred to maybe 3-4 times in the book. You could make a comparison between Claire always waiting on Henry while he’s off having adventures and Penelope waiting for Odysseus (and warding off suitors — like Gomez).
Also, she doesn’t come out and say it, but I’m pretty sure Henry is a cyclops.