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Her Fearful Symmetry

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After Elspeth's death from leukemia, her twin nieces, Julia and Valentina, move into her flat in London where Elspeth herself is trapped as a ghost. They take up with the other residents including Elsepth's boyfriend, Robert, downstairs, and Martin, gripped by OCD upstairs. Everyone begins to come undone. The characters are completely engaging but what kept me reading was the deft handling of the plot twists and turns and the teases the author hands out that hint at Elspeth's secret, the reason she's estranged from her identical twin sister for more than 20 years. The story immerses the reader into the lives of a family and their friends that include two sets of identical twins. Most of the action takes place in London near Highgate Cemetery where we meet very English characters who are juxtaposed with the American twins who have been brought up in the United States.

Characters:

The characters are complex and multi-dimensional, with deep emotional and psychological struggles, including themes of co-dependence and loss.

Writing/Prose:

The writing style is expressive and descriptive, drawing readers into the setting and emotional worlds of the characters with beautifully crafted language.

Plot/Storyline:

The plot revolves around two sets of twins, one of whom is a ghost and the other a pair of living nieces, revealing family secrets and intertwining lives, set against the backdrop of London's Highgate Cemetery.

Setting:

The setting is primarily the flat in London overlapping Highgate Cemetery, creating an intense gothic atmosphere that enhances the supernatural themes.

Pacing:

The pacing starts slow but picks up as the plot develops; however, the last portion of the book is rushed, leading to a dissatisfying conclusion for some readers.
The End ELSPETH DIED while Robert was standing in front of a vending machine watching tea shoot into a small plastic cup. Later he would remember walking down the hospital corridor with the cup of hor...

Notes:

Her Fearful Symmetry starts with the main character Elspeth dying of cancer, creating an unusual tone from the outset.
The story explores complex relationships between twins, their estranged family, and their romantic interests.
The twins, Julia and Valentina, are mirror twins, meaning their body organ placements are reversed.
Highgate Cemetery plays a significant role in the story, with Robert being a tour guide there.
Martin, an agoraphobic man with OCD, provides a subplot about mental illness and coping mechanisms.
Elspeth returns as a ghost, attempting to resolve unresolved issues from her life and connect with the twins.
The climax involves a dark and bizarre plan that Valentina concocts to escape her sister Julia's domination, raising questions about morality and identity.
Niffenegger's writing is noted for its lyrical quality, bringing atmosphere to the settings in London.
Readers have mixed feelings, with many enjoying the atmospheric elements but being disappointed with the plot's direction towards the end.
Some reviewers drew parallels between the dynamics of the four twin characters and the idea of identity and interdependence.

Sensitive Topics/Content Warnings

Content warnings may include themes of suicide, mental illness, and disturbing situations involving death and the supernatural.

Has Romance?

There are romantic elements, particularly the relationship between Valentina and Robert, as well as Julia's dynamics, but the romance is intertwined with darker themes and emotional struggles.

From The Publisher:

From the author of the #1 bestselling The Time Traveler's Wife, a spectacularly compelling novel-set in and near Highgate Cemetery in London, about the love between twins, men and women, ghosts and the living.

Julia and Valentina Poole are twenty-year-old sisters with an intense attachment to each other. One morning the mailman delivers a thick envelope to their house in the suburbs of Chicago. Their English aunt Elspeth Noblin has died of cancer and left them her London apartment. There are two conditions for this inheritance: that they live in the flat for a year before they sell it and that their parents not enter it. Julia and Valentina are twins. So were the girls' aunt Elspeth and their mother, Edie.

The girls move to Elspeth's flat, which borders the vast Highgate Cemetery, where Christina Rossetti, George Eliot, Stella Gibbons, and other luminaries are buried. Julia and Valentina become involved with their living neighbors: Martin, a composer of crossword puzzles who suffers from crippling OCD, and Robert, Elspeth's elusive lover, a scholar of the cemetery. They also discover that much is still alive in Highgate, including-perhaps-their aunt.

Ratings (9)

Incredible (2)
Loved It (4)
It Was OK (2)
Hated It (1)

Reader Stats (20):

Read It (9)
Want To Read (10)
Not Interested (1)

3 comment(s)

It Was OK
1 week

3.3 stars. Not quite a 3 stars but not a 3.5 either. This was an very intriguing read, rather odd but very readable. Not a new favorite though and I would like to read the time travelers wife after this

 
Loved It
1 month

I feel very torn about this book. The writing was exquisite -- Audrey has such a lyrical style and the quirky characters felt so real. I loved the way the story unfolded -- even the big surprise toward the end of the book.

My main problem with the book was the ending. I hated it. But, I can't really fault the book for not giving me the type of sugar-coated, neatly wrapped up Disney ending I've come to expect from everything. Heck, I loved

The Time Traveler's Wife, but it certainly wasn't a barrel of laughs.

I think that's the other problem with this book. I loved her first one so much, this naturally falls short. It's VERY different from

The Time Traveler's Wife. It's not a comfortable book or an easy read. Still, it's been a couple of days since I finished it and I find myself continuing to think about the characters and the story. It's haunting me.

I think this might be one of those books I'll come to appreciate more later. It might be one I even have to read again. I definitely think it was worth the read, no matter how much I disliked the ending.

 
It Was OK
3 months

Its dark, fearful and somewhat strange. It was my first experience with a story who has 2 pairs of twins and some parts of the story are narrated so nicely and some leave a fear in the reader. Its a good book, i didnt feel the author has made an effort to write this. The story just flows... Should read it once atleast :)

 

About the Author:

Audrey Niffenegger is a writer and visual artist who lives in Chicago and London. She has published two novels, The Time Traveler's Wife and Her Fearful Symmetry, and many illustrated books including The Night Bookmobile and Raven Girl. She is currently at work on The Other Husband, a sequel to The Time Traveler's Wife, which is being made into an HBO series by Steven Moffat.

 
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