Her Fearful Symmetry

Picked up second-hand on the basis of having enjoyed reading The Time-Traveller's Wife and finding the blurb interesting. It held my attention and was an enjoyable read for the most part, however on many occasions a dramatic plot point would arise only to lead absolutely nowhere. The ending was also extremely unsatisfying. Without posting a massive spoiler I can't elaborate. I will say that things were not adequately explained and behaviour was extremely out of character - a very big pity after a fairly solid piece of escapism.

Ah yes, and a ghost story? Not really. The ghost often disappears from the plot for chapters at a time. The text also felt rather young adult -- an odd choice of style, if it was a conscious choice, since the younger twins are 21-years-old and all other characters considerably older. It read like something aimed at, and that would be much better appreciated by, say 14-year-olds. The simplistic writing style rendered the supposed plot twists, especially what I presume was supposed to be the "major" one, bleeding obvious from a reasonably early stage. In addition, that supposed plot twist triggers the internal logic of the plot failing completely, with a main character dwindling to, well, nothing, really, and almost all others behaving completely out of character. And then... it just ends, that's it, finished. Blah!

I was thinking three to four stars, with the proviso that it's not *really* a ghost story and to expect YA-type literature (not always a bad thing), but that ending really, pardon the pun, killed the pleasure for me. ( )

A wonderful follow-up to The Time Travelers Wife. Niffenegger's superior storytelling skills remain strong in this book as she weaves a suspenseful and haunting story about family, love, sisterhood and life and death.

I was most impressed by Niffenegger's detailed descriptions of the cities in which her story takes place: London and Chicago. Both places came alive and added to the often otherworldly and creepy vibe of the story.

She was also able to skillfully illustrate the cultural differences between the American girls and English men without resorting to overused cliches or sacrificing the integrity of her characters.

If you enjoyed The Time Travelers Wife, you should enjoy this very different but equally moving ghost story. ( )

Her Fearful Symmetry by Audrey Neffenigger (1star)
Unfortunately, a hook, line, and stinker of a story.
This is the second book I have read by this author. I did like the Time Traveler’s Wife so I picked this one up thinking I would like it too. The setting was intriguing, and I usually like stories with some mystery to them. Well, it started out pretty interesting, but the main characters, twins Julia and Valentina seemed a bit off from the start. They were pretty wooden and insipid and there was something wrong with the fact that even at age 21 they did not want their own rooms, still slept together, still dressed exactly the same, and did everything together. The story just got odder from there.
The men in the story are just a bunch of weaklings that are wishy washy and seem to only care about getting in bed with someone. All except Martin, the upstairs neighbor who had OCD and could not leave his apartment. He was the only male in the story that actually cared about improving his life. His story, although interesting, really had nothing to do with the actual storyline of the twins so I wonder why it was even included.
Robert, the boyfriend of the deceased Aunt, was just a jerk and the biggest wimp of all. He was so dysfunctional, you just hated him by the end of the book. Jack, the twins’ father, was an idiot who knew his actual wife had swapped places with her identical twin sister but still stayed with her and went along with the charade. What?
None of the characters were very likeable and they all made stupid decisions and messed up their lives even more. Near the end of the barely tolerable story, one of the twins comes up with the stupidest idea of all and Robert, the big wimp, and the selfish deceased Aunt become accomplices in the foolishness. Then, the book all of a sudden, ends, leaves a bad taste in your mouth and you vow to never read another book by that author because they led you on a wild goose chase, dropped you off a cliff and wasted your time. I am not even donating the book to charity, its going in the circular file. ( )

First of all WOW. Would love to do 4 1/2 stars actually. The book was good and interesting but the last 100 pages was gripping and intense. There were things I didn't expect at all, some foreshadowing that I chose to ignore when I read them and lots of things that made me go wow. All day long, all I wanted was to get off work to come home to finish the book. Would definitely recommend this book to others. ( )

When Elspeth Noblin dies of cancer, she leaves her London apartment to her twin nieces, Julia and Valentina. These two American girls never met their English aunt, only knew that their mother, too, was a twin, and Elspeth her sister. Julia and Valentina move to Elspeth's flat, which borders Highgate Cemetery in London. They come to know the building's other residents. There is Martin, a brilliant and charming crossword puzzle setter suffering from crippling Obsessive Compulsive Disorder; Marjike, Martin's devoted but trapped wife; and Robert, Elspeth's elusive lover, a scholar of the cemetery. As the girls become embroiled in the fraying lives of their aunt's neighbors, they also discover that much is still alive in Highgate, including--perhaps--their aunt, who can't seem to leave her old apartment and life behind.

This is a tough book to review without giving too much away, so this will be a short review!

Quicker read than I thought this was going to be, this is not a repeat of the Time Traveller's wife. It's a straight linear narrative of Elspeth dying, leaving her flat to her twin nieces (one literally the mirror image of the other) and what happens over the next year when they come from the US to stay.

Highgate Cemetery makes a great "guest billing". The OCD neighbour upstairs seems to accept new people in his apartment a little to easily (especially since his wife of 20 years has just left him because of his compulsions) but on the whole it's an enjoyable book if I found it a less heart wrenching book the TTTW.