Her Fearful Symmetry: A Novel
Selected Book Details
- Hardcover
- Edition: First Edition, First Printing
- Author: Audrey Niffenegger
- Publisher: Scribner
- Release Date: September 2009
- ISBN-10: 1439165394
- ISBN-13: 9781439165393
- List Price: $26.99
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Summaries and Customer Reviews provided by Amazon
SummaryAmazon Best of the Month, September 2009: Following her breakout bestseller, The Time Traveler's Wife, Audrey Niffenegger returns with Her Fearful Symmetry, a haunting tale about the complications of love, identity, and sibling rivalry. The novel opens with the death of Elspeth Noblin, who bequeaths her London flat and its contents to the twin daughters of her estranged twin sister back in Chicago. These 20-year-old dilettantes, Julie and Valentina, move to London, eager to try on a new experience like one of their obsessively matched outfits. Historic Highgate Cemetery, which borders Elspeth's home, serves as an inspired setting as the twins become entwined in the lives of their neighbors: Elspeth's former lover, Robert; Martin, an agoraphobic crossword-puzzle creator; and the ethereal Elspeth herself, struggling to adjust to the afterlife. Niffenegger brings these quirky, troubled characters to marvelous life, but readers may need their own supernatural suspension of disbelief as the story winds to its twisty conclusion. --Brad Thomas Parsons |
Customer Reviews
Average Rating: 
Perfectly Okay - Just Okay
Rating:
The novel is perfectly constructed, but dry.
Surely the Time Traveler's Wife (TTW) was better. But what made TTW so amazing was its resonance. I still think about Henry and Claire to this very day. With the characters in Her Fearful Symmetry, they seem less compelling. While they still feel real, I just don't sympathize with their situation as much as I did in the TTW.
Audrey's writing style is straightforward and painfully unemotional. It feels like she's telling the story from 10 feet away, but yet at the same time handled some of the more erotic moments of the novel with a skillful pen.
Pacing was perfect; the plotting was impeccable; and the character development was... okay.
I so wanted to love this
Rating:
I have read Time Traveler's Wife so many times I lost count. I was excited when I saw this had come out and naturally I scooped it up. Almost from the beginning I was baffled because it felt like this book was written by someone other than the author of Time Traveler's Wife. The story is weak, the characters aren't at all interesting, and frankly, the upstairs neighbor, I didn't see the point of him in the book at all.
The actions of the lead character are not surprising and the choice she makes regarding the twins isn't a twist at all and was totally obvious.
The only true surprise I got from this book was the very last line on the last page. I won't spoil the ending, but I will say I just sat there with my jaw dropped, muttering, "what the hell?". After everything a certain person has gone through, to have that ending?
I know it's difficult for an author to follow up such a fantastic book and they usually do fall short. However, this was more than falling short. I literally felt like I was reading someone else's work. It was just uncomfortable and bizarre.
I'm truly sorry to say that I can't recommend this book in the least.
Book Nerds Review
Rating:
In all honesty, I expected a ghost story, not in the `there's a ghost hanging around' type story, a ghost story - the semi-spooky kind. Knowing the authors past work, I was a little apprehensive about it, but I figure she could have branched out and I was so hyped for Her Fearful Symmetry, I was also so disappointed.
My biggest issue with Her Fearful Symmetry is that to me it was being promoted as a ghost story, a spooky/scary/what-have-you ghost story, as the synopsis lead me to believe that there is a ghost but only MAYBE is it their aunt - not that it absolutely without a doubt is - which you learn in the first couple chapters that it is. Personally that right there takes out a lot of the interest to me, Her Fearful Symmetry is less of a ghost story and more of a coming of age story with a supernatural twist. The biggest draw to finish the book was the secret between Elspeth and Edie, and once that is learned, I was close to the end I figured I might as well finish it. The twist in the book (because isn't there always one?) was predictable, I was able to guess that it was going to happen about half way through the book, it was a gut feeling.
Having said that though, it wasn't a complete waste of time, I did enjoy the imagery and the dynamic between the characters. Whether Audrey's version of London really exists is beyond me as I've never been out of the U.S. however it's certainly clear in my mind. I can see the building where the twins lived, their flat as well as the cemetery and the little alley between the two. I can clearly see both of the twins, Robert, Martin, and Elspeth. Although, through it all the only characters I could actually bring myself to care about were Julia and Valentina, and I think that's merely because I have a sister who I'm extremely close with. I felt bad for Robert in the end, and eventually Elspeth, but that was more because of the hole/rut the had dug themselves into, not because they deserved it.
Overall it was a slightly entertaining story, although it did take me a while to read. There wasn't really any arc to me where I had to sit back and think and go `Wow', and I certainly didn't expect the secret between Edie and Elspeth to be what it was. Even so, it majorly confused me since you figure it out about 3/4th of the way through the book and everything has already happened, it takes time (or it did for me) to sort things out. I liked the characters, and the story itself, although for the most part it felt flat. There are certain authors whose books I won't read, such as Jodi Picoult and Nicholas Sparks, because they have the habit of writing the same story over and over again and people end up losing more than they ever gain, and I'm afraid Audrey Niffenegger might have just been added to that list. Personally, I don't want to read a book that is completely depressing, if I wanted to read/hear about a sad story, I'd turn on the news.
HER FEARFUL SYMMETRY
Rating:
I completely enjoyed this book. I could hardly put it down.
It definitely makes me want to read more of her books.
First 2/3 ***** Last 1/3 should be rewritten as an apology to all readers!
Rating:
Let me explain. I have a baby...that leaves me precious little time to read. I have to be calculating in my efforts, especially when it's a best seller and only allowed out of the library for one week. That said, I devoured the novel's pages, staying up too late---paying the well worth it price the next long day...Well until last night, that is...What had been such an intriging and mesmerizing story turned into a half-hatched, completely out of character plot for ALL! (except for the OCD taking drugs to successfully overcome his crippling illness.)I am upset because I feel like Ms. N owes me an apology...she led me along, much like Elspeth(Edie) promising, hinting, whispering of a life better lived for the sheer entertainment of reading, only to KILL me in the end! I am angry at you Ms. N and you cannot give me back the lost sleep or the time I spent reading that dumb ending!
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