Monday, December 10, 2012

Her Fearful Symmetry by Audrey Niffenegger

I picked up Her Fearful Symmetry because after reading The Time Traveler's Wife, I wanted to read more of Niffenegger's work. While it wasn't The Time Traveler's Wife, I still enjoyed Her Fearful Symmetry.
Valentina and Julia are twin sisters. Their mom's twin sister, Elspeth, died and left the twins her estate in London. Their mom (Edie) and Elspeth have been estranged for the twins entire life. The twins move to London and into their aunt's flat.
Unlike The Time Traveler's Wife, it took me just about half the book to get into Her Fearful Symmetry. My complaint was that there was too many characters. First there was Valentina and Julia (the twins). Then their parents, Edie and Jack. Edie's twin, Elspeth and her boyfriend, Robert. Martin and Marijke, Elspeth's upstairs neighbor. Plus the folks at the cemetery where Robert works. And each character had their own dramas. Sometimes I was more interested in Martin and Marijke than I was in the twins. It felt like too much especially towards the end when everything needed to be wrapped up. Other than the twins, the other characters' dramas were neatly and quickly finished. Martin's wasn't done to justice and I was miffed how his story turned out.
Now there are some neat twists and the story gets interesting towards the middle of the book. There's a secret between Edie and Elspeth which got a little confusing.  And the book overall has a creepy feeling which I liked. Others who shared their thoughts on Her Fearful Symmetry: Lakeside Musing, Cavier Dreams, Reading In Winter, and For The Someday Book.

4 comments:

  1. "While it wasn't The Time Traveler's Wife, I still enjoyed Her Fearful Symmetry."

    Exactly! Thanks for the link love.

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  2. I loved that creepy, sinister vibe to this one. I thought it was hard to get into at first but once I was settled in with the characters and such I couldn't read it fast enough!

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  3. I read this for the R.I.P challenge and had a hard time with it. It was not scary enought for me, and I was more intrested in the upstairs neighbors than anyone else in the book.

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  4. I own this book but have yet to actually read it. I have read some negative reviews on it, which is a lot of the reason why I haven't read it yet, but do hope to eventually pick it up.

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