Her Fearful Symmetry: A Novel
by Audrey Niffenegger
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Book Summary Information
Author: Audrey NiffeneggerEdition: Hardcover
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 2009-09-29
ISBN: 1439165394
Number of pages: 416
Publisher: Scribner
Product features:
- Published by Scribner Books, a division of Simon and Schuster
Book Reviews of Her Fearful Symmetry: A Novel
Book Review: "A wide, spacious emptiness, sunlit and cold, filled with invisible souls and dead pets"
Summary: 4 Stars
Fans of Audrey Niffenegger's The Time Traveler's Wife should be warned: this is a wholly different sort of novel. Less intense and more expansive with its scope, Her Fearful Symmetry is not about love enduring throughout time but instead about the damages wrought by being too close to another.
Elsbeth Noblin has left an unusual will: her mirror twin nieces, twenty year old Julia and Valentina, will inherit all her wealth provided that they live together in her London flat for one full year. Although her restrictions were formed before her death of leukemia, they turn out to be fortuitous, for Elspeth finds herself trapped in the flat with them, even though she cannot be seen or heard. As she gains substance, her jealousy for those who are still alive rages.
Julia and Valentina are not the only twins in this novel; their mother Edie and Elsbeth were also twins, although the younger twins cannot fathom what would divide any set of twins, for they themselves are as inseparable as twins can get. However, in London, a wedge begins to form between them as the domineering Julia begins to frustrate the submissive Valentina, who wants nothing more than to be independent for once in her life. Things become more complicated as Valentina confides in Robert, Elspeth's lover and an historian writing about the Highgate Cemetery across the street, and as Julia takes it upon herself to "cure" their OCD neighbor, Martin, so he can be reunited with his estranged wife Marijke.
This somewhat gothic tale set in London will likely appeal to those who enjoy the leisurely unfolding of multiple stories, as the author shifts from one point-of-view to another to tell of her character's loves and fears. The themes of despair and desire, of twins and parallel lives, of dependency and rebellion, and of fear and bravery give the novel a complexity that should enliven book club discussions, even if it doesn't appeal to those who expect a fast read.
For Niffenegger's earlier best seller, see The Time Traveler's Wife
-- Debbie Lee Wesselmann
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