Her Fearful Symmetry

Her Fearful Symmetry
Written by: Audrey Niffenegger
Hardcover: 406 pages
Publisher: Scribner Book Company
Genre: Fiction/Literary/Supernatural

The publisher's description: After they inherit a London flat near Highgate Cemetery from their aunt Elspeth Noblin, two American twin teenagers, Julia and Valentina, move in and get to know their quirky neighbors, but they soon discover that much is still alive at Highgate, including, perhaps, their aunt, who can't seem to leave her old apartment or life behind. By the best-selling author of The Time Traveler's Wife.

I adored The Time Traveler's Wife. ADORED. I have to admit that I had high hopes for Niffenegger's second novel, Her Fearful Symmetry. It's hard to determine where to start so I'm breaking it down into what I loved and what I didn't love. I'm also going to try to write this review without any spoilers. We'll see how that goes!

What I Loved: I loved the setting. The story mainly takes place within the walls of Elspeth's flat, but never far from the idea of the novel is Highgate Cemetery which the apartment building neighbors. After getting just a tad into the book I found myself obsessed with the cemetery. Taking a break from the book I looked up everything I could find on Highgate Cemetery and found that while Niffenegger's descriptions were poetic and accurate they certainly didn't do it justice. I want to travel to London just to visit the cemetery!

I loved Martin and Marijke, Elspeth's upstairs neighbors. Martin suffers from OCD and agoraphobia which finally drives his wife, Marijke away in a last ditch effort to 'cure' Martin of his ailments. While mostly background characters Martin & Marijke are alive within the pages, flawed but beautiful in their intentions and their heartbreaking emotions.

I loved the supernatural-ness of the story.
I loved the twists and turns and the intricacies of the plot.
I loved the 'British-ness.'

And here's what I didn't love: The main characters. None of them. It didn't start out that way, of course. I rooted for one twin over the other, sister over mother, twin over aunt, but in the end I found everyone to be horrid. Well, not everyone, but you know what I mean, right? See, I usually root for the underdog. Julia and Valentina have lived their entire lives doing almost everything together. At twenty years old the two women still share the same bed, sleeping side by side, hands held together. Of course, they are not equals. Julia, the stronger twin makes the decisions for both of them while Valentina goes along seemingly unperturbed. However, delving deeper into Valentina's you find there's a rebel begging to be released. As her resentment towards her sister grows, you realize there really can be no happy ending in all this.

The character relationships are difficult and in the end redeem almost no one. Roles are reversed and choices are made that shatter lives, yet little remorse is displayed. People who were fraught with good intentions become the villains.

But that is not to say that the book is not worth reading. If you compare the Time Traveler's Wife with Her Fearful Symmetry you will find two completely different books that share only the author's ability to describe emotion and fantasy perfectly. Where TTW was a love story, HFS to me was a story of envy.

Would I recommend this book to anyone? Yes.