Her Fearful Symmetry: A Novel
Written by Audrey Niffenegger
Narrated by Bianca Amato
3/5
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About this audiobook
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; they only knew that their mother, too, was a twin, and Elspeth her sister. Julia and Valentina are semi-normal American teenagers — with seemingly little interest in college, finding jobs, or anything outside their cozy home in the suburbs of Chicago, and with an abnormally intense attachment to one another.
The girls move to Elspeth's flat, which borders Highgate Cemetery in London. They come to know the building's other residents, including 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.
Niffenegger weaves a captivating story in Her Fearful Symmetry about love and identity, about secrets and sisterhood, and about the tenacity of life — even after death.
A Simon & Schuster audio production.
Reviews for Her Fearful Symmetry
2,724 ratings337 reviews
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Better than The Time Travelers Wife for sure. Ghosts. Ghosts!
- Rating: 2 out of 5 stars2/5Not even close to in the same league as The Time-Traveler's Wife. Predictable, thin on plot and characterization, and downright boring in some parts (mostly related to the descriptions of the people buried in the cemetery).
- Rating: 2 out of 5 stars2/5Interesting read, not the kind of book I usually choose, enjoyable if slightly weird. This is the first book by Audrey Niffenegger that I have read, would I read another of hers, probably not. Her best seller "The Time Traveller's Wife" does not appeal.
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5This is my first time reading Audrey Niffenegger and Her Fearful Symmetry has several of the elements I love in a novel: twins (not just one set but two generations of twins), a cemetery and a ghost.Set in London, this is a slow burn that begins when Elspeth Noblin leaves her flat overlooking Highgate Cemetery to her twin nieces after her death. Elspeth and her own twin sister are estranged, so the bequeathment comes as quite a shock to the family. The twin girls must live in the flat for a year before they can sell it and the inheritance begins to transform Julia and Valentina in small and subtle ways.I loved the character of Robert, primarily because it was through him that the reader is treated to so much history of the Highgate Cemetery. Robert volunteers at the cemetery and takes tourists on guided tours throughout the grounds and these were by far my favourite elements of the book.I found the final denouement and the choices made by two of the characters to be such a disappointment that I became quite dissatisfied with the ending. Sometimes a disappointing ending can be provocative and exciting, but I was left feeling angry at two of the characters and wanted to slap one of them, so it cost the novel a star in this review.
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5It wasn't until August that I picked this tale up (after it sat on my nightstand for a year), and then read it in a couple of days. I liked the characterizations (especially Martin, the obsessive compulsive upstairs neighbor), and even bought the beginning of the ghost story, to an extent. But the plotting in the last third of the book strains credulity, to put it mildly. That Valentina would concoct a suicidal plan to escape her needy twin so that she can build a successful career is oxymoronic (heavy emphasis on the moron part). And it gets worse from there. I prefer my doses of the supernatural to be suasible.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5I was fascinated by any immensely enjoyed The Time Traveler's Wife. Based on how good that book was I was worried this book could not be as good. I did end up enjoying Her Fearful Symmetry. I kept wondering where the plot would end up and that kept me reading, even through the parts that seemed to have no relevance to the story. I finally figured out these seemingly small and insignificant scenes rounded out the dysfunctional lives of the characters. I am not sure if I liked the resolution of the story but it was a logical conclusion to the fanciful story line.