Her Fearful Symmetry: a review
Dec. 13th, 2009 02:19 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
amelia_petkovaRecently I picked up a copy of Her Fearful Symmetry, the recent novel by Audrey Niffenegger.
Overall, I enjoyed reading the book. I finished it in a couple of days because I was eager to find out what would happen next. It's very good but not the best book I ever read. In my case, it may have been a case of the book was over-hyped following the success of The Time-Traveller's Wife (still on my To Read list). (The cover art is also attractive; not necessary for a book, but always a bonus.)
I found one of the best parts to be the scenes that take place in Highgate Cemetery and its descriptions. Niffenegger's love of the cemetery and fascination with it come across clearly to the reader. I'm curious to know if the number of visitors to the cemetery has increased noticeably since the book was published.
Despite the fact that I like this novel, I had several problems with it. I found the revelation that Edie and Elspeth switched places (thinking that the husband would never notice) to be interesting but unnecessary. It explains why "Elspeth" wants to keep Julia and Valentina's parents away from the flat but I thought it to be needlessly convoluted. All this revelation did was distract me during the following chapters, attempting to keep tract of which twin had done what.
Finding out that Elspeth gives birth to a child after the resurrection was a major squick for me. I don't care that her body is alive now, it's still necrophilia. If Niffenegger's intent was to cause this feeling, she was successful. If not, I'm still left cringing.
I'm not surprised that Robert leaves in the end. Even with his love for Elspeth, he still has to live with the knowledge that she convinced her niece to kill herself and then took over her niece's body. That being said, the closing sentences of the book left me wanting more.
Instead of Julia and Valentina, I found several of the side characters to be more interesting. The people in the background of the story are better developed. To me, characters like Jessica, Marijke, and Martin were more believable. It's easier to identify with the problems of Jessica, who has worked with Robert for a long time and is concerned about him; Marijke, who loves him but has to leave because she can no longer bring himself to remain in that life; and Martin, who fights to control his obessive-compulsive disorder.
As I said earlier, this book is a good read. I was absorbed by it for hours at a time and wanted to know the fates of all the characters. I'm glad that I read it. Still, the fact remains that several elements constantly jerked me out of what is otherwise a fascinating novel.
Overall, I enjoyed reading the book. I finished it in a couple of days because I was eager to find out what would happen next. It's very good but not the best book I ever read. In my case, it may have been a case of the book was over-hyped following the success of The Time-Traveller's Wife (still on my To Read list). (The cover art is also attractive; not necessary for a book, but always a bonus.)
I found one of the best parts to be the scenes that take place in Highgate Cemetery and its descriptions. Niffenegger's love of the cemetery and fascination with it come across clearly to the reader. I'm curious to know if the number of visitors to the cemetery has increased noticeably since the book was published.
Despite the fact that I like this novel, I had several problems with it. I found the revelation that Edie and Elspeth switched places (thinking that the husband would never notice) to be interesting but unnecessary. It explains why "Elspeth" wants to keep Julia and Valentina's parents away from the flat but I thought it to be needlessly convoluted. All this revelation did was distract me during the following chapters, attempting to keep tract of which twin had done what.
Finding out that Elspeth gives birth to a child after the resurrection was a major squick for me. I don't care that her body is alive now, it's still necrophilia. If Niffenegger's intent was to cause this feeling, she was successful. If not, I'm still left cringing.
I'm not surprised that Robert leaves in the end. Even with his love for Elspeth, he still has to live with the knowledge that she convinced her niece to kill herself and then took over her niece's body. That being said, the closing sentences of the book left me wanting more.
Instead of Julia and Valentina, I found several of the side characters to be more interesting. The people in the background of the story are better developed. To me, characters like Jessica, Marijke, and Martin were more believable. It's easier to identify with the problems of Jessica, who has worked with Robert for a long time and is concerned about him; Marijke, who loves him but has to leave because she can no longer bring himself to remain in that life; and Martin, who fights to control his obessive-compulsive disorder.
As I said earlier, this book is a good read. I was absorbed by it for hours at a time and wanted to know the fates of all the characters. I'm glad that I read it. Still, the fact remains that several elements constantly jerked me out of what is otherwise a fascinating novel.
