That Just Happened!

Niffenegger, Audrey.  Her Fearful Symmetry.  Alfred A. Knopf Canada (2009).

Six years after the phenomenal success of The Time Traveler’s Wife, Audrey Niffenegger has returned with a spectacularly compelling and haunting second novel set in and around Highgate Cemetery in London.

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, 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. There is 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.

From Goodreads.com

This book was pretty good.  I found it easy to not compare it to The Time Traveler’s Wife, which I have also read recently.  There is something about Niffenegger’s prose that is so dark.  I imagine if her books had a tone they would be comparable to Tim Burton’s movies.  Even in lighthearted moments there is something lurking beneath the surface and when I read this book I imagined everything with a blue tint, also like Burton’s movies.  There were two twists I did not see coming and although everything doesn’t end happily, I felt it was the perfect ending for this book.  The characters are very well-developed and I think that helps in bringing this novel to life in a way that isn’t cheesy. 

Another thing I like about Niffenegger’s work is that she takes non-realistic situations and makes them so believable.  There is no such thing as time travel or ghosts (arguably), but it really feels as though it is entirely possible in this world.  The setting is in London and the cemetery is as much a character as the twins, or Elspeth.  A little stereotypical, but done in a new, fresh way.  The story was easy to follow and hard to put down.  If I had to describe it I would call it an elegant ghost story.

I would recommend this to anyone who liked the way The Time Traveler’s Wife was written and anyone who likes haunting love stories.  I wouldn’t say this book is for everyone, but if you are able to put out of your mind the improbability of the situations you will enjoy it.

I would recommend putting it on your TBR List.