Scribner, September 2009
A few years ago, when I read Audrey Niffenegger's debut novel The Time Traveler's Wife, I began as a reluctant reader and ended up an enthusiastic fan. I had picked up the book only after the recommendation of a friend and was completely engaged by it. I still can't think of another book in recent years that has made me cry half as much as that one did, leaving me blubbering like an idiot and yet not feeling emotionally manipulated. Sometimes a book lives up to its hype.
The highly anticipated Her Fearful Symmetry, I am pleased to say, is another such book. For me it was slightly less tear-inducing but equally affecting - a story of twins, ghosts, devotion and dysfunction, and being careful what one wishes for, told with the same intricacy and delicate touch that Niffenegger proved such talent for in The Time Traveler's Wife.
A few years ago, when I read Audrey Niffenegger's debut novel The Time Traveler's Wife, I began as a reluctant reader and ended up an enthusiastic fan. I had picked up the book only after the recommendation of a friend and was completely engaged by it. I still can't think of another book in recent years that has made me cry half as much as that one did, leaving me blubbering like an idiot and yet not feeling emotionally manipulated. Sometimes a book lives up to its hype.
The highly anticipated Her Fearful Symmetry, I am pleased to say, is another such book. For me it was slightly less tear-inducing but equally affecting - a story of twins, ghosts, devotion and dysfunction, and being careful what one wishes for, told with the same intricacy and delicate touch that Niffenegger proved such talent for in The Time Traveler's Wife.
Elspeth Noblin wills her London flat and estate to her identical-twin nieces, Julia and Valentina Poole, who are the daughters of Elspeth's estranged (and also identical) twin, Edie. The Poole girls, intelligent but directionless, are required by Elspeth's bequest to live in the flat - which overlooks Highgate Cemetery - for a year. Julia and Valentina arrive in London looking much younger than their twenty-one years, filled with excitement and trepidation as they begin to navigate family secrets and a culture much different from their American suburban upbringing. They are a source of wonder as well for their neighbors: Robert, Elspeth's love and executor of her estate, who is perpetually writing a dissertation about Highgate; and Martin, a crossword-puzzle creator who has a complex relationship with his adored wife, Marijke.
Much as Niffenegger created a believable world of time travel in her debut, here she explores an unseen world of spirits. Is Elspeth still, somehow, lingering among the living and influencing their actions? Can ghost stories be true? Her fate becomes an intriguing, imagined answer to the universal question of what happens when someone dies.
Much as Niffenegger created a believable world of time travel in her debut, here she explores an unseen world of spirits. Is Elspeth still, somehow, lingering among the living and influencing their actions? Can ghost stories be true? Her fate becomes an intriguing, imagined answer to the universal question of what happens when someone dies.
In tandem are the stories of Robert and his memories of Elspeth; Julia and Valentina; Martin and Marijke; Edie and Elspeth; and Edie and her husband, Jack. We are introduced to these characters with the sense that although they care deeply for their partners or siblings, some are comfortable with their status quo but no one is completely happy. Elspeth's death disrupts the stasis in their lives, often in astounding ways.
They are lovingly nuanced characters, unfolding gradually in graceful yet page-turning prose, and we cheer for them. We want to see Robert, who loves and mourns Elspeth, try to move on from his routine of giving tours of Highgate and rewriting dissertation chapters about the lives of the long dead. We want Julia and Valentina to maintain their intense closeness but also pull for Valentina's goal to break out as an individual, away from the dominance of Julia. We want to know what damaged that closeness between Elspeth and Edie, and for Edie to heal. We want Edie and Jack to come clean about whatever they're hiding from one another. We want both Martin and Marijke to be happy, for their love story to continue, whether it means that they are together or apart or that Martin is finally able to step outside his flat.
We, like the characters, may not get all the endings we wish for. But at least in our case - as readers - the results always satisfy. Audrey Niffenegger has most certainly created another memorable work in Her Fearful Symmetry.
They are lovingly nuanced characters, unfolding gradually in graceful yet page-turning prose, and we cheer for them. We want to see Robert, who loves and mourns Elspeth, try to move on from his routine of giving tours of Highgate and rewriting dissertation chapters about the lives of the long dead. We want Julia and Valentina to maintain their intense closeness but also pull for Valentina's goal to break out as an individual, away from the dominance of Julia. We want to know what damaged that closeness between Elspeth and Edie, and for Edie to heal. We want Edie and Jack to come clean about whatever they're hiding from one another. We want both Martin and Marijke to be happy, for their love story to continue, whether it means that they are together or apart or that Martin is finally able to step outside his flat.
We, like the characters, may not get all the endings we wish for. But at least in our case - as readers - the results always satisfy. Audrey Niffenegger has most certainly created another memorable work in Her Fearful Symmetry.
