Stuff I like: Audrey Niffenegger’s HER FEARFUL SYMMETRY

My daughter Thea has a useful expression for describing when she rides her bike. She says, “I was going so fast the world was blurry.” That’s a bit how I felt this past week. Between finalizing the files for two card decks (Ask the Queens advice cards and Doomed Queens playing cards), preparing for the October 2nd launch of the Love Tarot app (yay!), and finalizing upcoming publishing workshops, the world was indeed “blurry”.

Regardless, today is the official publication date for Audrey Niffenegger’s new novel, Her Fearful Symmetry, which is cause for celebration. I’m a huge fan of The Time Traveler’s Wife as well as of Niffenegger’s illustrated novels. (Full disclosure: We shared the same editor at Abrams.) I greatly admire her ability to bridge the worlds of art and words with such artistry and integrity. So you can imagine how excited I was when I read that Scribner had acquired her new novel earlier this year in a very significant publishing deal. I was even more excited to score an advance copy of it from a Twitter friend. (Thanks, Melissa!)

I was up to 2:30 in the morning devouring Her Fearful Symmetry—it’s that enthralling a page-turner. Though it’s been about two weeks since I finished, I’m still processing my thoughts about it. It’s lingered with me, which is my mark of a good book.

First off, set aside any preconceptions or expectations you may have about Her Fearful Symmetry. It’s decidedly not The Time Traveler’s Wife, though both books share the theme of The Things People Do For Love knitted throughout, as well as a subtle mordant humor. It’s also written in third person, instead of the alternating first person narrative of TTW. For that alone, kudos to Niffenegger for not resting on her laurels to craft a TTW-romance redux.

Short version: Her Fearful Symmetry is an exquisitely written ghost story. The book’s premise is not dissimilar to one offered by a horror film: To claim an inheritance, Julia and Valentina, a set of abnormally attached identical twin sisters, must live for a year in a fabulous London apartment bequeathed to them by an aunt they’ve never met. The apartment is set next to Highgate Cemetery, the final resting place of many Victorian-era luminaries, including Karl Marx and Elizabeth Siddal Rossetti. The cemetery permeates the novel with an intense sense of place. (To research HFS, the author became a tour guide there; her deep knowledge infuses the novel.) Soon after the twins take possession of the apartment they learn that auntie may not have passed over to the other side. Paranormal shenanigans ensue.

Her Fearful Symmetry is far darker and more complicated and twisty than The Time Traveler’s Wife. The main characters are not what they seem and do stunningly selfish and cruel things; regardless, you find yourself seduced by them and ultimately caring about their fates. The ending is not tidy and requires a serious suspension of disbelief—I still have not decided what final outcome Niffenegger insinuated for one of her characters— though it is strangely uplifting. No spoilers here, but the concluding scene has a poetic justice/beauty about it that moved me deeply.

And yes, I cried at the end, though not the huge gulping sobs that TTW induced in me.

I hope you’ll also read Her Fearful Symmetry. I’d be interested to hear what others think of it since I suspect this is going to be a divisive book that some will adore, others may not. I loved it. It’s especially perfect for this time of year, as we gear up to the night when the “veils between the worlds are thin.”

If you do read, watch out for the Little Kitten of Death. Yup, it’s that kind of book.

• 7 Responses
• Read comments...
• Comment Feeds