Book Review: Her Fearful Symmetry by Audrey Niffenegger

Her Fearful Symmetry by Audrey Niffenegger

ARC, Paperback, 406 pages

Scribner

September 29, 2009
★★★ ½☆☆

Genre: Contemporary Fiction

Source: Received for review from the publisher

"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."

Twins, Julia and Valentina, go to London to live in the flat left behind by their recently deceased Aunt Elspeth. Part of her will stipulated that they live there together for 1 year and their parents were not allowed to set foot in the flat. Their upstairs neighbor, Martin, suffers from OCD and agoraphobia which causes his wife to leave him. Their downstairs neighbor, Robert, is the lover of the deceased Elspeth who is supposed to watch out for these young girls. Elspeth remains in her flat as a ghost. The lives of these people (and ghosts) intermingle in various ways and have surprising effects of each other.

This story is very much a character driven work. Not too many big events take place, but a lot happens between these characters. The pivotal character is the deceased Elspeth. All of these people had a connection with her and they are trying to figure out how to move on, until they find out that she is a ghost that they can communicate with. This throws a huge wrench in the plan and causes a very surprising end to the story – one you will never see coming.  Another major character that cannot be overlooked in this story is Highgate Cemetery. The flat is located on the side of the cemetery, Elspeth’s tomb is in the cemetery, and Robert is a guide for the cemetery as well as is writing a book about it.

The beginning was a little slow going, but I really did enjoy delving into the lives of these characters – learning what made them tick. It was also interesting to see what happened to these twins who always did everything together. At the beginning they were one unit, but by the end you saw them as two different people. The ghost concept is handled very well, just like time-traveling was in her previous book.

For those who loved The Time Traveler’s Wife – you will probably enjoy this book, but it is very different from TTTW.

 

For a sample of the novel's style, check out this excerpt.

 

Reviews of this book by other bloggers:

• For the Someday Book
• Dear Author

 

Buy the Book: Amazon | Barnes & Noble | RJ Julia

Also By Audrey Niffenegger

The Time Traveler's Wife
[My Review]

 

Find Audrey Niffenegger: Website | Twitter | Facebook

Special Offer: If you become a fan of Her Fearful Symmetry on Facebook and then send an email to hfs@regal-literary.com with the subject “Facebook Special Offer – I’m a fan!” by November 13th you will be entered in a giveaway they are hosting for:

• A hardcover copy of Her Fearful Symmetry (there are 25 available)
• A galley copy of Her Fearful Symmetry (like the one I received to review, I like the cover better - there are 10 available)

You can also increase you chance of winning by tweeting or blogging about this offer and then linking this to the above email address. Also if you become a follower of @regal_literary on twitter you will gain another entry too!  **THIS GIVEAWAY IS NOW CLOSED**

 

Copyright © 2009 by The Maiden’s Court

Author Event - Audrey Niffenegger

I am having an unprecedented opportunity to attend author events this week. On Friday night I attended an event with Audrey Niffenegger at RJ Julia Bookstore. There was a decent crowd there, especially for a small store. She read a hilarious passage from the book that was sort of like a "how to" on being a ghost. After that, there were many questions from the audience - many focusing on The Time Traveler's Wife, since no one (but me) had the book prior to the signing! Some interesting info that came out of the Q&A:

• One of her graphic novels is in talks of being turned into a ballet in London (that could be very interesting!)
• She had no input in The Time Traveler's Wife movie
• She has not seen the movie - so that she can continue thinking that it might have been done well
• It took 7 years to write Her Fearful Symmetry and it has went through many major changes - such as there was no ghost (a huge part) for 2 years!

When I went up to get the book signed - the bookstore worker who was prepping the books for the author asked me where I had gotten an ARC - and I told her the publisher offered it to me, which prompted a great conversation with Audrey about how publishers are pushing for bloggers to review books.

It was a great evening! I might be going to another event on this coming Tuesday - and then that is it for awhile!

Copyright © 2009-2011 by The Maiden’s Court

NY Times Book Review: Her Fearful Symmetry

I got an email earlier this week from my contact at Regal Literary for a preview of the NY Times Book Review of Her Fearful Symmetry by Audrey Niffenegger. I thought this was pretty cool! That review has been published in today's edition - you can read it here. I think this sentence from the review pretty much sums up what to expect from this book.

"This outing may not be as blindly romantic as The Time Traveler’s Wife, but it is mature, complex and convincing — a dreamy yet visceral tale of loves both familial and erotic, a search for Self in the midst of obsession with an Other."

Hope the review makes you excited to read it - it is being released September 29, 2009. I can't wait to get to read this book.

Copyright © 2009-2011 by The Maiden’s Court

Movie Review: The Time Traveler's Wife

The Time Traveler's Wife

New Line Cinema

107 mins

August 14, 2009

Rated: PG-13

I went to see The Time Traveler’s Wife this week, 2 days after I finished reading the book. Going into this I knew that there would be many things that would be changed or left out due to the book being almost 600 pages and the movie was a 107 minutes.

Henry DeTamble is played by Eric Bana and Clare Abshire is played by Rachel McAdams. Both actors looked a lot like what I pictured the characters to look like in my head. I also think that they had amazing chemistry together. I also LOVED the little girl that played Clare (age 6) when she first meets Henry

My feelings for this moving are slightly above average – the parts that were included from the book were done very well. They stuck pretty close to the events of the book but left out a lot – which made my boyfriend, who hasn’t read the book, ask a lot of questions about the plot holes. I think if you had read the book before seeing the movie it would be easier to follow what was happening. I had been wondering how they would show Henry evaporating from one time and appearing in another – I think they did an AWESOME job at this – some amazing CG.

For anyone who has read the book – the ending is not the same. It evokes similar emotion – and those who have not read the book, have told me they loved the ending. I was a little disappointed because I loved the book ending.

Overall, I would give this 3.5/4 out of 5 stars. I would still watch it again!

Copyright © 2009 by The Maiden’s Court

Book Review: The Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger

The Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger

Paperback, 615 pages

Vintage UK

May 29, 2004

★★★★★

Genre: Contemporary Fiction, Time Slip

 

Source: Personal Collection

“When Henry meets Clare, he is twenty-eight and she is twenty. Henry has never met Clare before; Clare has known Henry since she was six. Impossible but true, because Henry finds himself periodically displaced in time, pulled to moments of emotional gravity from his life, past and future. Henry and Clare's attempts to live normal lives are threatened by a force they can neither prevent nor control, making their passionate love story intensely moving and entirely unforgettable. The Time Traveler's Wife is a story of fate, hope and belief, and more than that, it's about the power of love to endure beyond the bounds of time.”

Henry DeTamble is just your thirtysomething average guy – he’s a librarian, is in a relationship, and likes to go out and have a few drinks – except he time travels at any given moment and leaves a pile of clothes behind, and when he comes back he is absolutely naked!
Clare Abshire is your average little girl – she has picnics in the meadow, goes to school, and lives in a huge house – except a naked older man shows up in the meadow one day and tells her he’s a time traveler!

The first time Clare meets Henry he is time traveling – 14 years later she meets him in his present time.  A romance grows between them and Henry and Clare attempt to work out a life together dealing with his time traveling.

For me, this was my first book that really involved time travel.  Henry couldn’t control his time traveling and never knowing when it was going to happen always made for interesting occasions.  Also, showing up somewhere naked can really put a cramp in trying to go unnoticed - it can also end up being quite dangerous.  One of the things that I enjoyed about this novel was that we get to see how time traveling effects those that Henry loves - the fear that comes with not knowing if he will come back ok.  I think this is the first time I ever thought of time travel as something where you could get hurt and not return in the same condition in which you left.  The time travel aspect was integrated into the folds of the story entirely - it never felt like it was just thrown in there for kicks. 

With all of this time traveling, occasionally it was difficult to keep track of where in time he was and what he should or should not know at this time.  As stated in the blurb above - Henry meets Clare when she is 6 and he is much older - so she has known him her whole life, but for Henry, time is not linear so he sometimes is very confused as to what he knows. 

I was dreading the end of this book as it approached.  I became so attached to Clare and Henry that I didn’t want it to end.  I must warn you, this book is a tear jerker – at several points throughout the book.  I absolutely loved this book.  The characters are so real, true events are used, and the basic rules of time travel are addressed as well.  The 600 pages just flew by!  The book is also written in a humorous way – just wait for the part about Henry’s dreams, I couldn’t stop laughing.

This novel does have many romance elements but it isn’t the main focus and I would recommend this to anyone – men and women alike – everyone will find something to enjoy. 

If you would like to preview the story before reading it, why not try out this excerpt of the book?

Reviews of this book by other bloggers:

• Bookslut
• The Romance Reader

Where to Buy: Amazon | Barnes & Noble | RJ Julia

Also by Audrey Niffenegger:

Her Fearful Symmetry [My Review]

Find Audrey Niffenegger: Website | Twitter | Facebook

 

I will hopefully have a review of the movie posted this weekend. I was waiting until I finished the book to go see it!

I also will be going to a book signing with Audrey Niffenegger at the beginning of October!

Copyright © 2009 by The Maiden’s Court

Her Fearful Symmetry by Audrey Niffenegger

Good Morning Everyone! I have been racking my mind trying to figure out what I can post about The Time Traveler's Wife this week, like I do with all my other books (by the way, I'm absolutely enjoying it!). It just doesn't quite fit into the same mold - I mean, I could write about time travel, but that wouldn't really come out well. So I figured I could give you a little taste of her new novel that comes out September 29, 2009 - Her Fearful Symmetry.

Here is a video clip from her website of her talking about writing Her Fearful Symmetry.



I am also excited because Audrey Niffenegger will be appearing at a signing at my favorite indy book seller - RJ Julia in Madison, CT on October 2. I am totally going - but I'm going to have to find someone else to go with - because my built in buddy (aka boyfriend) will be working that night, :(. Any thing you want me to ask her?

Also, there is a blogger promotion going on at her website for anyone who has posted about The Time Traveler's Wife - it ends September 29. You can get an ARC of the new book. Here is the link.

Hope you enjoy!




Copyright © 2009-2011 by The Maiden’s Court