Her Fearful Symmetry

I don't generally write negative reviews.
I don't particularly like to READ negative reviews.
So why write one?
Because I really wanted to love this novel. I really, really TRIED to love this novel, but I was so disappointed! And it wasn't because I was looking for---or expecting---TIME TRAVELER'S WIFE, PART II.
Let me begin by saying, I think Ms. Niffenegger is a marvelous storyteller with colorful imagery and characters that are well-drawn from the beginning. I love the misty feel of the novel, the ancient sepia tones it evokes, both in setting and in her ghosts, the vivid details that bring London to life, even if the reader has never been. And unlike some of the other reviewers, I felt the novel was well paced.
I was drawn into the story and compelled by the characters---at first. I love a good flawed protagonist. Someone a little twisted, a little broken, and this story oozes with the human psychosis and neuroses, both the diagnosible kind and the kind that adds believable layers to a character, that tingles in the nerves. But the oozing becomes full out hemmoraging by the end, and by then I didn't care.
The few characters I had developed a fondness for I loathed by the end, and the ending was deeply unsatisfying and felt... incomplete. Don't get me wrong, I don't have to have the 'happily ever after' ending. I cried buckets at the end of TIME TRAVELER'S WIFE, and while it ripped my heart out it was also the RIGHT ending. This novel left me with the sense that a set of miserable characters treated each other horribly and with contempt, and in the end, not one was either redeemed or redeemable. Julia might have had potential, but she was so unlikable I couldn't work up the energy to root for her. Maybe Martin. But his illness will rule him again, and he'll be right back where he started. And Robert, whom I believed would be my favorite, wound up being the biggest diappointment. I suppose you could make the argument that they all got what they deserved, but it seemed it was the reader who was on the losing end.
I did love THE TIME TRAVELER'S WIFE. I will read Ms. Niffenegger's next book with the same open mind I brought to this book. And I feel sure she'll write another tale that brings readers back again and again. It just didn't happen to be this one.

This is the kind of book you have to finish even though the journey is a bit boring and clearly odd. As an author of metaphysical fiction, I (hopefully) write -- and look for -- novels that provide an insight into my own life and the choices I make -- into the afterlife, karma and destiny. While the ghost entities were well-developed characters, the entire premise was a bit too much for me to accept. And the Eddie/Elspeth backstory was not developed enough, nor was the husband/father's experiences or reaction to the history of their relationship. I found myself skipping chunks of description (while the cemetery played the role of place, we didn't need all the guided tours). Also, I didn't buy a lot of the motivations behind various choices nor the outcomes. What I did find interesting is the structure and the experience of being in various characters heads within the same paragraph. While this is a well-taught "no" in literature, it shows that it can be a "yes" and it worked. This approach is part of what moved this otherwise slow story along. Not my favorite book, but I don't regret having spent the time with it.

I loved The Time Traveller's Wife and so was so so looking forward to reading more of the same. Ok, I accept that a writer can't go around rehashing what they did before just to please readers but Her Fearful Symmetry was disappointing to say the least. Julia and Valentina are twins, drawn into a conflict between their mother and aunt (who are also twins). When their aunt Elspeth dies and leaves them everything except her private papers, (which she leaves to her lover who lives downstairs) she imposes the condition that they must live in her flat for a year before they can sell- and so the essentially American twins are off to a glorious adventure that is London.
Sadly, the twins tend to come off as vague, self absorbed, and slightly annoying, so one hardly cares what happens to them. Key points in the plot just don't add up. Without giving anything away, the HUGE SECRET about the relationship between mother and aunt turns out to be something of a damp squib, the other key characters are a little wooden and the few opportunities to let rip with some real drama slip away.
The story is set around Highgate Cemetery- which is fact a brilliant place to go visit if you happen to be in London.
My advice- forget the book- take a tour of Highgate Cemetery instead. It will far more stimulating than this.

Plot summaries abound here, so I will stick to review only.

Totally different from The Time Traveler's Wife, but Her Fearful Symmetry shares some of the appeal characteristics - incredibly drawn characters, a strangely believable fantastical/supernatural element, a life-like setting (excuse the pun, at least as it relates to Highgate Cemetery), and a stunningly unique, emotional, slightly tragic, but somehow beautiful story.

Of course, one of the things I love about Niffenegger (and the reason I was beyond disappointed by the film version of TTTW) is her beautiful and literary writing. She has such a way with words. (Consider the pun in the title. Her Fearful Symmetry refers to the strained relationship between a set of twins, as well as the strained relationship between their mother and aunt, also twins. On the other hand, it also refers to some fearful things that happen around Highgate... And the British pronunciation of "cemetery" sounds remarkably like "symmetry." Just one example of her remarkable command of language.)

The themes of life, death, obsession/compulsion, and the ties that bind people together made it all the more fascinating. On top of that, Niffenegger didn't conclude the book until she put two, three, four (depending on how you want to count) shocking twists at the ending. The big reveal of the decades-old family secret (a shock in itself) paled in comparison to what happened next. This book will surprise and fascinate you, and the ending (especially the last two sentences) will leave you a little stunned that it's over. I absolutely loved it.

Following up the runaway success of The Time Traveller's Wife was always going to be difficult as Niffenegger had set a very high bar for herself. But I predict that Her Fearful Symmetry will in its own right become a favourite of book discussion groups around the world due to its exploration of the complex relationships shared by siblings, parents and children, aunts and nieces and themes of obsession and identity.

All the central characters in the book are women - the men, while interesting in themselves, are subject to the desires and actions of the women in their lives. The story focuses on 21-year-old identical twins Julia and Valentino who inherit a London flat from their Aunt Elspeth, the estranged identical twin sister of their mother, Edie. Julia and Valentina, symmetrical identical twins (literally mirror images of one-another) have always done everything together and even dressed identically. But in London Valentino develops a growing urge to live a life independent of her sister.

Valentina falls in love with Robert, her Aunt Elspeth's younger lover, who is still devastated by Elspeth's death. Robert lives in the same building as them and is writing a PhD treatise on Highgate Cemetery, located across the road. Robert's loyalties to Elspeth and Valentino are torn, especially when he becomes aware that Elspeth's ghost is still living in the twin's flat.

Julia meanwhile strikes up an odd friendship with an obsessive compulsive neighbour whose obsessions, rituals and inability to leave his flat have driven his wife away.

The book is very well written and there are enough twists and turns to keep the reader interested. While not a classical "happily ever after" ending, there is a certain justice in each woman's fate.

I had to work through this book for month. I literally had to coach myself through the text. I loved Niffenegger's originality with TTTW, so I thought this couldn't be that bad. It was. The book is so slow. The subject matter is dark, and you will feel like you're actually in a rainy depressing never ending day. The text had no hope and no redeeming quality. It was a waste of time. The worst part is that I spent so much time forcing myself through the text when I should have just stopped early on.

Elspeth and Edie are estranged identical twins. Elspeth lives in London and Edie lives in the US. When Elspeth dies are early death from cancer, she leaves behind her lover Robert, who lived on the first floor of the flat. Julia and Valentina are mirror-image twins who live in the US and inherit their Aunt Elspeth's flat, provided that they live in it for a year before selling it, and that their parents never set foot inside the flat. Martin lives on the third floor above the girls in the flat. Martin suffers from severe OCD, agoraphobia. His wife has left him, he works from home and designs crossword puzzles.

Her Fearful Symmetry is a contemporary Gothic ghost story, with a marvelous sense of place, opposite Highgate Cemetery. Although I found most of the characters pretty unlikable (except for Martin), I did enjoy the story. There was an icy presence that at times chilled me to the bone, and it took a while for me to realize where the story was headed. RECOMMENDED

I started this book with high hopes - looked like some interesting premises, some possibility of new and quirky ideas. By about a third of the way through I was beginning to despair of anything ever happening. Perhaps if the characters had been interesting, all those little vignettes that never went anywhere would have been lovely, as it was they were just boring. Finally, the story started moving and frankly I wished we were back at boring. What a silly and incoherent mess. Characters do the most bizarre and unlikely things with, so far as I could ever tell, no reason whatsoever (does anyone have the foggiest notion of why Robert went through with the plan, for example?) Martin, the mentally ill character, acts with more sense and logic than any of the others put together. Don't waste your time on this book.

I liked the characters, loved the London setting (been there, and it's a wonderful city), and the skillful writing. The story line was average in my opinion because it became very morbid at the end, and of course one has to be a believer in spirit life after death, etc. to swallow the entire premise of the book. Also, after a quite young grown child's death, the father wasn't acting like most people would after such a tragic loss. However, it was October when I read SYMMETRY so it was a perfect lead in to Halloween! I know Niffenegger must have done a lot of research on Highgate Cemetery so for that alone it was educational. Three stars because it could have been so much better!!

I find this author incredibly frustrating and had the same experience with this book that I did with The Time Traveler's Wife. I spent the first 100 to 150 pages being utterly delighted and thinking, "This is such a cool idea for a book! I love the setting and the atmosphere! This is going to be such a good read!" I then spent the rest of the book becoming more and more disenchanted and frustrated.

Niffenegger has the potential to be an amazing writer. She's obviously very creative and she is extremely skilled at creating interesting characters (even if I hate some of them) and putting them in interesting settings. My problem with her is that once she's got everyone on stage, she doesn't seem to know what to do with them and she spends an enormous amount of time with her characters wandering about the cool stage set in random patterns, picking things up and putting them down in different places, and stepping all over each others' toes in the process. Meanwhile, way over there in the unlit corner is the actual story - too bad you can't see it. In this book, the buried and undertold story is that of Martin and Marijke - hemmed in by Martin's OCD like the crossword puzzles he designs.

There are some other beautiful little vignettes here - Jessica and her love for Highgate Cemetary, Robert and his loss of Elspeth. Least interesting is the drama at the center of the book - Elspeth and her twin nieces - none of them likeable and, in fact, unlikeable for no good reason. The decisions about these characters and how to portray them are maddeningly poor. There is no build to who they are, no sense of internal logic, they're all just randomly Bad as if a small child was told to draw the wicked witch and she came out as a ghost and a pair of twins.

Then there is the absolute waste of an amazing setting - the funny apartment building with its garden gate opening into Highgate Cemetary, Highgate itself, and London with its hidden nooks and crannies and tube stations and buses and tourist attractions and hat shops. There's the flat the twins inherit - filled with the remnants of their aunt's life - her clothes, her shoes, and most ignored her rare books (Elsepeth was a dealer in rare books - not that you'd know it from reading about her, just a few bare mentions of rare first editions). Again, the stage set is amazing, but that's not all that's needed and the sheer waste of this one is infuriating.

I really want to like this writer and I'm sure I'll give a third book a try, but I really want her to make some decisions about what she wants to do. Everything doesn't have to have a coherent plot - it's okay to populate a stage set with interesting people who don't do a whole lot more than be interesting, but I hope in future she'll stop rabbiting around looking for the Big Plot Point because it just gums up the works and ruins what could be two wonderful books.

Ms. Niffenegger starts off this book jumping from character to character, in very short chapters. Normally, that sort of thing bothers me, and leaves me uninterested in all of the characters; but she actually pulls it off--leaving me interested in them all, and wanting to read on. And on I read, reaching a paranormal part that seemed intriguing at first, but strangely became duller and duller with each passing page. As the end of the book was approaching, the fantasy/paranormal changed into sinister science-fiction, leaving me at the very end wondering just one thing: Whatever was the point of this story?

I was excited to read Her Fearful Symmetry. I had read Time Traveler's Wife and really liked Audrey Niffeneger's writing style. The characters weren't very likable and got annoying about half way through. The two sisters relied heavily on one another and their relationship was rather annoying. The plot was a bit slow for me and I was not crazy about the ending. I did like the aspect of the ghost story which is why I gave the book 3 stars - the story had redeeming qualities. I just wish it was a little more fast paced with more likable characters.

Before I begin my review - which I may as well say from the start is not good - let me begin with what I do like. Firstly, Ms. Niffenegger is a gifted writer. I hope she does not get discouraged by some of the negative responses to her sophomore novel. The Time Traveler's Wife was unlike anything ever written, and if she never puts pen to paper again, she would still have secured herself a place in literary history with that wonderful book.

Ms. Niffenegger is creative (a former art student, her drawings decorate the pages of Her Fearful Symmetry). She is unafraid of strange plots. She is brilliant at character development and can craft sentences that should be taught to creative writing students around the globe. And yet....

Her Fearful Symmetry tell the story of two sets of identical twins - two sisters and the daughters of one of those sisters. From the word 'go' it is hinted that the mother/aunt set have some terrible secret they are hiding. When this secret is revealed it is anticlimactic - not to mention obvious - and also adds nothing to the story. It's an uninteresting and unbelievable subplot overshadowed by an uninteresting and unbelievable main plot.

One of the elder sisters, Elspeth, dies and leaves her London flat to her nieces, the twin daughters of her sister Edie. In her will, Eslpeth dictates the girls must live there for a year - why this is her wish is unclear. The twins' new home is adjacent to a cemetery, which proves useful later on, as the story takes a madcap turn. When the girls move in, they soon discover three things: One, their neighbors, Martin and Robert, are both interesting men with whom they form relationships. Two, the apartment is haunted by the ghost of their aunt. And three, the quasi-incestuous, too-close-for-comfort sisterly bond they share is threatened by the newly found independence of one of the twins. Julia, the more dominant twin, wishes to have her sister by her side all the time and never do much except hang out together in the apartment. Valentina, the seemingly more meek twin, finds that it is impossible for her to form her own identity or assert herself in any way as long as she is joined at the hip to her sister. She therefor concocts a very, very ill advised plan for how she can ditch her sister once and for all.

It is at this point that the tale goes form being somewhat dull and a little uneven to being so incredible one cannot get past the oddities and enjoy the story. The sequence of events calls for a suspension of disbelief that I simply could not handle - and i didn't care enough about the characters to even want to. Valentina behaves in a way that is so selfish, thoughtless, juvenile and absurd it defies description. And the scenes during which she is with Robert in her "altered" condition are painful and twisted.

Believing that a man suffers form a condition which causes him to time travel is easy. Believing what Ms. Niffenegger asks us to believe in Her Fearful Symmetry is not. Having said that, there is a lot of beautiful writing here. The book evokes a mood and feeling that is distinct. And the story - flawed as it was - gets points for originality. The characters, while not likable at all - with the exception of Martin, who seems superfluous to the story - are well drawn. When Ms. Niffenegger's next book is released I will read it because I am still a believer in her talents. Nobody can pitch a perfect game every time.

In 2003, Audrey Neffenegger took the world by storm when she published the NY Times bestselling novel, The Time Traveler's Wife, which was made into a phenominal film with Eric Bana and Rachel McAdams. Now, she returns to the bestseller list with "Her Fearful Symmetry." Elspeth Noblin lives in London, until she dies of lukemia at the age of fourty five. Her twin sister, Edwina Noblin Poole, who Elspeth had a odd dislike for, after she stole her fiance, Jack, and went to America to have a family. Upon her death, Elspeth descides to bequeath her flat to Edie's twin daughters, Julia and Valentina. When the twin arrive in England, they are introduced to a colorfull cast of charcters. Martin Wells, a man with a serious problem with Obsessive Compulsion Disorder, which is so bad, it drives his wife so mad that the returns to her home in the Netherlands. Robert Fanshaw, Elspeth's younger lover. Julia and Valentina drift apart, forcing Julia to form a bond with Martin, and Vanentina to persue a relationship with Robert. This book is truly phenominal.

I should have known better than to pick up (even for 50 cents at a used book sale) a novel by an author whose previous book is entitled The Time Traveler's Wife. However, the title "Her Fearful Symmetry" didn't give away the type of novel this one turned out to be.

Personally, I have an intense loathing of all science fiction and para-normal stuff, and this book turned out to be both! The only good part of this totally lame, dull and singularly un-frightening ghost story is the author's description of Highgate Cemetery in London, where she has actually worked, so she knows it intimately. I won't even try to summarize the absurd plot, involving two generations of identical twins, except to say that both pairs are creepy and ridiculous. The tedious doings of the ghost of Aunt Elspeth were even more ridiculous, as was virtually everything in the last third of the book. And to think writers make money on trash like this!

Talk about weird, quirky, to say the least different.....all these and even more ideas are what you'll find in this story. Two sets of twins are the main characters. The older twins have a deep, dark secret that eventually leaks out. The reader must go slow and thoughtfully as sometimes several characters are telling the story in a single paragraph. Also..many times I had to go back a page or two to understand just what was happening .
Not the best book I ever read but definitely unlike anything else as for wondering where we're going with this. Granted, it may be a little slow getting started but keep reading.

I'm going to skip a brief description of the book, because I've read many other reviews here that sum it up nicely.

To be honest, I couldn't put this book down. Once I slogged my way through the slow-moving first half (really, do we need pages of descriptions of Julia and Valentina's sightseeing and trips on the tube?), right about when they begin to communicate with Elspeth, I really got into this book. But there were some things that annoyed me too greatly to give this book more than three stars.

SPOILERS****

I LOVE books with plot twists, and actively seek them out when I'm choosing what to read. But the twist in this book was sloppy...just not believable. THAT'S what's been keeping Edie and Elspeth apart for so long?? Really?? Why the secrecy with Elspeth's letters in the beginning? Especially if she lets Jack read the letter? Speaking of the letter in the beginning of the book. That letter gave away the twist for me (and for other readers as well, based on some other reviews). Yes, that's right, I had already guessed the twist on page 6. Which really annoyed me. That Edie wasn't actually the twin's mother wasn't as obvious as the first twist, but naturally followed. So I wasn't at all surprised by the time I got to that part of the book.
But I WAS expecting an explanation...and there just wasn't one. Well, there was an explanation, but it just didn't make sense to me... As I said, I don't think it's really enough to keep the twins from communicating (they say they didn't communicate, but they did. Another thing that annoys me) and while Edie and Elspeth admit it was a young, dumb thing to do, it just doesn't seem to me like something anyone (even a young, dumb someone) would do in real life.

Adding that to the creepy/inappropriate relationship between Robert and (his step-child!) Valentina, the also-creepy relationship between the younger twins (two 21 year old women still share a bed each night? What?!), Jack's claim that he never slept with Elspeth but the issue of his paternity never being resolved, Valentina's REALLY dumb plot to get away from her sister (REALLY? There was NO OTHER WAY she could get away from Julia? Ridiculous.), and Elspeth's behavior at the end of the book, I just couldn't appreciate this book, despite the author's writing style and the ghost story appeal.

I wish I had read the reviews for this book before eagerly snatching it from a friend's bookshelf but alas, I was to discover this cluster on my own.

I agree with the reviewers who state that the description of the characters and London are wonderful and it was especially fun to read about Lake Forest, IL which is very close to where I live...but that's where my love stops.

Throughout this book, the author has you believing that the big secrets between Elspeth and Edie are almost too awful to speak of and when all is finally divulged, there's maybe a page dedicated to it. Did anyone else find the Valentina/Robert relationship completely inappropriate and poorly explained? He ignores the twins for weeks, almost months and suddenly he's kissing her? I just felt like there were too many unexplained things. The black eye that Julia suddenly had mid-book? And what was even the point of the Martin and Marijke characters? I loved them for the most part but felt like they were thrown in to add pages to the book. And the ending of this book...wow. How can the author tease us with the Robert/Elspeth relationship the entire book and then sum it up in a page or two at the end? I kept flipping the pages at the end, looking for more.

I wish I could give a better review but this book was a big disappointment.

When Elspeth Noblin succumbs to cancer, her two American nieces - mirror-image twins and daughters of Elspeth's own twin - inherit her apartment overlooking the Victorian cemetery of Highgate in London as well as the rest of her estate. But the bequest comes with a condition - they must live in Elspeth's flat for an entire year, and their parents may not set foot in it.

That legacy sets of a series of events that start off being intriguing and quirky, move rapidly on to being eerie and spooky and ultimately become bizarre and what some readers will undoubtedly see as creepy. Niffnegger's follow up to her blockbuster "Time Traveler's Wife" is an intriguing and disturbing look at some of the many troubling fundamental questions to which we often prefer to close our eyes. To the outward eye, for instance, Julia and Valentina are not only indistinguishable physically, but act almost as a single entity, doing everything together, dressing alike and even sleeping in the same bed. The reader, who can't see them except through his or her mind's eye, however, quickly realizes just how distinctive their personalities are and how different their goals and ambitions. The experience of being in London just accentuates that difference, as Valentina - on the surface, the more physically fragile twin, with her heart physically located on the `wrong' side of her body - tries subtly and overtly to make a bid for independence, just as their mother and Elspeth came to a parting of the ways. Julia, however much more outgoing and independent she may appear, is less comfortable with that.

The twins' relationship may be at the core of this fascinating and disturbing novel, but they are surrounded by a host of other characters who were part of Elspeth's world and who now make up part of the new life of her nieces. In the flat above is Martin, an agoraphobic unable to leave home and battling a host of other compulsions, and missing his wife, Marijke (who has just left him) as if she were `a phantom limb', a pain of sorts where the other person once was. Downstairs lives Robert, Elspeth's lover, whose life revolves around his magisterial study of Highgate Cemetary, and who is missing Elspeth herself in much the same way.

But is Elspeth really gone? At its heart, this is a very novel and exciting variant on the classic ghost story, as well as a rumination on death. With Highgate cemetery just beyond a wall, death looms closely over the lives of both the twins and Robert in very different ways. Robert leads tours of Highgate, explaining to curious visitors the Victorian fear of being buried alive and all the devices - bells that someone who woke up alive in a coffin could pull from six feet underground - that were used to prevent that from occurring. At the same time, he yearns for Elspeth, whose body now lies in a family crypt at Highgate. He spends hours trying to connect with her in her flat before the arrival of the twins and, later, at the crypt, and muses to a friend that "if that sort of thing does happen - ghosts - it must be more beautiful and more surprising than all those tales would have us believe."

Or must it? The twins will be the first to feel Elspeth's ongoing presence in her flat, and it's as strong a personality in death as it was in life. In many classic ghost stories, the ghost is a bit amorphous, not only physically but in character - the same can not be said of Elspeth Noblin, who will in life, death and life beyond death, have a dramatic impact on all those who are closest to her.

As possibly the only avid reader in North America who has NOT yet read Niffnegger's bestselling novel, I can't compare this to The Time Traveler's Wife, but this second outing stands on its own two feet. It's a riveting tale, and while never comfortable to read, the narrative is compelling, even compulsive. I'm not a big fan of books that rely on the supernatural for their main drama (I find there's quite enough in the antics that ordinary humans get up to), but this book has brought me closer to revising that point of view than anything else that I have ever read. Most intriguingly, it's a book that tackles, squarely, taboo topics and cherished preconceptions about human relationships - that we always want the best for those we love, that we can diminish selfishness, that life is always better than death, that death is the end - as seen in Valentina's willingness to go to extraordinary lengths to achieve her independence from her twinship as well as Robert's conflicting yearnings for Elspeth and for a life that isn't dominated by grief and mourning.

Highly recommended to anyone who enjoys great writing and stories that are out of the ordinary. (The ending is bizarre enough to be disturbing to some readers, I suspect, and publishing world rumors are that even her editor wasn't keen on it, but I think it "clicks".) After worrying that all the excitement surrounding The Time Traveler's Wife was ill-founded (I rarely get excited about the books that seem to be market phenomae), I now feel compelled to go off and read it...

I had read a number of less than stellar reviews for this book but went ahead and bought it because I liked the description of the plot. As it turns out, this is a really great story! I purposefully have not read "The Time Traveler's Wife" yet and will read it after this book. I think sometimes people fall in love with a particular book by an author and put them in a particular box. Then it's hard to see them doing anything different because it doesn't fall within that limited view of that artist's works. Here, give the author credit for doing something different. Also, I would recommend reading it without any preconceived notions.

I want to start this out by saying if you loved The Time Traveler's Wife, forget about it while reading this book. The two books cannot be compared, and as such, you should not go into this book thinking you're going to be reading something like it. This book is almost completely different, but it was wonderful. You know you're reading a good book when you get to know the characters, and you want to know (and you care!) about what happens to them. There are a few story lines in this book, so there are a good number of characters. If this had been written by another author (say, Jane Green) I probably would not have liked it. But, Niffenegger has the ability to make me care about her characters through their own short chapters. Yes, this book is weird at times, but give it a chance, and throw your preconceived notions out the window. And please, please forget about The Time Traveler's Wife before you sit down and start reading it.

I was extremely enthralled with the Time Traveler's Wife, as many people who posted comments were. So, it's not a surprise to hear another review mentioning the feeling of being a bit let down. The author is a great writer, and she provides great changes in character perspective, but I had a very difficult time relating to the characters. The Time Traveler's Wife was believable. It had some very far out, almost fantastical ideas (clearly, with time travel), but at the heart of the novel was a human interest story. I story of love and endurance. With Her Fearful Symmetry it was much harder to wrap my head about the more science fiction elements to it.

Do I recommend reading it? Yes. But definitely prepare yourself by knowing it is simply not on the same level as the Time Traveler's Wife.

Ugh! I loved the Time Traveler's Wife. I love ghost stories, and London, and heck-- the New Yorker loved it! I had high hopes for this one. Instead I dumped it at my library's donation box as soon as I finished it. First, all of these characters really need a good mental health professional. From the unnaturally clingy/quasi-sexual twin relationship, to the OCD guy upstairs, I was just wishing that social services would swoop in quick and save them when things started to get too weird. Well, crazy, ill-adjusted people are more interesting to read about, so maybe that's not such a big criticism, but the twin's solution to her "sister problem" was such a BAD IDEA (all caps are necessary here) that I could not suspend my disbelief any longer. It crossed the "too stupid to bear" line. Really, hiring a shrink at that point would have been a much better plan. Why on earth did no one suggest it? Plus, that twisty ending? I think the author must have fallen asleep on one of her flights to London while that movie "Skeleton Key" was seeping into her unconscious mind.

This was highly recommended to me by an owner of a bookshop in Nantucket. I was looking for something I could get into right away and become engrossed. She said she couldn't put it down. Three weeks later I just did and am scratching my head at its purpose and meaning. I thought all of the characters- especially the females - were insipid and unlikeable. No depth, no empathy, no drive, no spark...The most likeable character was Martin, the OCD neighbor upstairs. I think his role was supposed to have some meaning but for the life of me I couldn't figure it out. I shouldn't have to work this hard on something unless its a classic. Also, the meager personalities served up by the author kept seeming to sway from one character to the next. First Julia is meanspirited and Valentina is sweet then the reverse. The same is true of their mother(s). I did not get a sense of real bonding or love between any of these identical twins. In fact, their disdain for each other was irritating. Reading this book was like being underwater and trying to listen to someone speak to you - frustrating, blurry and unsuccessful.

This book is about a place, and people, that I initially didn't think I would be able to relate to, let alone care about. But the writing was so astonishingly good that I stuck with it, as the backstory slowly revealed itself and the characters became flesh, and whoosh-- there went the first three hundred pages.
Then, yuck. Not just because the plot took a morally and spiritually sickening turn.. we've all become accustomed to that in "modern" literature.. No, it was because absolutely no foundation had been laid for it.. and it made no sense. One minute we have Valentina, a twin chafing under what she sees as her sister's overbearing treatment of her. Then one minute later, with no warning, her solution to this is to have her soul removed--by her mother no less, her body kept alive--barely-- and literally encrypted, then pulled out and reanimated-- so she can then go somewhere else, presumably, and live her life away from everything and everyone she knows, including her own identity. Valentina, you are a beautiful young woman with a million pounds in the bank! There are easier ways to adjust your relationship with your sister! This is not just creepy and repugnant, it's idiotic, and an insult to the reader.
..And I'm not even getting into the mother-aunt switch, nearly equally idiotic..
The author slogs on until the thing dribbles to a sort-of finish. What a waste of some of the best writing out there. Shame on you, Ms. Niffenegger.

because this book doesn't do much for the first three quarters. After meeting all the characters I was waiting for something to happen. Things pick up in the last quarter with a few plot twists. The fourth star was earned here because I had to see how things turned out.

I couldn't help comparing this book to Niffenegger's first effort. Like other reviewers I found it lacking. Some of the scenes from The Time Traveler's Wife I will remember forever. I will remember the quirky Poole twins and the quirky London they found, but not with the strong emotions I felt after finishing TTW.

Ms. Niffenegger is a beautiful writer. Most everyone agrees that her sentences are glorious. I think the disagreement comes from her character development.

I think her characters are fabulous. Though I have no evidence of this, I also think a lot of the criticism of her chacter development comes more from a dislike of (or more probably mixed feelings about) a character. Disliking a character in a novel doesn't mean it's a bad character. In fact, I feel it's the opposite. The characters in Her Fearful Symmetry, defy easy categorization. At various times I hated almost every character in this novel, but I never thought they were bad characters.

As I read this book I found myself getting drawn deeper and deeper into the characters' lives. Though some of their actions seemed a little "out there" to me, each move felt realistic from that character's perspective (not the external reader). I honestly believe she would not be taking such heat on this front if she had simply punched out stereotypical white hats and black hats.

As for the novel itself, ... The writing is beautiful and I feel the characters were well developed. I even liked the story line. Two things prevent me from giving it 5 stars. First, I don't think Niffenegger spent enough time on Ellspeth's dilemma in the novel's most crucial moment. [Niffenegger, by the way, did a great job of foreshadowing that crucial moment and the big decision that was going to have to be made. Unlike many writers, however, she didn't pound the reader over the head with its obviousness. It was a nice touch, a writer who trusts her readers to see the situation developing.] Second, the ending felt rushed. I was enjoying the "post-climax" lives of the readers when suddently the story ended. Maybe the book had just gotten too long or maybe Ms. Niffenegger simply didn't know how to end it. Of course it's possible she ended it exactly the way she wanted. Still, I felt a little cheated by the sudden ending.

Outside of those two criticisms, this was one of the very best books I've read all year. It's a beautifullly writen, well-plotted story, with interesting characters. Once I'd properly met all the characters, I couldn't stop reading. No, it wasn't as good as Time Traveler's Wife (in my opinion), but it was a much better second novel than most that I've eagerly awaited.

Years ago as a new teacher I took a class of very bright grade eights to see Franco Zeffirelli's film "Romeo and Juliet." It was touching out on the street afterwards to see so many young people a little disoriented with many tears flowing.

We have all been raised on romance adventure in which the author has arranged human life so that miraculously our fears are allayed and Hugh Grant and the heroine surmount the insurmountable and live happily ever after. When you see the ending of Romeo and Juliet through fresh romantic eyes the meaning of human tragedy drives through your heart like a stake. True love may die despite our feelings to the contrary. The quest for truth beauty and love may fail but we learn from the experience and move on with hope none the less.

I began reading "Her fearful symmetry" simply because I liked the reviewing praises on the book jacket. I don't believe in ghosts and am not particularly a romantic. Nonetheless and in short order I was captivated by evidence of meticulous historical research into the history of a famous London graveyard, the attraction and antipathy that can develop between identical twins, and the trials of loving somebody with obsessive-compulsive disorder. There is also a theme reminiscent of "The Kite Runner" by Khaled Hosseini, that hiding family secrets invariably compounds tragedy in the end.

In the midst of these three wonderful parallel and related stories, I was seduced into accepting the premise that there may be a ghostly world out there, that spirits may be confined to space and function for some reason of which they and we may be unaware.

Once having been so seduced I was hooked to the end. I refuse to give away that ending, except to say that you must abandon hope of a tidy romantic resolution to this many-layered plot.

I'm afraid to say that I found the other reviews of this book a little insubstantial. It is a magnificent achievement and a wonderful read which I recommend to those who can bear trying to understand love within a context of prolific and upsetting death, and who want to understand the tension between powerful attraction and the need for independent life.

Keep an open mind, and for God's sake read the damn book.

I think this book was slow. And the plot, twins and ghosts with agendas, was oddly reminiscent of Lois Duncan's Stranger With My Face. I also sensed a retread from Ms. Niffenegger's The Three Incestuous sisters ... flying around rooms, being jealous of sister's lovers and babies that drain their mothers (no pun intended). I guess you could say that Ms. N is true to what interests her. [Listened to the audio cds in my car whilst commuting. Reader Bianca Amato was "meh." At times I wondered if it was some sort of joke -- an English person doing American accents as badly as the English claim Americans do theirs. She really could not do American accents. No matter what she read, she inflected consistent with her posh English accent and so the Poole girls sounded annoying and vapid. Pronunciation alone does not a perfect rendition of dialect make.]

This novel is a ghost story...a mystery...a love story...a psychological examination of OCD...a revelation about the lives of twins...a delving into relationships...and if that weren't enough there is also a Kitten of Death!

I found Audrey Niffenegger's writing to be easygoing and compelling at the same time. Her characters in this book are so well defined that I felt I had perhaps peeked into their flat while on a trip to England. It has a very English flavor since British terminology and spelling is used throughout.

As was the case with the author's prior book, Time Traveler's Wife, you must suspend your belief a bit to enjoy the story, but the unique premise is very smoothly introduced. The readers are given a set of twins who inherit their young aunt's flat after she has died of leukemia. The Aunt and the twins' mother were also twins, who happened to have a potentially devastating secret that has kept them apart since the young twins were babies. The girls are eager to find some answers to that mystery between their mother and aunt, and they are ready to leave home and begin their lives so they take the leap to London.

Once the young twins inhabit the flat, they realize that their Aunt is "trapped" there as a ghost. There is also a man in the flat above them who is "trapped" in his flat with a severe case of OCD. One of the girls feels "trapped" by her twin's possessiveness and bulllying. Every one of them wants to find a way out of their situation, but who will? And, how? Quite an unexpected twist alters everything...

I thought this was an excellent tale that also touched upon real relationship issues and the bond between us all, good or bad, healthy or not.I highly recommend it as it was truly entertaining.

It took me 2 weeks to read this novel which is a clear indicator that I simply don't like it. Having always been attacted to gothic literature I was anticipating a fine read and expected it would be very different from her first book.

To put it bluntly, this is one of the most dull books I have read all year. The author knows how to put words together which is its only redeeming factor. I got about halfway into the book and realized how ridiculous the ending would be; and it was. I have to say this is more of a science fiction novel than a gothic.

Robert and Michael were well-developed characters which entertained me to a certain degree. Forget the others.

I forged through this novel, finished it last night, and am happy to say farewell and "Amen". Hope she does better next time.

This story is amazing, one of my favorite ghost stories of all time! If you're looking for a ghost story that's not considered horror or gore, than this is the book for you. Flow is steady and character development is top-notch. Highly recommend!

This book was incredibly entertaining to me, and I was pretty amazed to find all of the negative reviews today. As a librarian I recommend and suggest books for others all of the time so I always quiz my patrons about likes and interests in order to come up with a suggestion. Why did I like it? I love London, I love ghost stories, I love exploring and knowing the histories of old cemeteries, and I love quirky characters. The combination of these aspects in this book made it a huge winner for me. Last night I couldn't put the book down for the final 1/4 of it just because I had to see how it ended. I would have hated to have missed this book if I had made my decision based upon the reviews. For me, it was a great read.

I think because I enjoyed The Time Traveler's Wife so much I set my expectations too high for this book and was bound to be disappointed so I'll give the author the benefit of the doubt. However, I truly was not impressed with this book. The story centers around two generations of twin sisters and the events that bring them together and tear them apart. It is also a love story and a ghost story...but unfortunately it is also a lackluster story.

It begins when one of the twins sisters dies and leaves her apartment in France to her American twin nieces. The premise of the story is very good, but it just didn't deliver. The book is told from so many points of view that we do not get to know any of the characters in depth. Consequently, I ended up not caring about any of the characters... or at least not the main characters. The most interesting person in the book is an upstairs neighbor with OCD, and I cared more about his story than the twins. Also, I felt like the ending of the story was telegraphed way before we got there so the "plot twists" were not at all surprising. If you've seen any scary movies in the past decade you can already guess how this will end. Hopefully, Audrey Niffenegger will improve in her future works because she has so much potential. The book is not entirely horrible and there are some great moments of suspense, so it might still be worth reading.

I was so disappointed by this book. It started out well but then it just got...odd. I actually thought the author really liked the movie Ghost and stole some elements from the movie. The author spend a lot of time in the beginning of the book helping us get to know the characters, but then the twists didn't seem to go along with who the characters were. Most of them weren't even very likable not had too much depth. The only reason I finished it was bc I wanted to find out how it ended.

I really wanted to be wrong about the twist ending. Suddenly, in this story that doesn't really seem to be going anywhere, the foreshadowing of what's going to happen hits you like a frying pan to the head. Until then, the book is really nothing more than character studies and ruminations on the gilded cage of twinhood. Very interesting but very little in the way of plot. When everything does play out, you may be left thinking, as I did, of all the 80s made for TV movies you've seen. In a screwy way, everything is tidy and as it should be but only gets there with unbelievable plot contrivances.

You couldn't call me a "guy's guy," but I demur at watching some weepy movie with my wife - especially if the Superbowl is on. But I must thank our friend Carmen for sending a bunch of "chick books" (or so I thought of them) a few months ago. One of them was "The Time Traveler's Wife" by Audrey Niffenegger, and without anything to read I picked it up, thinking that the Science Fiction nature of the plot might amuse me.

If you've read that book, you'll know that the hero's time traveling was treated in everyday manner, and the real story was the love between him and his eventual wife. I was very impressed by that book, and I was glad to see that Audrey had a new book coming, and even more pleased when I got it through the store Vine. "Her Fearful Symmetry" is an even better book, and I'm astounded at the remarks of some people here that it's not up to "Time Traveler's" standard. Let me explain.

When the first two words in a book are "Elspeth died," and Elspeth is one of the main characters, you know you're likely to be reading a ghost story, and this is what this is. In the first part of the book, we're introduced to the characters - Elspeth's estranged twin sister, who has married and moved to Chicago and has herself given birth to twin girls who have never met Elspeth. The twins (as I'll now call them) are approaching 21, very self-absorbed, and astounded to find that their aunt Elspeth has left them her London apartment and the remainder of her million pound estate - so long as the twins live in the apartment for a year, without their parents.

With little to keep them in Chicago, the twins decide to move to London. Robert lives in the downstairs apartment. He is Elspeth's old boyfriend, and studying the history of the Highgate Cemetery that backs on to the house, and upstairs are Martin, the Obsessive-Compulsive crossword creator and his Dutch wife Marijke who is about to leave him because she cannot stand his compulsive behaviour. And of course Elspeth, who is buried in the family tomb in the cemetery.

That leaves us with the self-absorbed twins, the grieving boyfriend, and the compulsive crossword maker - and the ghost. This seemed to me at this point as characters who could behave in cliches, and were this some made-for-TV series you could see yourself yawning through an obvious plot - a Chick Flick.

Audrey has the ability to avoid cliches, and from then on the book goes in unpredictable ways - ways that only seem obvious after they happen. I read this book over several evenings, and I wished it didn't end. The writing is luminous - it's the best book I've read all year. I used to live in London (and apparently so did Ms. Niffenegger) and the atmosphere is perfectly rendered. So too is Highgate Cemetery (where Ms. Niffenegger is a guide) where better-off people from Victorian times onwards were buried.

I don't know if you read "Time Traveler" and over six years of waiting since then, you have a strict interpretation of what Audrey should write. I do know that she doesn't want to see the movie, because she handed it over and someone else interpreted the story. So if Audrey can do that with her own work, perhaps you can admit that you don't own Audrey, and that she's not forced to write what you want. I'm also amazed that anyone is confused by the English spelling - if this was a book that was first published in Britain, chances are that that the spelling would be English.

So, like I said, the best book I've read all year. I hope we don't have to wait for another six years for the next Niffenegger novel. While writing this review I read parts of the book again to get details right, and I found myself reading many pages and once again being impressed about how good it is.

I really enjoyed The Time Traveler's Wife, so I waited impatiently when I heard Audrey Niffenegger was writing another novel. The minute I saw this book, I bought it.

The characters are very engaging - each has a story, a background, a personality. Even the twins, the main characters, who are a bit weird in the beginning, really grab the heart of the reader, and you cheer for them throughout the narrative. Niffenegger's incredible imagery and gift for dialogue are breathtaking.

However, I have to agree with the other reviews: the ending is so bizarre and abrupt, I was shocked. She had the reader fall in love with sensible, frustrated creatures who became irrational, unlikable beings by the last page. Very disappointing.

Niffenegger's Time Traveler's Wife is one of my all-time favorite books; thus, I was very interested to read Her Fearful Symmetry as a follow-up novel. In HFS, I thoroughly enjoyed her rule-breaking approach to love and ghost stories. I found the book creative and original. I did find it difficult at times to keep up with who was who, and what happened to each character. I feel that Niffenegger needed more developmental time for HFS but perhaps she was pressured to publish after TTW so this book didn't spend as much time 'in the cooker.'

My favorite aspect of the book is the character development of Martin, the OCD neighbor. Elspeth is a complex spirit down to the end. I love the intertwining of the characters' fates. Also, I appreciated the juxtaposition of American vs. English traits.

While this book is not without its flaws, I am prone to excuse them for its originality and creativity, and the haunting nature of the characters (no pun intended). Also, it pushes the shadow side of love: what is allowable? Niffenegger's 2nd book is worth a read.

This story is amazing, one of my favorite ghost stories of all time! If you're looking for a ghost story that's not considered horror or gore, than this is the book for you. Flow is steady and character development is top-notch. Highly recommend!

This book was incredibly entertaining to me, and I was pretty amazed to find all of the negative reviews today. As a librarian I recommend and suggest books for others all of the time so I always quiz my patrons about likes and interests in order to come up with a suggestion. Why did I like it? I love London, I love ghost stories, I love exploring and knowing the histories of old cemeteries, and I love quirky characters. The combination of these aspects in this book made it a huge winner for me. Last night I couldn't put the book down for the final 1/4 of it just because I had to see how it ended. I would have hated to have missed this book if I had made my decision based upon the reviews. For me, it was a great read.

I think because I enjoyed The Time Traveler's Wife so much I set my expectations too high for this book and was bound to be disappointed so I'll give the author the benefit of the doubt. However, I truly was not impressed with this book. The story centers around two generations of twin sisters and the events that bring them together and tear them apart. It is also a love story and a ghost story...but unfortunately it is also a lackluster story.

It begins when one of the twins sisters dies and leaves her apartment in France to her American twin nieces. The premise of the story is very good, but it just didn't deliver. The book is told from so many points of view that we do not get to know any of the characters in depth. Consequently, I ended up not caring about any of the characters... or at least not the main characters. The most interesting person in the book is an upstairs neighbor with OCD, and I cared more about his story than the twins. Also, I felt like the ending of the story was telegraphed way before we got there so the "plot twists" were not at all surprising. If you've seen any scary movies in the past decade you can already guess how this will end. Hopefully, Audrey Niffenegger will improve in her future works because she has so much potential. The book is not entirely horrible and there are some great moments of suspense, so it might still be worth reading.

I was so disappointed by this book. It started out well but then it just got...odd. I actually thought the author really liked the movie Ghost and stole some elements from the movie. The author spend a lot of time in the beginning of the book helping us get to know the characters, but then the twists didn't seem to go along with who the characters were. Most of them weren't even very likable not had too much depth. The only reason I finished it was bc I wanted to find out how it ended.

I really wanted to be wrong about the twist ending. Suddenly, in this story that doesn't really seem to be going anywhere, the foreshadowing of what's going to happen hits you like a frying pan to the head. Until then, the book is really nothing more than character studies and ruminations on the gilded cage of twinhood. Very interesting but very little in the way of plot. When everything does play out, you may be left thinking, as I did, of all the 80s made for TV movies you've seen. In a screwy way, everything is tidy and as it should be but only gets there with unbelievable plot contrivances.

You couldn't call me a "guy's guy," but I demur at watching some weepy movie with my wife - especially if the Superbowl is on. But I must thank our friend Carmen for sending a bunch of "chick books" (or so I thought of them) a few months ago. One of them was "The Time Traveler's Wife" by Audrey Niffenegger, and without anything to read I picked it up, thinking that the Science Fiction nature of the plot might amuse me.

If you've read that book, you'll know that the hero's time traveling was treated in everyday manner, and the real story was the love between him and his eventual wife. I was very impressed by that book, and I was glad to see that Audrey had a new book coming, and even more pleased when I got it through the store Vine. "Her Fearful Symmetry" is an even better book, and I'm astounded at the remarks of some people here that it's not up to "Time Traveler's" standard. Let me explain.

When the first two words in a book are "Elspeth died," and Elspeth is one of the main characters, you know you're likely to be reading a ghost story, and this is what this is. In the first part of the book, we're introduced to the characters - Elspeth's estranged twin sister, who has married and moved to Chicago and has herself given birth to twin girls who have never met Elspeth. The twins (as I'll now call them) are approaching 21, very self-absorbed, and astounded to find that their aunt Elspeth has left them her London apartment and the remainder of her million pound estate - so long as the twins live in the apartment for a year, without their parents.

With little to keep them in Chicago, the twins decide to move to London. Robert lives in the downstairs apartment. He is Elspeth's old boyfriend, and studying the history of the Highgate Cemetery that backs on to the house, and upstairs are Martin, the Obsessive-Compulsive crossword creator and his Dutch wife Marijke who is about to leave him because she cannot stand his compulsive behaviour. And of course Elspeth, who is buried in the family tomb in the cemetery.

That leaves us with the self-absorbed twins, the grieving boyfriend, and the compulsive crossword maker - and the ghost. This seemed to me at this point as characters who could behave in cliches, and were this some made-for-TV series you could see yourself yawning through an obvious plot - a Chick Flick.

Audrey has the ability to avoid cliches, and from then on the book goes in unpredictable ways - ways that only seem obvious after they happen. I read this book over several evenings, and I wished it didn't end. The writing is luminous - it's the best book I've read all year. I used to live in London (and apparently so did Ms. Niffenegger) and the atmosphere is perfectly rendered. So too is Highgate Cemetery (where Ms. Niffenegger is a guide) where better-off people from Victorian times onwards were buried.

I don't know if you read "Time Traveler" and over six years of waiting since then, you have a strict interpretation of what Audrey should write. I do know that she doesn't want to see the movie, because she handed it over and someone else interpreted the story. So if Audrey can do that with her own work, perhaps you can admit that you don't own Audrey, and that she's not forced to write what you want. I'm also amazed that anyone is confused by the English spelling - if this was a book that was first published in Britain, chances are that that the spelling would be English.

So, like I said, the best book I've read all year. I hope we don't have to wait for another six years for the next Niffenegger novel. While writing this review I read parts of the book again to get details right, and I found myself reading many pages and once again being impressed about how good it is.

I really enjoyed The Time Traveler's Wife, so I waited impatiently when I heard Audrey Niffenegger was writing another novel. The minute I saw this book, I bought it.

The characters are very engaging - each has a story, a background, a personality. Even the twins, the main characters, who are a bit weird in the beginning, really grab the heart of the reader, and you cheer for them throughout the narrative. Niffenegger's incredible imagery and gift for dialogue are breathtaking.

However, I have to agree with the other reviews: the ending is so bizarre and abrupt, I was shocked. She had the reader fall in love with sensible, frustrated creatures who became irrational, unlikable beings by the last page. Very disappointing.

Niffenegger's Time Traveler's Wife is one of my all-time favorite books; thus, I was very interested to read Her Fearful Symmetry as a follow-up novel. In HFS, I thoroughly enjoyed her rule-breaking approach to love and ghost stories. I found the book creative and original. I did find it difficult at times to keep up with who was who, and what happened to each character. I feel that Niffenegger needed more developmental time for HFS but perhaps she was pressured to publish after TTW so this book didn't spend as much time 'in the cooker.'

My favorite aspect of the book is the character development of Martin, the OCD neighbor. Elspeth is a complex spirit down to the end. I love the intertwining of the characters' fates. Also, I appreciated the juxtaposition of American vs. English traits.

While this book is not without its flaws, I am prone to excuse them for its originality and creativity, and the haunting nature of the characters (no pun intended). Also, it pushes the shadow side of love: what is allowable? Niffenegger's 2nd book is worth a read.

I just finished, "Her Fearful Symmetry," by Audrey Niffenger.

I really, really wanted to love this book. I am such a huge fan of The Time Traveler's Wife and was looking forward to this book more than I can say.

This story is about two sets of twins- Elspeth & Edie and Edie's daughters Julie & Valentina. Elspeth passes away and bequeaths all of her estate and belongings to her nieces, Julie & Valentina. There is only one way to cash in on their inheritance though and it is to live in her old apartment for one year and their family is not allowed to enter.

The girls head to London to live in the flat and find that Elspeth is still residing there...in ghostly form. She is unable to pass into the next life and her soul is trapped in the house.

The girls get to know their neighbors like Robert, who is Elspeth's former lover, and Martin, a man left by his wife because of his debilitating OCD. The story follows them as the girls explore London and Elspeth's home.

Valentina begins to want to separate herself from her twin and become an individual while her sister craves the sameness that they have always had. In order to become independent, Valentina makes a decision that leads to consequences the reader will never expect.

While I enjoyed the book, it was nothing like what I had expected. I had a little difficulty following all of the different stories and characters that were woven into this story and I found the ending to have a great twist, but not one I could relate to or as believable as I would hope.

Regardless, it was a great read with a great deal of creativity and the history of London weaved in.

A complete waste of time and energy. This book was horrible. The wording was professional and well edited but the plot was awful. Also, the ending was one of the worst I've ever read. i absolutely loved TTTW so I was excited to read this. It was a complete let down.

I was skeptical when I picked up this book because The Time Travelers Wife is my favorite book but I read other reviews that said none of this author's books had the same appeal. But this was on sale in the discount section so I decided to give it a shot. There were some parts of the book that were interesting and left me wanting more but then there were these filler chapters in between that didn't really add any depth to the story. And as the story progressed I became less interested but decided to make it through to the end in hopes that there would be some meaningful ending that would tie everything together. Boy was I wrong! This book ended so bizarrely I was confused, upset, and annoyed all at once. I couldn't believe I wasted my time just waiting to get to one of the worst endings ever. Ugh, what a waste.

I wanted to love this book given that I never read The Time Travelers Wife and wanted to catch the excitement that this author has generated. Unfortunately, after the first ten pages I found myself quickly skimming through the book. While I generally enjoy a quietly plotted novel, which is what this would be classified as for its relative lack of action, in such cases I would rely on compelling characters to keep me reading. Unfortunately, neither the central characters nor the peripheral provide the emotional pull that would have us avidly following their story. Even the ending feels like a book that simply ran out of steam rather than providing satisfying conclusions that readers hope for after entering the author's world and sharing a journey of many pages.

I am giving it 3 stars because it was well written and I liked the characters, but I am having a hard time recommending it. It was good enough to finish and I was finding some enjoyment, until about the last third of the book. That is when it became a bit twisted and predictable. Don't expect the same quality as The Time Traveler's Wife. For more detail, there are wordy, good reviews about this book.........I wouldn't discount it with one or two stars, but I admit that giving it 3 stars was a push for me. It was disappointing.

I've had this book on my bookshelf since 2010, and I finally read it. As expected, Niffenegger's writing is confident and rewarding, emotional and logical. I loved the premise and the setting--but the ending very nearly ruined the entire book for me. The characters end up making some of the most selfish decisions I've ever read, and not in the way that is fun to read. It felt almost like a betrayal to characters I'd spent 300 pages getting to know very well. It made my stomach hurt.

MAJOR SPOILER ALERT!!!!!
I cannot write a review of this book without talking about spoilers, so if you're considering reading the book, stop here.

I have never had a book evoke so much anger in me. Learning that I'd been lied to for years as a child about Santa Claus didn't piss me off this much. This potentially great book was a waste of the authors time and all the paper it's printed on. What started out as great story turned completely sewer-worthy about halfway through by one huge stupid idea that was ridiculous as well as selfish and completely void of empathy and logic.
Two young twins moved into a flat in London located on the property of a famous cemetery where prominent people were buried. The flat was willed to the twins by their Aunt whom they'd never met. They soon discovered the Aunt's ghost was also living in the flat, but once they could communicate with her, all was friendly. Along with other interesting residents in the building which included the Aunt's boyfriend downstairs, and an OCD man upstairs who's wife had just left him, it made for a very interesting story. The Aunt and the twins' mother - also twins, had not spoken in years, and the secrecy surrounding their estranged relationship, in addition to the developing relationships between the twins and building tenants, gave the story plenty of mystery and possible story lines. But after the ghostly Aunt accidentally caught the resident kitten's spirit, pulling it out and rendering him dead, and then re-installing it, (yes, I'm not kidding) the twin who wanted nothing more than to be free of her over-bearing sister, conjured a scheme to be temporarily killed and brought back to life so she could escape. I was baffled by this ridiculous idea and thought it would be cast off as that, ridiculous! The dead-Aunt's boyfriend who lived downstairs had to be involved to move and hide the lifeless body and keep it cold, and then return it to the flat so the Aunt could put the spirit back in it - all without anyone noticing. I must mention here that the boyfriend had also started dating this twin. Insane, yes? YES!!!! Especially since the Aunt had practiced on the poor kitten a second time and failed, but they went through with it anyway!!! OMG!!! What happened here? I thought for sure the boyfriend would REFUSE to help with such an elaborate and cockamamy plot. I'm all for odd and interesting turns in a storyline but this was a loser of an idea. And just when you think they might pull it off, what happens? The spirit in the body is not the young girl, but the Aunt herself - who it turns out was actually the real mother of the twins. Motherly love or what? OH MY GOD. How wrong can this go? Wait, there's more! So the two original spirits are back together to live happily ever after - right? Wrong. The boyfriend's guilt got the better of him. He couldn't handle what an evil deed he'd participated in, especially having to look at the face of the budding relationship he could have had, but who was now inhabited by a much older spirit. So he eventually left her. PREGNANT! LOL - I'm still in disbelief and disgust. I'm still angry!!! Oh, I almost forgot. The dead twin was eventually freed from the apartment by being carried in her sisters mouth to the out-of-doors and was apparently happy. That's ...........nice (?)

Oh how I hate to say it, I desperately wanted to fall as deeply in love with "Her Fearful Symmetry" as I did with "Time Traveler's Wife", but it was not to be so. I have to admit I was not so enchanted with this book. While the same magical way of storytelling is there, the same talent of writing point of view, characters, scenery, and personalities, some of the events in this book put me off a little. One example of such ideas would be the idea that ghosts can take your soul out of your body and kill you. This kind of creeped me out, as did the plan concocted by some of the characters around this idea. It was at this point that the book lost it's magic and charm for me and just became kind of creepy and weird. It's not a horrible read by any means, but just a little off, in my opinion. I recommend it to ghost story lovers (even though this isn't really scary) and the people who read "Time Traveler's Wife". I greatly enjoyed the parts of the story that were not about the killing creepy ghost, and some of the peripheral characters are wonderfully charming.

I was looking forward to reading this book after reading Time-Traveller's wife. I previewed the first page in a bookstore, and it looked like it would be a good read. It was a great disappointment. It was not so bad that I didn't finish it - but I did skip sections because I found it to be tedious, I didn't care about any of the characters, and I wanted it to end.

Niffeneger combines 3 subplots. The 3rd subplot (Martin and Julia) has no relation whatever to the other two, although the characters interact. The behavior of the characters in the two main subplots was incomprehensible. It was never clear to me why Valentina was suddenly so determined to leave Julia - and why she didn't just walk out the door.

Initially I thought that I would love this book, after all I had loved The Time Travellers Wife. However; this was not the case. While the plot was interesting, the characters and plot were jerky and disjointed, as if they were a salad that had been thrown together with whatever was in the fridge instead of a normal salad. To be honest I did not make it more than halfway through the book before I stopped reading it. While I typically like this sort of novel, this book simply did not cut it for me, and I would not recommend it to other readers

I've never had a book leaving me feeling so disappointed and depressed after reading it. It was one that I slowly got into as the story developed. The question "where is this going?" kept me reading until half way through I was having trouble putting it down. Then out of nowhere the main character creates a plan that makes ABSOLUTELY no sense... "surely this isn't going to happen..." And it does... So many of the once likeable characters do things that are just amoral and unforgivable that you are left with no compassion for anyone. The main character that I identified most with became such a tragic figure... meek her whole life but desperately wanting more and finally ends up completely invisible.
The book really had no resolution and just left me feeling disgusted after reading it

Pretty silly; a ghost story whose plot and motivations don't make much sense. However, the setting, and information about Highgate Cemetery, are interesting and engaging. Niffenegger is a fluent writer, even when silly. And the story delivered one genuine frisson, when the ghost that reanimates a corpse turns out to be the wrong one, who steals the body. The audio-book narrator, Bianca Amayo, is excellent, rendering both British and American voices with variety and nuance.

I LOVED the Time Travellers Wife soo much I waited until I was going on a long trip to purchase this book so that my time waiting in airports, and flying could be spent engrossed in a page turner and it would go by fast. It was hard to force myself to wait to read this once I saw it on the shelves. OH MAN WHAT A DISAPPOINTMENT. I was bored from the start, got interested only about half way through and thought the end was soo terribly bad I cannot stop thinking about how awful it was. How the heck did this book win awards? First of all, I am a twin and twin sisters are not like that and do not sleep in the same bed together. It was strange, almost incestual (but doesn't she have a book about incestual sisters anyway?) slow to get moving, and once she had your interest she disappointed you terribly. This may have been the worst book I ever read, but to Audrey's credit I usually just do not bother to finish books I hate so I am sure this is worse out there.

I enjoyed this book for the most part, but I did not like the last quarter very much. It was kind of strange, and bothered me for a reason that I can't quite pinpoint. The end seemed to go on for a bit too long, though had it stopped earlier there would not have been much finality. Basically, I don't really know what I think. But I did enjoy 3/4 of the book, so I would consider it worthwhile, and I of course adored The Time Traveler's Wife, so that authomatically improves my opinion of anything written by Niffenegger.

I had really high hopes for this novel, considering how much I loved reading The Time Traveler's Wife. It turns out that this was just a different kind of book. More ghost story than love story, the twin main characters in this book have a flatness to them that made it hard to connect. The story goes back and forth between several characters without really developing any one. I think I had my hopes set too high to really enjoy what this book was; good for a rainy day with a hot cup of tea and nothing better to do.

I suppose the best way to describe this book is as 'quirky'. If you pick it up expecting another TTW you'll probably be disappointed as it's very different. Nevertheless there's much to admire here, from the unusual but engaging and eccentric cast of characters, to the creepy atmosphere of Highgate Cemetery, to the myriad of unexpected details that really bring the narrative to life. I've seen that other people though the ending far-fetched or predictable but I have to say that personally I never saw it coming, while the final coda left me chilled to the bone.

i'm not sure why people persist in comparing this book to the time traveler's wife. why do that? they are two different books, the stories are completely different. if there was something about ttw that you adored, does that mean the same something must be present in any book you might love in the future?? what difference does it make that the same author wrote both books? i have read many authors whose books are vastly different from each other and each excellent in their own way. examples include barbara kingsolver, john irving, joyce carol oates... i don't recall anyone discounting the genius of hotel new hampshire because it didn't give them the identical tingle as the world according to garp... it's silly to compare these two niffenegger books. they are both excellent books in their own right. in fact, i enjoyed symmetry (which i read first) a bit more than ttw. i'm about 3/4 of the way through ttw and it's taking me much longer to get through than hfs. i am enjoying it, it's just not captivating me the way hfs did. but i am not sitting there reading it comparing it to ttw. that's silly, imo.

Audrey Niffenegger is a fantastic author and the way she writes immerses you into the story. While I loved the Time Traveler's Wife, I knew going into this book that it wouldn't be comparable; therefore, I kept it out of my mind as I read. It started off a little slow, which I didn't mind. She set up the characters well and I become genuinely interested in all of them and their fates. Then, one of the main characters comes up with an idea that is completely stupid and ridiculous and you just know: this is the main plot of this story. I kept reading, hoping that I was wrong, because it was a very weak idea, definitely not well thought out by the character. (It's like Ms. Niffenegger knew where she wanted to started and where she wanted to end up but had trouble bridging the ideas together and chose a terrible way to do it.) They go through with the idea, things go predictably wrong, and the book ends--rather rushed--really weird/disturbing and not at all satisfactory. While I don't want a fluffy, everybody lives happily ever after ending, I want some satisfaction if I just spent a few days wrapped up in a book. Like I've said, Ms. Niffenegger is a great author and I had to keep reading to find out what happened next, it's just that when I found out, I was severely disappointed. I think the story could have been tweaked a bit to make the plot stronger but I can't say much more than that without giving anything away.

So I found the writing itself to be really well done despite thinking the plot was so weak and disappointing. There is definite literary value in this novel and even what I consider to be a terrible plot has an undeniable symmetry to other events in the book; therefore, I suppose I can see why she chose it, I just still don't think it was the best way to go about it. The beginning had a good idea and the end had a very interesting idea, the link between them was just lacking in my opinion. It's worth the read to formulate your own opinion; however, definitely don't go into it thinking it'll be anything like the TTW. That being said, I continue to enjoy Ms. Niffenegger's writing and look forward to her next book.

I usually enjoy stretching my imagination with sci-fi, fantasy, and dystopic novels. This one was just plain creepy. A ghost is a main character. A cemetery is major as far as the setting goes. I agree with many of the reviewers that the last 1/3 of the book is poorly written. The plot was well developed up to that point, then it didn't make sense. I was not at all satisfied with the ending.

I haven't read "The Time Traveler's Wife" and after this book, I don't think I will.
This started off as a very interesting story. You feel for the characters.....then somewhere, about half way along, it turns....sort of like two different people wrote it, as if someone decided to finish a story without reading the previous chapters. It gets dark, and very unsetteling. The ending was awful. I was like, "what happened? did I miss something? Skip a chaper?" You don't "get" what happened. You don't get answers. It's like working on a five hundred piece puzzle, only to find out in the end, that the last two pieces are missing.When I finished, I felt great disappointment in the time I felt I had now "wasted" reading this book!

There are good and bad points to this book.
The BAD: This book was more than 400 pages long. It's not ridiculously long as far as books go, but it felt like 10,000 pages. It so slooooow going. I keep on reading and it seems like nothing ever happens. That the girls never do anything but watch TV and Robert does nothing but shadow them. It's like that for half the book. COME ON... pick up the pace! Finally it gets going after the 2nd half and whizzes by in the last 20 pages. The last 20 pages was definitely my favorite part of the book. But then... the ending was all confusing. WHY did Robert do what he did? What does it mean? What does the girl's Escape mean? It's so confusing. Did Elspeth plan on taking over? If so, then she truly is evil. So confusing. Another thing I didn't like - how both of the girls were attracted to SUCH older men. EWWW!!!

The GOOD: Great setting. The author described the cemetery and England very well. I've never been there and i can picture it perfectly. Also, the last 20 pages were pretty good. Also, this is a very unusual story. I've never read anything of this style or plot or subject. I liked how the author used totally British slang, and even though i didn't know exactly what it meant, i still understood the general idea.

Overall... this book is NOT worth reading. It's just a lot of nothing. I think the characters could have been developed better (I understood Martin better then the girls). I think the story could have been shortened by a LOT. The endings are all unfinished, confusing. And the author could have put more interesting events into the plot.

Shallow, self-serving and deceitful characters? Check. Far-fetched magical solutions to ordinary problems of human existence? Check. This book truly has everything the modern narcissist could ask for! As a bonus we learn that selfishness and deceit don't die with us, we are able to continue engaging in them even after death!

All I can say is that I felt totally robbed of every minute I had spent reading this book when I finished it. The characters didn't grow (or even really grow up). Even Martin, who finally managed to get out of the apartment, had no 'epiphany.' He simply started doing what had been recommended to him years ago. As for the twins, I am speechless. I have sisters who are identical twins and, yes, there are some unique relationship issues surrounding twin-ness, but what these two had going was pathological--more a state of mental illness than some mystical connection they had trouble breaking. The whole 'she'll never let me leave,' thing was belied by the fact that they essentially were living separate lives by the middle of the book. And death and resurrection as the only way to break free? Give me a break. What a typical dramatic gesture for the modern narcissist. Ruin a whole bunch of lives on the way to getting what you want rather than acting like a responsible adult and setting boundaries. Much better to be the star of your own self-induced tragedy than to simply get on with life.

Where to start with Elspeth/Edie? We are forewarned that she was not a nice person--clever, witty, etc--but not nice. Has there ever been a less redeeming character in literature? She is selfish, sadistic (manipulating Jack to sleep with her to break up her twin's engagement) and deceitful. Apparently, dying a painful death did nothing to change her ways. After death, she sets up punishing conditions in her will and then just can't let the people in her life get on with theirs. She has to make herself known ('Look at me! Look at me!') in her non-corporeal form and then plays--literally--with life and death for her own amusement. Her boyfriend, Robert, is apparently the perfect foil for her. He seemingly has very little character of his own, so is obsessed with this narcissist and willingly acts as her pawn in what is the most ridiculous plot device ever committed to paper. When everything goes (predictably) catastrophically wrong, Robert can't even be trusted to use the moral judgment of a 10 year old. He is suspicious of Elspeth, but not suspicious enough to 'keep it in his pants,' despite the fact that she insists on getting her way again (and he clearly suspects she is manipulating), moving them out of the city he loves. So (surprise!) the Frankenstein monster gets pregnant and our hero abandons monster and child to pursue HIS selfish agenda. What sort of a man would leave a child to be raised in the clutches of a ghost/person hybrid?

If you can get past the 'ick' factor of the characters involved, ignore their selfish immaturity and suspend your disbelief long enough to accept the unrealistic story lines, then this just might be the book for you. As for me, I would not have spent one minute with any of these people in real life, so can't recommend that others spend time with them in the literary world.

Recently I saw a tweet about memorable sisters in literature. It reminded me about a book I read by Audrey Niffenegger of The Time Traveller's Wife fame.

In Her Fearful Symmetry, we meet Julia and Valentina, a pair of twins who have recently inherited their deceased aunt's London flat. On the surface the book is an eerie ghost story. But dig deeper and we find out a lot about people and their sometimes unhealthy dependence on each other.

While this book wasn't quite at the genius level The Time Traveller's Wife achieved, there were a few things I liked about it.

One, I'm fascinated with twins, especially since I had a pair of my own, and Niffenegger delves into the unique relational problems facing twins to a satisfying level.

Two, the author does her homework. Apparently she even volunteered at Highgate Cemetery to learn more about the setting. Kind of like a method actor, only with books? I wonder what she did to prepare for writing Julia and Valentina's debilitatingly OCD neighbour.

Three, a nice twisty, juicy storyline. Niffenegger keeps the reader guessing, giving plenty of hints but delivering with a bang.

All in all an entertaining read with complex characters and an impelling plot.

I'm rather surprised so many the store reviewers seem to have hated Her Fearful Symmetry so passionately. While the book's not without its problems, all in all it's nothing but an enjoyable Sunday-afternoon read. The setup's pretty similar to The Time Traveler's Wife--once again, everyday people find themselves in an outrageous, supernatural situation and they adapt to it the best they can. This time, instead of reaching across the borders of time and space, the characters are reaching across the border between the world of the living and the world of the dead.

True, most of the characters are very odd and very flawed, and a lot of the humor is quite dark. This isn't really a novel with a heroic protagonist you are likely to identify with or root for. But not every novel needs that type of character in order to succeed as entertainment. The characters are all definitely *interesting*, and you do want to know what they're going to do next.

And yes, some of the supernatural stuff does come across a tad bit cheesy at times. For the most part, though, Audrey Niffenegger does a pretty good job of pulling it off and making it believable.

We rented the CD's of this book to listen to during our trip to Florida. There are 12 CD's. My wife and I were enthralled by the tale and couldn't wait to play each subsequent CD. We kept conjecturing various story lines and outcomes all throughout the series of CD's. Needless to say the story generated a lot of enthusiastic conversation. However, we found the ending to be extremely disappointing and in no way lived up to the rest of the book. It was quite a let down and we were both baffled by the turn of events. There were so many opportunities to pursue an ending to match the rest of the book and they were missed. I believe the author simply ran out of ideas and took a quick easy exit.

This book was strange and lovely. It's the story of a ghost named Elspeth, her estranged twin Edie, Edie's twin daughters Julia and Valentina, Elspeth's lover Robert and their agoraphobic, obsessive compulsive neighbor, Martin. The setting, Highgate Cemetery and surrounding London, is romantic, creepy and fascinating. The plot is completely original and unpredictable; this book is unlike anything I have ever read. Books like this don't come around that often; read it slowly and savor every word.

While looking to see if Audrey had written any new books since I last checked, I came acroos "Her Fearful Symmetry" and realized I had never written a review. It's been a couple of years since I read this book, but it still haunts me and I recommend it any chance I get. Let me tell you this is not the typical read for me, I am not a huge "horror" fan, but this book stuck. I was completely intrigued with the story, the characters, the "strangeness" of it all. Very well written, flows beautifully, and keeps you begging for more. I don't need to tell you the plot, take my word and read it yourself:) I was surprised it was not at least a 4 star rating, I seriously think it should be if not a 5 as I rated it. Treat yourself, and get ready to be unable to stop turning pages!

I put this book down when I finished and said, "Well, that was a collosal waste of time!" Why did I bother reading the book through? First, I'd learned from her novel, "The Time Traveler's Wife" that suspending disbelief and hanging on through a convoluted plot can have its rewards. Second, Niffenegger created some compelling characters who drew me in. Characterization is her strong suit. Even her description of maturing spirits had some appeal. The set-up was intriguing, but the journey was disappointing and the outcome, though predictable, was repugnant.

You see, the trouble with drawing strong characters is that the reader feels s/he comes to know them, and when their behavior seems to defy their core sensibilities, the reader can rebel and say, 'No, s/he would never do that!', feel betrayed, even disgusted. Even stories that enter the realm of the mysterious and fantastical follow a certain logic. Readers can follow their twists and turns and surprises without complaint, even with delight, but when the characters take leave of their senses for no apparent motive, just to reach a contrived conclusion that perhaps the author intended all along, I begin to feel artlessly manipulated. Even the author herself appeared to become confused with some of her more contrived plot twists; she certainly had trouble describing them.

If Niffenegger indeed envisioned the particular characters, the establishing circumstances (a pair of twins inherit a London flat from an aunt they never met) and the ultimate outcome of her book, it appears to me that she thought "Okay, I've got point A and I know I want to get to point B, and then some stuff happens in between." It's as though she breathed life into her characters,let them do their thing, but they weren't cooperating with their author, so she eventually had to take them in hand to bring the novel to her intended conclusion, seemingly against some of her characters' will. So, here's something that fans of "The Time Traveler's Wife" may not have noticed in its asynchronous structure: perhaps plot is not Audrey Niffenegger's strong suit.

Some parting questions: Okay, Niffenegger has delved into time travel and the supernatural. What will she do for an encore? Will she think up another gimmick and try for her own corner of the Stephen King niche? Or will she go in another direction altogether? And will she do it in American or King's English, or another patois altogether? Now that she's an established author, will she have the courage to let us get to know her without smoke & mirrors?

Although the setting and tone of this book evoke a lovely gothic atmosphere, the story never gains traction. Fair enough, you might say, let the story be as insubstantial as a ghost, just give me a literary stroll through Highgate cemetery with some delightfully Edward-Gorey like characters. That could be enough for most. This novel succeeds in that.

However, I kept finding myself lost and disoriented on this tour. After struggling through a rather slow first third of the book, I felt like the pace finally started to pick up in the middle... the characters were interesting and anything seemed possible. There was a great deal of dramatic building-up but ultimately very little resolution. The final chapters seemed rushed and haphazard. Too many sudden, unresolved twists and turns deposited me at the end feeling exhausted, confused and vaguely depressed.

Come on now all you reviewers that gave this book less than 5 stars. . You loved Time Travelers Wife didn't you? This book is as unpredictable as that one. It's a ghost story! I don't know if your alarm clock didn't go off and you didn't have time to brush your teeth or eat a balanced breakfast this morning or if your mom forgot to pick you up from ballet lessons and you sat on the curb crying until she finally remembered and sent your heavily tattooed stepbrother to get you (not that that ever happened to ME) ---but you need to think again, rewrite your reviews. or read the book again and appreciate the genius of Audrey Nifflingetter, Niffenbauchin, Necromancy...whatever. It's a ghost story!

Audrey Niffenegger, author of The Time Traveler's Wife, returns with Her Fearful Symmetry, a ghostly tale of two sisters and their estranged dead aunt. The main characters in Niffenegger's new novel are two sets of twins. A set of twenty-year-old twins, Valentina and Julia, Edwina, their mother, and her estranged twin sister, Elspeth. The book begins with Elspeth's death, and the subsequent reactions of Edwina and nieces. Much to Julia and Valentina's surprise, Elspeth has left them her flat in London, on the condition that they live there for a year before selling it. When the Valentina and Julia move into the flat they find their lives are quickly embellished by the mystique and intrigue of Highgate Cemetery, the Elspeth's ghost, and the curious behavior of two neighbors. Robert, who lives below them was Elspeth's significant other. As well as, Martin, their upstairs neighbor who suffers from obsessive compulsive disorder. As the year unfolds Valentina and Julia find their relationship changing.

The premise turned me off to reading this book. I did not have a positive experience with The Time Traveler's Wife and I wasn't confident with Niffenegger's ability to entwine a ghost story with a drama. However, within about twenty pages of this book, I was enthralled. Niffenegger's voice is much more vibrant in the third person, and her personal experience as a guide at Highgate are utilized to the best of their ability without giving the novel the sound of a GPS. Niffenegger was also able to produce an well-developed intricate plot using the ghost story and the two sets of twins. The different takes on the twins' relationship and the blossoming connections they form with their neighbors make this story fulfilling and worthwhile.

In addition, I think that the paranormal aspect effectively sets this apart from Niffenegger's debut. The time travel premise of her first novel required explanation with genetics and science, while the paranormal plot gives more leeway to play with the subject of ghosts existing as a form of electricity. Along with her exceptional handling of the ghost story, Niffenegger's character are rich with attitude and rebellion. Every character in Her Fearful Symmetry is passive, each has independent thoughts and personality that enrich the bigger and more complicated story.

The real clincher in this book is the last hundred pages. It is safe to say that though this book might start off slow, the last hundred pages are a whirlwind of emotion and conspiracy with a haunting ending that left thinking about the events of the entire story for days to come. For that reason alone, I would highly recommend Her Fearful Symmetry to anyone. Niffenegger created a novel that is thought-provoking and sincere with the elegant language and prose of an expert wordsmith.

Final Grade: A+

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Similarities to TTW:
A foreknowledge and dread burrow into the prose and grow throughout the tale.
Supernatural elements are incorporated in a believable, enjoyable way.
Setting is essential to plot.
Love, both bitter and sweet, abides.

Differences from TTW:
The plot is left rather unresolved.
The characters of HFS border on charicature, and are not as endearing.
Darkness eclipses purity.
Linear, omniscient narrative with imposed complexities.

Wow! I can't believe this book had such mixed reviews, and that it's over all rating is so inconsistent with the # of stars it received. I really enjoyed this book all the way through. And I was NOT a big fan of TTTW - in fact, I didn't even see the movie because I wasn't thrilled with the book. That being said, I loved this book, but am left slightly miffed with the ending. Can someone lead me to where I can read more into it - I certain ly don't want to give it away by asking any questions here. I'm going to have to do some digging. I don't even like ghost books, but I thought this one was great.

After reading the timetravellers wife I was hesitant to read something else by A.N., because I absolutely loved the book, and didn't want my opinion of her tainted by a less than stellar new novel. Thankfully I got hands on this book, and I love it. Its well-written, the characters are interesting and the story is magnificent. I highly recommend this beautiful book.

This is my first experience with Audrey Niffenegger and possibly my last. This story could have been so much better. I will start with the positive: the descriptions of physical surroundings were great - I have now added a visit to Highgate Cemetery to my to-do list. On the other hand, I felt the story was unrealistic and quite predictable. It's a paranormal book so of course you have to be able to suspend disbelief. The areas that I felt were unrealistic that I have issue with were the way characters behaved in the latter half to third of the book - I do not believe that Valentina or Robert would have done the things they did. The worst part even beyond that was the predictability. Many books are predictable - in thrillers you pretty much know the main character won't actually die. In this case it was one of those "surely they wouldn't" situations. As soon as Valentina first saw what happened with the kitten, I knew what would happen with her and Elspeth and it was just disappointing that of all the potential in this book, that was where we ended up.

I found this book not only painfully slow, but completely unbelievable. I didn't find the characters or their actions believable, and the twist took me by surprise only because it was unbelievable as well. When I say "unbelievable", I am not talking about the supernatural elements of the book, but rather the characters: both their personalities and their actions. I would go into more detail, but it would require a few plot spoilers. Ms. Niffeneger should study more on human nature before writing another book, because I cannot imagine real life people behaving the way either set of twins do without some further explanation of family dysfunction or some other catastrophic event that leads them to do so.

Ditto to all those who felt the book started out so right, so gripping, then fell off into the muck of failed second novels. The first half riveted me. I was glued to it. I sat up 'till the wee hours reading it. And then... Disappointing is putting it mildly. It could have been so much more. Like so many authors, Ms. Niffenegger needs to realize less is more. Just because her first book went blockbuster doesn't mean she couldn't use an editor.

I couldn't even finish this. I couldn't even get halfway through it. I slogged through the first portion of the story, trying to see something interesting and finding nothing but a headache. Page after page of unncessary, gratuitous descriptives and non-essential characters. Seriously? I'm glad I see so many other negative reviews; I hoped I wasn't crazy. Read this if you need to fall asleep or you have a masochistic enjoyment of tedium.

Julia and Valentina are twin sisters. Their mother is a twin as well, though her twin dies early in the book. Their aunt leaves the girls her flat in London, as long as they agree to live there for a year and not let their mother in the flat. The girls go to London and realize that the ghost of their Aunt Elspeth is in the flat. Valentina begins to feel the need to separate herself from Julia and form her own identity. That is when things take a unexpected turn. Good writing but this book had a slow start for me and I was disappointed in the ending. Overall, I enjoyed the book.

I received the book from the publisher for review.

[...]

I read the reviews after this book came out. I don't always base my reading on reviews, but it's nice to hear others' opinions sometimes. I really wanted to love this book. Had I stopped reading about 200 pages in, I would have given this a much higher review. However, at that point in the book, there were just too many oddities that took over the story. The story itself was very interesting but about 3/4 of the way through the book I was just confused and a little angered that the story had taken that turn. I wouldn't discourage people from reading this book, just beware that the story does have many odd twists at the end and you may not like the way the book ends.

I read this book a few years ago on the recommendation of my manager at the time and I could not put it down. It was a great story with twists and turns I was not expecting. It left an impression on me and I will be reading it again soon.

I can't believe all the reviews I've seen here disparing because the book wasn't "The Time Traveler's Wife." Well... as far as I can see, it's not "The Time Traveler's Wife," because it's titled "Her Fearful Symmetry" and also has a completely different plotline, characters, etc. This book is lovely in its own right. The characters are well developed and loveable and even more importantly, unloveable at times. The plot meandered, but that's not always a bad thing. The detail was fantastic. I really felt I was there in London; I had a perfect picture of the twins, Elspeth & Edie, Robert, Martin, Marijke - everyone, in my mind's eye. Unlike one reviewer here, I thoroughly enjoyed the way Neffenegger interspersed the characters' thoughts with action (in italic form), and no, it does not read better when written as action (in fact, the reviewer's re-written sample read horrendously). The only disappointment I felt was when it was over! Ms Neffenegger, I anxiously await your next novel with great anticipation, no matter what story you choose to concoct.

If The Time Traveler's Wife isn't a tough act to follow, then I don't know what is. Niffenegger's new novel is a real letdown. In TTW, she took a fairly preposterous premise and made us believe it. She gave us characters to care about and a surprisingly taut (given how it moves around in time) plot. Every woman I know who read the book cried at the end--in part because the story was so moving and in part because we didn't want the book to end. Her Fearful Symmetry gives us a group of characters that I never really came to care about, not even Martin, whose suffering might ordinarily draw readers in. Niffenegger's digressions into the history of the cemetery are thrown in artlessly and go on and on. I agree with the reviewer who said that she needed a good editor. This book should have been shorter; it should have moved, but instead plodded. I just didn't care about anyone in this book, and to me, that's the mark of a failed novel. A real shame--Niffenegger is so talented. Maybe the next one will be better.

Zoomed through this on a transcontinental journey. I liked Niffenegger's Time Traveler's Wife as long as I didn't think too hard about the physics behind her story. This novel is very different (a refreshing change from the usual carbon-copy books that follow such mega-bestsellers) but left me cold. For one thing, I'm not a big fan of the "creepy twins with ghost" genre. And I didn't find anyone much to root for in the cast of characters. The premise is that identical twin American girls age 21 move to London to claim their inheritance by living in the flat of the estranged aunt who was their mother's identical twin. The flat adjoins Highgate Cemetery, burial place of a slew of eminent Victorians, and each twin connects with a man whose flat is in the same building -- the obsessive compulsive upstairs who hasn't left his apartment in years and the PhD candidate downstairs who was the dead aunt's lover.

There aren't many authors who can slide from coy romance to disturbingly grotesque and back again in just a few sentences, but Audrey Niffenegger does it over and over again in Her Fearful Symmetry. Readers that are familiar with Niffenegger from her best-selling book The Time Traveler's Wife will recognize her ability to completely spellbind them, but this book bears more resemblance to her graphic novels than her most famous work. I'll say again that I found the book profoundly disturbing, but in a way that made me shudder while I read faster and faster, rather than wanting to put the book down.

Don't be fooled by what I thought was a very lame and misleading plot synopsis; this book is much more than a coming of age story about two sisters trying to uncover their family's mysteries. While the girls are central to the plot, the main character here is really their dead aunt Elspeth, and the most compelling person in the book is their OCD-suffering upstairs neighbor, who's love and dedication to his wife is almost overwhelming.

I'd recommend this to anyone, no hold barred. I'm sure there are a few people out there who won't like it, but I can't even begin to guess who they might be. Buy this, read it, and then read it again.

I really enjoyed Her Fearful Symmetry. After meeting the author this summer, I felt I had an inside glance into the ways Audrey Niffenegger chose to develop her plot and characters based on her personal interests. The perspective, however, lessened some of the magic of reading this particular book. This book seems less appealing to the wider audience than The Time Traveler's Wife who most likely got swept up in the tale's love story and fell in love with Chicago. But Niffenegger's creativity is just as present here as ever. She manages to create strange characters who live in an unusual place and experience strange things, with whom the reader sympathizes with and understands. This story reminds me a bit of a Brothers Grimm tale. It is dark and whimsical. And I love the cemetery setting. It's a good read, but don't go in thinking it's some sort of sequel to her previous novel.

Its difficult to write a review for a book that tossed and turned and never really settled into a comfortable read. I had an extremely difficult time finishing the book, a much different experience than the one I had with The Time Travelers Wife. Quite honestly, any appreciation for the present novel was brought on by a sense of awe still looming from my first TTW read. I rarely enjoy books that revolve around the impossible; TTW was an exception. Unlike TTW, A.N. did not create a beautiful story line out of an impossible concept. Rather, the impossible concept developed into a complex, morbid notion. Symmetry only left me with feelings of indifference for the characters and anticipation that the story would come together. It never did.

Its so very difficult to give such harsh criticism to a piece written by the same artist who wrote a masterpiece. I will look forward to her next book and will read it with an open mind as a neutrality has been reached. I'm confident A.N. is not a one hit wonder :)

I had read The Time Traveler's Wife and really enjoyed Audrey Niffeneger's writing style. A friend had just finished this book after I finished TTW, so she recommended Her Fearful Symmetry to me. I enjoyed reading about the adventures these sisters went on in London, and found their dependence on each other disturbing, as well as intriguing. It was interesting to read how their aunt's ghost communicated with them as well. As much as I enjoyed a majority of the book, I was a little...confused, annoyed, etc. about the ending....mostly because it was something I didn't expect, and didn't like what happened because I wanted it to go the other way. But that's a personal preference, and I found the ending shocking to the point where even though I didn't like it, I still thought it was a great book that just took a turn I didn't expect.

I recommend this book with one caveat: tear of the last third of the book and burn it, read what is left, then wonder for the rest of your life about how it all ended. But, for God's sake, don't try to find out! In the reduced version I would give it a four star review, even without an ending.
Really good characters and then a few of them, for no apparent reason, suddenly go totally out of character, forcibly pushed towards the book's conclusion, which revealed itself way ahead of time to me, because of the obvious forced change of direction.

The young American twins Julia and Valentina inherit their dead aunt's London flat. Situated in the Dickensian shadows of Highgate Cemetery, the apartment appears to house a ghost of its own.

The twins become involved with Robert, their late aunt's rather eccentric lover, and Martin, a brilliant crossword puzzle designer with obsessive-compulsive disorder. Julia and Valentina's relationships with the men play havoc with their cherished twin identity. The girls struggle to evolve into their own personalities. One assumes a caretaker role with Martin. The other pursues a romance with Robert.

The author sweeps through the last hundred pages, weaving a brilliant blend of the natural and supernatural. The story flies off the canvas-- gathering the living and the dead -- creating its own reality. Fantastic.

by Christina Greenaway, author of [ASIN:1432734423 Dream Chaser: (A Novel That Reaches Beyond the Veil of Time)

This story was so beautiful, Gothic and haunting, with lyrical writing to boot. The main characters - Robert, the cemetery guide and thesis writer; Julia, the pushy twin; Valentina, the dreamy twin; and Elspeth, the conniving ghost - all seemed so real and richly developed. The story did have some crazy twists, but it flowed so beautifully that it didn't bother me. I had to sit with the ending a bit to absorb it and figure out what it meant, but then I got it. I thought this was far better than The Time Traveler's Wife - Niffenegger's potential is fully realized here.

Niffenegger can flat out write. There's no denying that. I honestly enjoyed this book better than The Time Traveler's Wife, although both are wonderfully written, I enjoyed the supernatural aspect of this novel more. You can't go wrong with giving this book a try: flawed and engaging characters who fascinate, great setting, unique story. For the negative reviewers saying they didn't enjoy having to suspend belief...did you find The Time Traveler's Wife believable?

This books has some merits - most of all the sumptuous, atmospheric descriptions of Highgate Cemetary. I had no difficulty embracing the supernatural concept at the core of the plot... but in the second half of the book I became disillusioned. These characters, as portrayed in the novel's first half, would never have behaved in this way! Robert would never have agreed to this scheme proposed by Valentina and Elspeth. The brief time it took to persuade him was absurd! Also, the difficult relationship between Valentina and Julia was poorly developed. Valentina didn't need to take such extreme measures to extract her life from 'twindom'. Martin went from being frightened of standing in the hallway... to travelling to the Netherlands alone... in a ridiculously short time also. The final resolution of Robert and Elspeth after moving to the country is just lazy. I think the author has her eye on a film deal.. you can imagine the final drama of removing Valentina from the crypt etc... would make rivetting film scenes.

The tale transports you into an odd and spooky world, one in which you meet the evil spirit before she dies. I was captivated by the unexpected plot twists, the well-drawn characters, and the imaginative scope of the work. The author managed to make me believe in a most unlikely tale, and delighted me with the truly unexpected.

I had such fun reading this book at the beginning. The story had such potential and I couldn't wait to pick it up at the end of a day. Midway through it takes really an odd and unexpected turn (and a bit depressing). I was surprised the story continued down the same path all the way through - then no real satisfaction in the end. She's a good writer however and gives the characters life. I enjoyed reading the book; however in the end I can't say I enjoyed the story. This makes it hard to give a review, I want to give only two stars, but will give three because the book kept me reading and interested -

Add me to the list of reviewers who loved The Time-Traveler's Wife and was looking forward to reading Her Fearful Symmetry. I felt like this book could be divided into thirds. The first third was slow and I contemplated returning the book to the libtary. But I stuck it out till the middle third, when things started to happen. The ghost story started and so did a bit of romance. But the last third of the book was terrible. The big secret that was revlealed was half predictable, half ridiculous. The twins freaked me out, and not in a good way. I'm not quite sure what Martin and his wife had to do with anything. Robert was probably the worst character because of how weak he was. His actions were not believable, especially at the very end. The best part of the book was the mention of Wilco (one of the twins was wearing a Wilco tee shirt). If you felt the same way I did about the book, at the very least do yourself a favor and check them out. It'll make the wasted time reading this book worth it.

Painfully immature and dysfunctionally co-dependent American twins are bequeathed a flat near London's Highgate Cemetery by their mother's twin sister. Since the will stipulates they will live in the flat for a year, they move in, only to find that their aunt never actually left.

I know many people are looking forward to this book, but I thought it was awful. The foreshadowng is horribly ham-handed - if you haven't sussed out the "big secret" in the first 15 pages you aren't reading very closely. Then nothing happens for 300 pages, and when something finally does it's 1) ridiculous and 2) the results are so obvious from the moment it's mentioned there's not much point in finishing the book. The upstairs neighbor, paralyzed by OCD, is by far the most interesting and sympathetic person in the novel. Scattered passages of pretty prose bump it to two stars, but don't make it worth the time and effort.

The imitation of British upper crust speech was utterly annoying in this audio book. When "been" is pronounced as "bean", I throw in the towel. Bianca Amato lives in NYC. Perhaps she needs to return to England to brush up. I couldn't stand this book and gave up at Disc 1.

Worth reading even if the last third of the novel is too much. The book is well-written, and I really enjoyed reading about what the early days of the afterlife are like from a "ghost's" point of view.

I initially really liked this novel. It was well written with interesting characters. But as I got further and further into the book, I really did not like the turns the plot was taking. It actually became difficult to read because I found it distressingly awkward and strange. This book made my stomach hurt!

The big problem in this story was believing the part about Valentina wanting to die and convincing anyone to help her with the whole stupid thing. Where did that even come from? It was totally out of the blue that suddenly she hated her sister Julia and wanted to die to fake her own death???? And wouldn't her parents have flown the body back to the states for the funeral? OMG - it was just so stupid! Believe me - I tried to work with it and just try not to "think" too much about that part of the story. But for me, that was just so unbelievable and silly, that it ruined the rest of the book. I just couldn't buy into it - and I have no problem with believing the bringing a person back to life or flying on crows, etc, etc, or any other spooky fantasy aspect of this book...but Valentina wanting to die and to hurt her parents etc, etc. STUPID! Audry N needed to come up with a better reason for the whole death thing and the book would have been sooooo much better. 5 stars in fact!!

I really wanted to like this book - I enjoyed the first part immensely, but by the end all I felt was disappointment. I knew going into it that this was likely, having read many other reviews, but I was still hoping.

The first half to two thirds of the book were wonderful, classic Audrey writing style, great story and plot, interesting characters....but then somehow, things just went way off course. As many other readers have pointed out - it almost seems as if they hired somebody else to write the last part of the story, or something just as strange, the ending just seems so....wrong and truncated somehow.

I have hopes for the next book, in spite of this one. I absolutely loved The Time Traveler's Wife and while this one didn't follow through it did have great potential, so I know there has to be still more good stuff to come from Audrey's creative pool.

I actually really enjoyed this book and thought it was well written. I'm not familiar with her other work, Time Traveler's Wife, so I was new to her. I greatly enjoyed the book from start to finish and couldn't put it down until I'd read til the end.

Like Jen, I don't usually write reviews but I finished this book a couple of days ago and am still thinking about it. I agree with Jen's and Erin's well-phrased reviews that this book is quirky and original, and that is the source of its charm, along with the wonderfully evocative setting. I loved that it didn't go in the direction a reader would typically expect. I loved that the characters were a fascinating mix of contradictory motives, and thus much more interesting (and realistic) than merely being "likable." I felt that the ending of this book forced you to think a bit, and beautifully realized the author's main theme of symmetry.

If you are the kind of person who finds old, overgrown cemetaries romantic, you will most likely enjoy this book.

Audrey Niffenegger follows up the success of The Time Traveller's Wife with another excursion into the paranormal, with a compelling tale about a identical twins, Valentina and Julia, and their inheritance of their Aunt Elspeth's London estate on the borders of Highgate Cemetery. Elspeth is also a twin, estranged sister to the girls' own mother. In the two flats above and below the girls live two men, Martin, who suffers from severe OCD, and Robert, who is distraught at the loss of Elspeth, his lover. As time passes, the girls each become involved with one of those men. They also discover the presence of a spirit in their new home.

Her Fearful Symmetry is a tour de force, a unique novel about relationships that tells much of the story from the point of view of the ghost. Most of the action takes place either in the apartment building or in the neighboring, highly atmospheric graveyard. Each of the important characters is emotionally disabled, and each fears the loss of the person they most love. As they interact amongst themselves, their strengths and weaknesses become increasingly apparent. The creepiness level rises very slowly, and while the first revelation is less than shocking, the second is a stunner. This is a novel that invites the reader to seriously ponder the choices that are made, along with their repercussions. Even without the paranormal aspects, this book would be powerful.

With Her Fearful Symmetry, Niffenegger joins the ranks of such skilled genre icons as Neil Gaiman and George R.R. Martin.

I think I enjoyed this offering from the author even more than The Time Traveler's Wife! Part ghost story, part love story, part sibling rivalry. The characters were very real to me and very believable. Mirror image twins inherit their dead aunt's (and their mother's identical twin) apartment in London, situated next door to Highgate Cemetery. Their mother and aunt haven't spoken in years, and no one is sure why. The apartment is haunted by the dead aunt, and with that comes many surprises. A delicious read.

I started off skeptical of this novel. I loved The Time Traveler's Wife and was really looking forward to reading her second book, and was convinced that I would love it. But I was wrong. It started off strong - great characters, good plot - but then it just got plain silly, and I began to dislike everything about it. All of the characters were selfish, which made it hard to root for one in particular - other than Martin who was the star of the book. I found that I was flip-flopping about what I wanted to happen, and then I just despised the ending. It left a bad taste in my mouth, and I feel as though I need to read one of my favourite books again just to get rid of it. I wouldn't recommend this book, although I really wish I could.

As a huge fan of the "Time Traveler's Wife" I grabbed this one off the shelf. Unfortunately, it reads more like a first draft than a finished novel. Very slow pacing and nicey-nicey characters in the beginning makes you think you've accidentally stumbled into a Maeve Binchy novel. Then the whole thing takes a ludicrous gothic turn and all the characters become unsympathetic. All in all, an unfortunate mess. Don't waste your money.

And, after reading the spoilers, I am so glad I did not. I quit when Elspeth was trying to kill the cat again. I love cats. Could not bear it. Also, no surprise to me that the twins turned out to be Elspeth's children and not Edie's. That was pretty much evident from the start. And that Elspeth is ultimately an evil ghost. Thanks for the spoilers. I will NOT finish this book.

The premise held so much promise. But I started to freak out when Robert (Elspeth's boyfriend) took up with Valentina.

Very weird book. Agree that Martin was the only character I could like. He is sane compared to the rest of the group!

I loved the Time Traveller's Wife, but found the end a bit too sad. So many ways she could have ended the story, but she chose to end it a bit tragically. However, the writing was beautiful and when I saw this book had come out I bought it immediately. I won't buy any more of her books. I think she's a bit cruel, with both her characters and her readers. There were so many different ways to have ended this complicated story, but she chose to leave each and every one of the characters devastated. Later, Audrey. You won't see me around ever again.

I've never read the Time Traveller's Wife, so I can honestly say I didn't pick this book up at the airport with any expectations of it. I did hear an interview of the author on NPR a while ago, so I had a slight idea of what the book was about, in addition to the excerpts from the back.

The beginning was good, it was engaging, the characters seemed to fully develop, and I was interested in the potential storyline.

And then, poof. Somewhere in the middle, it just completely lost its way. Even a potential romance wasn't fully developed - in one scene Robert kisses Valentina, and then the next time they're together he's touching her under her shirt? Without any explanation, the relationship between twin sisters goes from being practically conjoined to totally gone, with no feeling at all?

I'm sorry, the ending was completely absurd. I didn't even care about the outcome for the characters by the end, and that's a shame. If any of the ending had happened in the first half of the book, I would have cared more.

Save your time and money.

As I was reading through this book, I really felt like the scenes were real to me. I also felt very connected with the characters. I love the way the author puts in subtle details that bring these people to life. However, the ending started to get a little weird for me. I can't get over the image of the ghost staying in a dresser drawer among other things. Anyway, I liked the writing, I even liked the story, it was just the crazy way the ending started to go that took away from the novel, at least for me. I would still recommend it. I'm not sorry I read it all. It was a fast read for me, and over all, was entertaining.

I really wanted to like this book - I enjoyed the first part immensely, but by the end all I felt was disappointment. I knew going into it that this was likely, having read many other reviews, but I was still hoping.

The first half to two thirds of the book were wonderful, classic Audrey writing style, great story and plot, interesting characters....but then somehow, things just went way off course. As many other readers have pointed out - it almost seems as if they hired somebody else to write the last part of the story, or something just as strange, the ending just seems so....wrong and truncated somehow.

I have hopes for the next book, in spite of this one. I absolutely loved The Time Traveler's Wife and while this one didn't follow through it did have great potential, so I know there has to be still more good stuff to come from Audrey's creative pool.

I actually really enjoyed this book and thought it was well written. I'm not familiar with her other work, Time Traveler's Wife, so I was new to her. I greatly enjoyed the book from start to finish and couldn't put it down until I'd read til the end.

Like Jen, I don't usually write reviews but I finished this book a couple of days ago and am still thinking about it. I agree with Jen's and Erin's well-phrased reviews that this book is quirky and original, and that is the source of its charm, along with the wonderfully evocative setting. I loved that it didn't go in the direction a reader would typically expect. I loved that the characters were a fascinating mix of contradictory motives, and thus much more interesting (and realistic) than merely being "likable." I felt that the ending of this book forced you to think a bit, and beautifully realized the author's main theme of symmetry.

If you are the kind of person who finds old, overgrown cemetaries romantic, you will most likely enjoy this book.

Audrey Niffenegger follows up the success of The Time Traveller's Wife with another excursion into the paranormal, with a compelling tale about a identical twins, Valentina and Julia, and their inheritance of their Aunt Elspeth's London estate on the borders of Highgate Cemetery. Elspeth is also a twin, estranged sister to the girls' own mother. In the two flats above and below the girls live two men, Martin, who suffers from severe OCD, and Robert, who is distraught at the loss of Elspeth, his lover. As time passes, the girls each become involved with one of those men. They also discover the presence of a spirit in their new home.

Her Fearful Symmetry is a tour de force, a unique novel about relationships that tells much of the story from the point of view of the ghost. Most of the action takes place either in the apartment building or in the neighboring, highly atmospheric graveyard. Each of the important characters is emotionally disabled, and each fears the loss of the person they most love. As they interact amongst themselves, their strengths and weaknesses become increasingly apparent. The creepiness level rises very slowly, and while the first revelation is less than shocking, the second is a stunner. This is a novel that invites the reader to seriously ponder the choices that are made, along with their repercussions. Even without the paranormal aspects, this book would be powerful.

With Her Fearful Symmetry, Niffenegger joins the ranks of such skilled genre icons as Neil Gaiman and George R.R. Martin.

I think I enjoyed this offering from the author even more than The Time Traveler's Wife! Part ghost story, part love story, part sibling rivalry. The characters were very real to me and very believable. Mirror image twins inherit their dead aunt's (and their mother's identical twin) apartment in London, situated next door to Highgate Cemetery. Their mother and aunt haven't spoken in years, and no one is sure why. The apartment is haunted by the dead aunt, and with that comes many surprises. A delicious read.

I started off skeptical of this novel. I loved The Time Traveler's Wife and was really looking forward to reading her second book, and was convinced that I would love it. But I was wrong. It started off strong - great characters, good plot - but then it just got plain silly, and I began to dislike everything about it. All of the characters were selfish, which made it hard to root for one in particular - other than Martin who was the star of the book. I found that I was flip-flopping about what I wanted to happen, and then I just despised the ending. It left a bad taste in my mouth, and I feel as though I need to read one of my favourite books again just to get rid of it. I wouldn't recommend this book, although I really wish I could.

I read this book for my book club and while I have not read Niffenegger's previous works, was willing, as an English teacher, to expand my literary horizons. After a somewhat pedantic start, the book became interesting with its intriguiging and creatively supernatural ideas regarding life after death, the potential for communication with the dead, and the concept of reanimation. Unfortunately, the denoument and resolution of the book throws all of the creativity out the proverbial window.

Without giving it away, suffice it to say that while the entire book explores the possiblities of the seemingly impossible, at the end, it seems as if Niffenegger could not extend those possibilities to the culmination of the plot, and at its resolution (or rather resolutions, for there are a few), the characters, who have dealt with ideas beyond the natural for the whole novel must face, in very natural fashion, the consequences of what one character aptly observes as their "human folly." So, while dead people can materialize, talk to the living, and... well again, I won't give it away... no one can find happiness and fulfillment, but instead, they must live a sad and regretful existence. There are really about four or five protagonists who undergo a change throughout the novel, each serving as antagonists for another (so I agree that it is a creatively wrought piece of work), but their individual resolutions are all very unsatisfactory, and I finished the novel regretting the money and time I spent on it. Even the one character for whom the reader develop a strong sympathy is faced with a pathetic and sad existence.

As a huge fan of the "Time Traveler's Wife" I grabbed this one off the shelf. Unfortunately, it reads more like a first draft than a finished novel. Very slow pacing and nicey-nicey characters in the beginning makes you think you've accidentally stumbled into a Maeve Binchy novel. Then the whole thing takes a ludicrous gothic turn and all the characters become unsympathetic. All in all, an unfortunate mess. Don't waste your money.

And, after reading the spoilers, I am so glad I did not. I quit when Elspeth was trying to kill the cat again. I love cats. Could not bear it. Also, no surprise to me that the twins turned out to be Elspeth's children and not Edie's. That was pretty much evident from the start. And that Elspeth is ultimately an evil ghost. Thanks for the spoilers. I will NOT finish this book.

The premise held so much promise. But I started to freak out when Robert (Elspeth's boyfriend) took up with Valentina.

Very weird book. Agree that Martin was the only character I could like. He is sane compared to the rest of the group!

I loved the Time Traveller's Wife, but found the end a bit too sad. So many ways she could have ended the story, but she chose to end it a bit tragically. However, the writing was beautiful and when I saw this book had come out I bought it immediately. I won't buy any more of her books. I think she's a bit cruel, with both her characters and her readers. There were so many different ways to have ended this complicated story, but she chose to leave each and every one of the characters devastated. Later, Audrey. You won't see me around ever again.

I've never read the Time Traveller's Wife, so I can honestly say I didn't pick this book up at the airport with any expectations of it. I did hear an interview of the author on NPR a while ago, so I had a slight idea of what the book was about, in addition to the excerpts from the back.

The beginning was good, it was engaging, the characters seemed to fully develop, and I was interested in the potential storyline.

And then, poof. Somewhere in the middle, it just completely lost its way. Even a potential romance wasn't fully developed - in one scene Robert kisses Valentina, and then the next time they're together he's touching her under her shirt? Without any explanation, the relationship between twin sisters goes from being practically conjoined to totally gone, with no feeling at all?

I'm sorry, the ending was completely absurd. I didn't even care about the outcome for the characters by the end, and that's a shame. If any of the ending had happened in the first half of the book, I would have cared more.

Save your time and money.

As I was reading through this book, I really felt like the scenes were real to me. I also felt very connected with the characters. I love the way the author puts in subtle details that bring these people to life. However, the ending started to get a little weird for me. I can't get over the image of the ghost staying in a dresser drawer among other things. Anyway, I liked the writing, I even liked the story, it was just the crazy way the ending started to go that took away from the novel, at least for me. I would still recommend it. I'm not sorry I read it all. It was a fast read for me, and over all, was entertaining.

I have to say, I was so excited for this book, and even more excited that it's available on Kindle (The Time Traveler's Wife is not). I was a bit let down. The novel starts SO strongly and ends kind of...deflated. There were plot twists with no foreshadowing, and IMO the characters went from being lively and interesting to sort of rushed and two-dimensional. The ending was cute, but I didn't really get the sense that I'd read a fantastic novel like I did when I read Time Traveler's Wife.

That being said, this novel wasn't BAD necessarily. Niffeneger does some things really well (jumping perspectives and weaving several different stories together) and created a great backstory. It just wasn't as satisfying as Time Traveler's Wife. So, I would recommend this novel if you're a fan of Niffeneger, or if you like ghost stories, but I would not pay full-price.

After reading a few pages at the library, I checked the book out. Once home, I checked the reviews here on the store. I was so surprised at all the bad reviews. It almost made me not continue to read it, thinking it was going to be terrible. Well, I'd read a couple chapters so far and enjoyed them, so I thought I would continue. I'm so glad I did. I loved it! Great charecters, plot, twists. Even the ending was great, which so many people complained about. I do think that part of the problem with the negative reviewer was that the reviewers had mostly all read her book The Time Travlers Wife. I have not. So perhaps that is why I enjoyed it so much, I wasn't comparing the two. All in all, I am so happy I read it!!! I wonder if I now read her book TTTW, if I'll be disappointed lol!

The idea for this book was good,it starts out great in the first 3 chapters.I won`t go into the story line as others have already done that,but I had a really hard time staying with this book until the end which was a HUH WHAT ARE YOU JOKING moment.Big waste of time.If you feel you must read this book get it from you library sure glad I did.

I can easily say that this is the best new book I've read this year. If you like deliciously strange ghost stories, this book will definitely satisfy your appetite. I had to make myself read it slowly so that I could savor every morsel of the spell it cast on me when I would read it.

At the center of this novel are twin sisters who inherit their aunt's flat near Highgate Cemetery in London. The twins (Julia and Valentina) are mysterious, delicate, murmuring creatures who are inseparable even at age 21. They're almost ghostlike in their exploration of London and the flat which turns out to be haunted by the real ghost of their aunt Elsbeth. The sisters drift and float into the lives of the other tenants of the building they live in in London. They wander into the lives of Elsbeth's sullen boyfriend and the Little Kitten of Death. The twins also wander into the life of a crossword puzzle maker that's so OCD that he can't leave his own flat (he accidentally washes a hole through the twins' ceiling). Just by existing, it seems that the twins can't help but involuntarily enter into the lives of those around them.

I enjoyed the ghost Niffenegger has created in this novel. Elsbeth (the ghost) can occupy the normal amount of space a regular person might occupy, but she can also squeeze into a locked drawer to sulk for days if she would like. She discovers that she can move dust enough to leave a message written on dust on the piano for the twins. But the best thing she does is decide she wants to touch David Tennant through the television during the Doctor Who episode "The Girl in the Fireplace". As a result, she ends up blowing the television completely. As Elsbeth discovers her ghostly powers, she drives the novel to its obvious but still-interesting conclusion. I just love that Niffenegger was willing to go to the extremes I was hoping she'd go with this novel. While Niffenegger seems to still be obsessed with relationships with large age differences (16 years in this case), she also delves into the topics of suicide, bodysnatching, and ghostly possession in interesting ways.

I found it interesting that the book is written in 3rd person, yet I felt like I was able to be inside the heads of so many strange, lonely people. It seemed that everyone needs something different from those around them. Maybe they want to be separated from those who are smothering them or to be reunited with those who have left them. But it seems that, in the end, only the ones acting the most unselfishly are able to find the happiness that they seek. Maybe we need people more than we think we do, but you can't need someone so much that you smother them.

I hated The Time Traveller's Wife so only took this off the library shelf to find out whether I would hate this too. It was a nice surprise to discover that it's so good, it could have been written by a different author altogether! The characters are more likable, the setting interesting, and the outcome suitably disturbing. The writing is also more controlled, with the author herself intruding less, and the pace thus more gripping (I found TTTW immensely dull).

There are two sets of twins in this book: at the beginning, one of them, Elspeth, dies, leaving to her twin nieces all her money and her flat in Highgate. Below the flat lives her lover, while above resides a neighbour suffering from OCD. The nieces, Julia and Valentina, are as strange as their surroundings, with Julia, the older twin, smothering her younger, weaker sibling, to the point of stagnation. Elspeth, though dead, doesn't leave the story, remaining behind as a ghost trapped in her flat, gaining strength just as Valentina tries to regain hers.

Best of all are the descriptions of Highgate and the cemeteries, a part of London I know so well that it made my heart ache that I no longer live there. The dark drip of Swain's Lane, the magnetic pull of the overgrown graveyards, the flats in such a prime location, overlooking the tangled woods in which the graves lie...all these are an ideal backdrop for the ghostly girls, the ghost herself, and Robert, her lover, unable to stop mourning for her. I liked that he worked as a volunteer at the cemeteries, that he was working on an endless PhD about the occupants, that he loved walking through the trees and graves. I would have liked a little more realism about Highgate - the twins explore London in a perfunctory way but never explore Highgate itself, never discover that Hampstead Heath is barely 10 minutes from their front door, never walk on the Holly Lodge Estate, just around the corner, never admire the view from Waterlow Park, so high on Highgate Hill you can see all the way to the City.

The story is essentially about escape, the desperation for freedom neatly wrapped up in Martin, the upstairs neighbour, who manages to overcome his debilitating OCD to leave his flat. The relationship between him and Julia is believable, as is the sexual attraction between Valentina and Robert with its disastrous outcome. All the characters are entrancing and yet, halfway through, something goes horribly wrong - it was the death of the kitten that did it for me. I can't stand to see animals (especially kittens!) hurt or maimed in artistic endeavours and it seemed somehow unnecessarily cruel.

This death segued into a rather dubious ending. I could see it coming, was horrified at Valentina's plans and then, when they went so badly awry, wasn't sure if she got the happy ending she deserved. Of all the characters, she was the most sympathetic and you rather wish she could have had the life she wanted. I realised finally that the book was striving to be about the supernatural, about ghosts - hence the cemetery setting - but somehow it didn't quite make it. It wasn't weird enough. By taking a risk with the story, it wasn't great enough to work.

The dissatisfying ending aside, it's a good story but probably won't thrill readers who actually did like TTTW.

Firstly, let me state I loved the Tine Traveller's Wife, and enjoy fiction that challenges you to suspend disbelief. But this book required the suspension of disbelief on so many fronts, I finished the book exhausted and frustrated with thge effort of trying to like it. Frankly I couldn't care about the characters - the young twins were barely believeable in the beginning, and deteriorated badly in believability during the 2nd half of the book. The ghostly character of Elspeth started off well, but again became decreasingly credible as the plot progressed.
The descriptions of Highgate were great and well researched, and the peripheral characters of the neighbour with OCD were interesting and real. But by the time of the final denouement, the characters were all acting out of character from the first half of the novel, and so many unbelieveable devices were brought into play, that the impact was more grotesque than gothic - I had so completely lost any empathy, or frankly interest, in what happened to the characters that I was glad the book was over.
The author is undoubtedly very talented, and her debut novel was always going to be hard to follow. I'll look forward to the next one, and hope the promise is fulfilled - but this book isnt it.

Unlike, it seems, everybody else out there, I REALLY didn't like 'The Time Traveler's Wife.' However, I decided to give this work a go, because the premise seemed interesting and I wondered if I'd been mistaken about this author's talent (as an aside, I give the author huge snaps for doing her 'adult picture books' - I think they are great ideas and excellent explorations of her visual skills).

Well, yes and no. Yes in that I did like Ms. Niffenegger's writing, here; it moves along snappily and confidently, much more so than I felt before; I actually wanted to keep reading, as opposed to 'TTW', when I lost interest almost immediately. Writing in an 'English' style comes fairly naturally to her, and, as a fan of London, I felt her prose captured the feel of the city, its inhabitants, its history. I also thought the slightly odd characters - OCD Martin, sporty Jack, ethereal Valentina, bossy Julia, sharp-tongued Jessica - were an intriguing bunch. And some of the ghost-y elements are really genuinely charming: the ghost trees and the flocking crows are honestly poetic.

Fundamentally, though, I have 2 problems with this work that are hard to get over. The first problem I have may seem awfully superficial, but I have to say it: I can't stand how Ms. Niffenegger throws in 'cultural' references like this is some kind of chick lit book. It's jarring to have designer names and contemporary references flung around that a serious literary reader wouldn't know because they don't read Perez Hilton; it takes away from the more classic nature of the writing and the story.

The second problem is with the execution of the crux of the story. There really are 2 stories happening here, and unfortunately, they suffer at one another's hands. The Edie/Elspeth story and the Robert/Valentina/Elspeth story at first seem to jive, but as they play out I realized I could have done without the Edie/Elspeth story because Elspeth's character, ultimately, didn't make sense. Who is this character? Is she just a series of motivations? For her to turn out the way she does has an element of horror to it, yet I wasn't horrified, because by then I realized I didn't really understand or care who she was. Was the entire book about her? And if it was, why did everybody else figure so prominently? It seemed that there was a struggle between whether this was Elspeth's story, and she was just manipulating everybody around her, or an ensemble story, where Elspeth's arc was one of many? The movie-plot of some of the other characters, as well, seemed thrown in for tidiness' sake: Martin and his disease and Julia and Her Happy Ending, for example, were obvious a mile off. I kept waiting and hoping that the author would pull up her bootstraps and we'd sail through the rough patches (sorry for mixing my metaphors) with the skill and ease of somebody like Ian McEwan, but it never happened.

I really wanted to like this book, and I think I still do; but I also don't like it. I'm going to recommend it with reservations. I think fundamentally I am just not a fan of this author's storytelling.

Twin girls inherit a London flat from their mother's twin sister whom they have never met. The aunt's ghost is in the apartment and tries to find a way to communicate with them. Her lover lives in the apartment below and is attracted to one of the twins--which doesn't make the dead aunt too happy.

I had trouble getting into this book but was glad I stuck with it because I ended up really liking it. The book took some interesting twists that I wasn't expecting.

I looked forward to this book because I loved the Time Travelers Wife. I bonded with the characters right away and actually enjoyed the story. The first half, I will agree with many other reviewers was very good. The ending was a bit predictable and a little disappointing but I hated to see it end just the same.

Audrey Niffenegger's second novel,HER FEARFUL SYMMETREY falls way short. This is a ghost story, a different ghost story that started off with so much promise and Ms. Niffenegger just couldn't figure out her direction. It is so apparent she can write but the book strays, often. It is a ghost story that is far more about life and loves and siblings and human nature than about ghosts. The characters are unusual and well written but the interactions are often, well just oddly away from the story.
I am not going so far as to say don't read it, but go with caution.

A friend loaned me her copy to read because she thought it was wonderful. Oh my--it was awful! I kept reading thinking that it must get better at some point, but the whole book was just really weird. I mean REALLY weird. I wasn't enjoying it at all, and I finally figured out that I didn't like any of the characters, so I didn't really care what happened to them.

Don't bother with this one--weird from the start, and characters that I genuinely disliked.

Audrey has a wonderful storytelling ability that really draws you in. I found this book quite a page turner. I think the bad reviews come from people thinking too much, and not letting themselves into the story. This is one of the best books I have read this summer.

It's kind of funny because I usually really like weird....actually read alot of weird books, but this one was even too weird for me to enjoy! I finished..out of curiosity but sure wouldn't recommend it as a good, light read! Dark..dark..dark.....Weird! Even leaves an aftertaste!

I did not read Audrey's first book and started Her Fearful Symmetry with a relatively blank slate. Like most of the other reviewers, I really enjoyed the first half of this book but was very disappointed with how the writer decided to finish the tale. I'm a fan of ghost stories, but this book became so far-fetched and its total lapse from reality was, for me, what killed it in the end. It should have reconciled the relationship between the twins and their mother and better illustrated the anxiety that Valentina had with her sister, in order for the ending to be remotely understandable. Also, the person to ghost sequences were silly and added very little value to the book other than to support the end. You can definately see the line in this book when it switched directions. It's unfortunate, because this could have been a good book.

I agree with Sheena! I, too, was a huge fan of The Time Travellers Wife and was hugely disappointed with Her Fearful Symmetry. The ending was incredibly bad and left me wondering if I'd picked up a completely different book entirely. First 300 pages were kind of average but readable, and Audrey could have saved it with a big ending that wowed her readers.... but the last 90 pages were so disappointing. I finished the book completely confused about what actually happened and why the characters would behave so irrationally (and Im a twin so I thought I might be able to relate to this story!) There were lots of loose ends that weren't tied up. Im actually not sure how this book got published like this???

I had not heard great things about this book but loved her first book so I wanted to read it but made sure to go into it with a fresh perspective. I think my low expectations were met. It wasn't horrible but at no point did I feel like I absolutely had to finish it. Normally when I get into a book it is hard for me to put it down and often on my mind but I had to remind myself to read it. The characters were ok and the story was too but that is pretty much all I can say about it...it was ok. I kept wanting it to get better but it never did. Kind of a let down for sure.

I loved Time Traveler's Wife so I bought this book without a second thought. I am sorry to say I didn't like it at all, though I tried! I ended up reading the whole thing only because I hate giving up on books. I won't recommend this to my friends. Instead of passing it along to someone I know this will be going into the giveaway pile.

I am stunned, and not in a good way. I cannot believe the same woman who wrote Time Traveler's Wife wrote this.

The other one-star reviewer's cover the problems really well but I just wanted to say that if you feel compelled to read a second novel from this author, get it from the library. Don't worry if the wait list at the library is long and it takes a while to get the book; you are not missing anything.

I read Time Traveler's Wife and although it was hard to get into at first, I definitely cried at the end and it became one of my top 50 books of all time. However, this new book by N is really disappointing. There is hardly a plot until the last 100 pages and even then, you don't care about the characters enough to push you to the end. I got 50 pages till the end and put the book down and did other things - I COULDN'T put Time Traveler's Wife down by that point. Martin is the most inspiring character and he has OCD. However, his relationship with M is the only way I got through the story because it was clear how in love they really were. The twins were so blah and self-obsessive, Robert loved one woman and then fell in love with a pale stick, and then gah the ending, don't even get me started. Is there even an ending to this story? I'm not sure. It was just a very disappointing read - I wouldn't recommend it to a friend.

I am a fan of curling up in my favorite chair, blanket and my kindle "although I still adore hardback books". This was the last actual hardback book that I read, before purchasing my kindle. This story kept the pages turning and once half way through, I started regretting that it would end. I have lent it out several times to family and friends, and when it was returned my sentiment was always shared. This was a light lovely story, whimsical fantasy and the hint of suspense that kept the pages turning. This is one of my all time favorites!

Of all the books I have read in 2012 (and it's getting to be a long list), this one was the absolute worst. Because of the author and her previous works, I continued on but would have been happier if I had stopped 1/2 way. No return on my investment. Horrid!

The Time Travelers Wife is one of my all time favorite books so when I found out the author had another book coming out I was very excited. Her Fearful Symmetry is (I think) supposed to be a ghost/love story however I think it was totally lacking the love portion. I really enjoy this authors writing style and that I think kept me engaged throughout the book but I was seriously disappointed in the character development and the supposed relationships that develop throughout the book. I really did not like the ending at all. I borrowed this book from the library and am really glad I didn't rush out to buy it. I recommend borrowing this from the library however don't waste your money buying this book. Hopefully her next book will come a bit closer to TTW - that book was amazing.

This read almost like 2 books. I thought the first half was interesting, the writing subtle, and was building towards an interesting plot device (what happened between Edie and Elspeth, and fate of Elspeth.) The second half read as if the editor said to the author: "you need to wrap up the book in 10 minutes." The plot twists became ridiculous, silly and almost insulting to the reader, since the characters' later actions didn't match their earlier motivations and characterizations. I hope Time Traveler's Wife is nothing like this!

I am sooooooo disappointed with this book. I had high hopes after the Time Travellers wife but this was nowhere near the level of that. In fact, it's hard to believe they are by the same author as this book seems so..amateur. First, the story is developed well to start with then seems to dissolve into nothing. It feels like a switch flips in the middle of the book, and all of a sudden things start to happen with little lead up or explanation, so it doesn't seem believable. And the second half of the book gets completely out of hand and ridiculous. I hated this book, and that really takes a lot for me, I'm able to like most books I read. The one thing she did well in my opinion was the character of Martin - he was believable and I was able to empathize with his condition.

I have read Time Traveler's Wife so many times I lost count. I was excited when I saw this had come out and naturally I scooped it up. Almost from the beginning I was baffled because it felt like this book was written by someone other than the author of Time Traveler's Wife. The story is weak, the characters aren't at all interesting, and frankly, the upstairs neighbor, I didn't see the point of him in the book at all.

The actions of the lead character are not surprising and the choice she makes regarding the twins isn't a twist at all and was totally obvious.

The only true surprise I got from this book was the very last line on the last page. I won't spoil the ending, but I will say I just sat there with my jaw dropped, muttering, "what the hell?". After everything a certain person has gone through, to have that ending?

I know it's difficult for an author to follow up such a fantastic book and they usually do fall short. However, this was more than falling short. I literally felt like I was reading someone else's work. It was just uncomfortable and bizarre.

I'm truly sorry to say that I can't recommend this book in the least.

Like "To Kill A Mockingbird", Audrey Niffenegger created a beautiful first book.

Unlike Harper Lee, Niffenegger didn't have Truman Capote to ghost write large portions for her book.

But like Lee, "Her Fearful Symmetry", makes it clear that Niffenegger had a Capote of sorts in writing "Time Traveler's Wife".

But unlike Lee, Niffenegger didn't stop when her ghost writer did.

I was a little leary about this book because of the reviews on here, but I love a good ghost story and the book caught my eye. So glad it did. I plowed through it and just loved it. Great characters and twists. The twins grow on you -- at first I wasn't sure I liked them. My feelings for Elspeth changed through the book and having just finished it, I'm not sure how I feel about her. A good summer read.

I loved the book! Come on people...where is your sense of adventure and fantasy? THis is not non-fiction. I loved all the history on the cemetary. ANd the even though the twists gets a little silly, it was very engaging and creative. Enjoyed the read!

I am so angry at the end of this book, that I am hard pressed to remember the good. The first 2/3 of the book were delightful, interesting, and even if they suffered from TMW(too much whimsy)hard to put down. Then everything changed. Our delightful Valentina suddenly got stupid, cruel, and suicidal, even though all she had to do was get a suitcase and leave. And as for Elspeth and Robert, after spending most of the novel liking the man, you wind up horrified at his never ceasing stupidity. Elspeth is no suprise to anyone who has ever read any horror novels. The whole thing had so much POTENTIAL, then it was like the writer's voice got muffled under a hideous combination of Stephen King's the Dark Half and the movies Skeleten Key, Practical Magic, and Disney's Haunted Mansion. The writer is extremely talented, but did not give a real ending at all.

I loved The Time Traveler's Wife so picked this up. It started very strong, with great characters and a compelling plot. Two pivotal aspects of the ending seemed so contrived that I couldn't suspend my disbelief. I feel so disappointed it makes me not want to read Niffenegger's work again.

Reader, prepare to be disappointed by the destructive denouement of this awkward novel. A painful hatchet job of plotting betrays the main characters that up to the last 60 pages are carefully and lovingly delineated. What conscious editor would allow publication of such an uneven manuscript that badly needs an extensive revision??? Rather than donating this marginal novel to my local library, I will toss it in the recycling bin.

What a fantastic journey this book takes the reader on. It starts off gently and increases momentum, -- it's comtemporary and otherworldly. Twins, ghosts and a cast of quirky characters -- mixed with wonderful story telling and actual history. I laughed outloud a couple of times, simply because the writing was so good and the story so odd. I found myself loving this book and was loathe to see it over. The ending left me with a satisfied smirk, a new fan of this fine and interesting author.

First, I partially agree with Sheena and Samara, however my husband read the book and enjoyed it and recommended it to me. I only give it three stars because although I liked the book, the plot did stretch credulity at times and ending is a bit weak.

This book is a page turner and you will be compelled to read it to the finish in a couple of sittings. However, the ending falls a little flat and you, most likely, will not come to like any of the characters. They are a colorful lot, however, that doesn't mean you will like them.

I'm an Audrey Niffenegger fan, but this book was a real let down after "The Time Traveler's Wife." The story had good points, but the last third of the book was dreadful. I wouldn't waste my time again trying to read such drivel if I hadn't liked her other book so much.

I remember when I purchased "The Time Traveler's Wife." I was in a bookstore in Dublin and the display called it the new classic. I got 3/4 of the way through and then, due to the repetitiveness of it all, grew bored, the novel became predictable at the turn of each page. Had I really wasted my money on this book? Had I actually bought into the marketing of shite? Apparently so. Her second novel was gifted to me by a friend who did not read the first novel, but saw the film. I attempted to read it. Does the woman have friends in publishing? I thought publishers were supposed to read the books prior to accepting them. I will never buy a book by this woman. Please do not buy an Audrey Niffenegger novel for me. I collect and cherish my large library of books. I think of every book on my shelves, 700+, only her's would I be capable of putting through the shredder. Nice plot, horrific writing.

Maybe I shouldn't even review this book becuase I decided to return it to the library last night because I just couldn't even bring myself to finish this. What happened??? This book was painfully boring and slow. I'm not going to lie, Ms. Niffeneggar has a writing talent. Her writing wasn't bad, it's just the book was boring. I mean around page 160 I was reading because I felt like I had to get through it, not because I wanted to. I really loved Time Traveler's Wife and kudos to Ms. Niffeneggar for being able to write something completely different, I just wanted to love this book too, it just was a HUGE disappointment.

This book was one of the most disappointing follow up novels I have ever read (and I don't say this lightly). I loved The Time Traveler's Wife and was thrilled when I heard Niffenegger was coming out with another novel. The story line sounded intriguing. Yet the style and substance both harkened to high school creative writing more than a top-ten favorite novelist. In various spots it seemed the plot and characters might redeem themselves, but didn't. Not one character was likeable; and the way they reacted to each other and circumstances was absurd. Save your time and money. Read The Help or The Elegance of the Hedgehog instead.

I take some comfort after reading the other reviews and finding that I'm not alone in my assessment that this book started off strong and ended......weirdly. I couldn't put it down until about the last quarter of the book, when I rushed through it just to find out the ending. And what an ending. BLECH - what a terrible way to end this book. I had really grown to like some of the characters, but the ending just made me feel icky all over.

This was one of the rare books that I didn't read the description on, but I recognized the author so I picked it up anyway. It started out rather slow, in my opinion, but I was quickly drawn into the story and was rather surprised by the ending. I wanted it to go on and on.

I love the backdrop of London since it's one of my favorite cities in the world and the characters were interesting, each with their own story.

I completely disagree with the majority of reviewers on this one. It seems to me that Niffenegger's readers end up in one of 2 camps: Time Traveler's Wife or Her Fearful Symmetry. I read Her Fearful Symmetry and was so enthralled with it that I almost wanted to cry when it was over and I couldn't continue reading it. Subsequently, I read Time Traveler's Wife, expecting the same brilliance, and was so disappointed and disgusted with what I felt was full of sappy, trite, snivelly, and completely unoriginal characters. I really, really wanted to like it (since everyone seemed to just fall out over it, and I had loved Her Fearful Symmetry SO SO SO much!), but it bored me to death. It's true; I've never known anyone like any of the characters in Her Fearful Symmetry, but that's one of the many things I loved about it. Niffenegger is such a talented writer overall that I found the characters completely believable...and I really cared about them. I think the entire story (characters, plot twists, and storytelling/prose style) was completely unique and original. This is one of my very favorite books. If you want a nice, little, perfectly wrapped up fairytale ending, then, no, this is not the book for you. Yes, the ending is disturbing, but it's fascinating, too, and believable in my opinion. Just because you as a reader don't like unhappy endings doesn't make this a bad novel. I highly recommend anyone interested in reading this go ahead and give it a wholehearted try. (especially if you thought the Time Traveler's Wife was weak, because this is nothing like it!) Her Fearful Symmetry is one of the ONLY good new novels I have read in quite some time (which is why I often stick to classics!)...so much so that I considered writing the author just to tell her how much I loved her book. If you like complex, three-dimensional characters and some spookiness (and aren't upset by a mildly disturbing ending), you'll love this!

Well, I was a little disappointed in this book, especially after all the hype. It was good, but certainly not in the class with The Time Travelers Wife. And, the last part of the book seemed rushed and contrived. I was expecting so much more.

Time travel, ghosts who can communicate, all some of my favorite stuff. But this book takes such a weird turn at the very end that I was literally disgusted, I could not believe what I was reading, that someone not intentionally writing a lowbrow horror story would even come up with this revolting turn of events. Ghosts are one thing, ghosts who can inhabit the living are commonplace in books and movies, but this....I will never ever read anything by Niffenegger again. What was an interesting, well-written book more than halfway through became something I sincerely wish I had not read. Strongly recommend NOT reading this.

Being a big fan of the Time Traveler's Wife, I was excited to read Her Fearful Symmetry but was disappointed in the the store reviews. I don't think the books are really comparable. This was a great read and I thought, easily on par with TTW. I was always curious as to where the book was going and had a hard time putting it down. Really enjoyed it!

I glanced at some of the other reviews, they make sense. she is an amazing writer, very talented and her words are just beautiful. The end of this book shook me up and still disturbs me a year later, I don't think it was a very good ending, not because I was disturbed but because it seemed like a total cop out and not in keeping with the level of writing/storytelling

I don't write reviews often either, but I have to say that after really enjoying this book until about the last 100 pages, I knew I was going to be disappointed at the end. I felt just like the other reviewer, "Stephanie". Sooo disappointed. I have to say that I have learned not to expect "happy endings" or endings that wrap up all the loose ends, but REALLY Audrey? What a let down... Beautiful writing, wonderfully descriptive and emotional, but in the end a let down. Don't buy this book...if you really want to read it, borrow it from your local library. Don't worry, if there is a waiting list for it, find something else to do in the meantime...something productive...

I'm an Audrey Niffenegger fan, but this book was a real let down after "The Time Traveler's Wife." The story had good points, but the last third of the book was dreadful. I wouldn't waste my time again trying to read such drivel if I hadn't liked her other book so much.

I remember when I purchased "The Time Traveler's Wife." I was in a bookstore in Dublin and the display called it the new classic. I got 3/4 of the way through and then, due to the repetitiveness of it all, grew bored, the novel became predictable at the turn of each page. Had I really wasted my money on this book? Had I actually bought into the marketing of shite? Apparently so. Her second novel was gifted to me by a friend who did not read the first novel, but saw the film. I attempted to read it. Does the woman have friends in publishing? I thought publishers were supposed to read the books prior to accepting them. I will never buy a book by this woman. Please do not buy an Audrey Niffenegger novel for me. I collect and cherish my large library of books. I think of every book on my shelves, 700+, only her's would I be capable of putting through the shredder. Nice plot, horrific writing.

Maybe I shouldn't even review this book becuase I decided to return it to the library last night because I just couldn't even bring myself to finish this. What happened??? This book was painfully boring and slow. I'm not going to lie, Ms. Niffeneggar has a writing talent. Her writing wasn't bad, it's just the book was boring. I mean around page 160 I was reading because I felt like I had to get through it, not because I wanted to. I really loved Time Traveler's Wife and kudos to Ms. Niffeneggar for being able to write something completely different, I just wanted to love this book too, it just was a HUGE disappointment.

This book was one of the most disappointing follow up novels I have ever read (and I don't say this lightly). I loved The Time Traveler's Wife and was thrilled when I heard Niffenegger was coming out with another novel. The story line sounded intriguing. Yet the style and substance both harkened to high school creative writing more than a top-ten favorite novelist. In various spots it seemed the plot and characters might redeem themselves, but didn't. Not one character was likeable; and the way they reacted to each other and circumstances was absurd. Save your time and money. Read The Help or The Elegance of the Hedgehog instead.

I take some comfort after reading the other reviews and finding that I'm not alone in my assessment that this book started off strong and ended......weirdly. I couldn't put it down until about the last quarter of the book, when I rushed through it just to find out the ending. And what an ending. BLECH - what a terrible way to end this book. I had really grown to like some of the characters, but the ending just made me feel icky all over.

This was one of the rare books that I didn't read the description on, but I recognized the author so I picked it up anyway. It started out rather slow, in my opinion, but I was quickly drawn into the story and was rather surprised by the ending. I wanted it to go on and on.

I love the backdrop of London since it's one of my favorite cities in the world and the characters were interesting, each with their own story.

I completely disagree with the majority of reviewers on this one. It seems to me that Niffenegger's readers end up in one of 2 camps: Time Traveler's Wife or Her Fearful Symmetry. I read Her Fearful Symmetry and was so enthralled with it that I almost wanted to cry when it was over and I couldn't continue reading it. Subsequently, I read Time Traveler's Wife, expecting the same brilliance, and was so disappointed and disgusted with what I felt was full of sappy, trite, snivelly, and completely unoriginal characters. I really, really wanted to like it (since everyone seemed to just fall out over it, and I had loved Her Fearful Symmetry SO SO SO much!), but it bored me to death. It's true; I've never known anyone like any of the characters in Her Fearful Symmetry, but that's one of the many things I loved about it. Niffenegger is such a talented writer overall that I found the characters completely believable...and I really cared about them. I think the entire story (characters, plot twists, and storytelling/prose style) was completely unique and original. This is one of my very favorite books. If you want a nice, little, perfectly wrapped up fairytale ending, then, no, this is not the book for you. Yes, the ending is disturbing, but it's fascinating, too, and believable in my opinion. Just because you as a reader don't like unhappy endings doesn't make this a bad novel. I highly recommend anyone interested in reading this go ahead and give it a wholehearted try. (especially if you thought the Time Traveler's Wife was weak, because this is nothing like it!) Her Fearful Symmetry is one of the ONLY good new novels I have read in quite some time (which is why I often stick to classics!)...so much so that I considered writing the author just to tell her how much I loved her book. If you like complex, three-dimensional characters and some spookiness (and aren't upset by a mildly disturbing ending), you'll love this!

Well, I was a little disappointed in this book, especially after all the hype. It was good, but certainly not in the class with The Time Travelers Wife. And, the last part of the book seemed rushed and contrived. I was expecting so much more.

Time travel, ghosts who can communicate, all some of my favorite stuff. But this book takes such a weird turn at the very end that I was literally disgusted, I could not believe what I was reading, that someone not intentionally writing a lowbrow horror story would even come up with this revolting turn of events. Ghosts are one thing, ghosts who can inhabit the living are commonplace in books and movies, but this....I will never ever read anything by Niffenegger again. What was an interesting, well-written book more than halfway through became something I sincerely wish I had not read. Strongly recommend NOT reading this.

Being a big fan of the Time Traveler's Wife, I was excited to read Her Fearful Symmetry but was disappointed in the the store reviews. I don't think the books are really comparable. This was a great read and I thought, easily on par with TTW. I was always curious as to where the book was going and had a hard time putting it down. Really enjoyed it!

I glanced at some of the other reviews, they make sense. she is an amazing writer, very talented and her words are just beautiful. The end of this book shook me up and still disturbs me a year later, I don't think it was a very good ending, not because I was disturbed but because it seemed like a total cop out and not in keeping with the level of writing/storytelling

I don't write reviews often either, but I have to say that after really enjoying this book until about the last 100 pages, I knew I was going to be disappointed at the end. I felt just like the other reviewer, "Stephanie". Sooo disappointed. I have to say that I have learned not to expect "happy endings" or endings that wrap up all the loose ends, but REALLY Audrey? What a let down... Beautiful writing, wonderfully descriptive and emotional, but in the end a let down. Don't buy this book...if you really want to read it, borrow it from your local library. Don't worry, if there is a waiting list for it, find something else to do in the meantime...something productive...

The story just fell short of capturing my imagination. All the right elements were there, they just weren't cohesive. Really weird ending, like the author was trying to figure out how to end the story logically, but couldn't so she just concocted a supernatural ending so she could tie up some loose ends. Could not recommend this one to anyone.

I admit this book took an odd turn towards the end, but I enjoyed the read very much. She is a gifted writer and has a way of luring readers in regardless. It was different, cool and I wasn't ready for it to end - I'm still very curious about the characters even after finishing the book. Read it and enjoy it!

While the writing is wondrous and the characters captivating, this book takes you on a journey that is sure to disappoint all but those who delight in being disturbed. I felt the author went so far as to betray her characters as well as her readers and, as much as I loved the TTW, I am truly sorry I read HFS. I wish, like in movies, that there were an alternate ending; instead I find that Julia and Valentina are now haunting me.

Although it doesn't come near TTTW , I really liked it. It introduced me to people in history that I may have never known. I am fascinated by Lizzie Siddall now. I had never heard of her, Rossetti or Milias until I picked up this book. I also googled Highgate Cemetary. I love a book that gets me interested enough to look further into the time period. If you can read it without expectations of another TTTW, then you'll find it is an original, quirky trip through London. Well worth the time and money !

I loved this book but I hated the way it ended. What I loved most about this book is the realness of the characters. At one point, Elspeth seemed so real that I just wanted to choke her. It is a dark story described with such talent that I got irritated whenever I had to put the book down and get back to the real world. I recommend this book to anyone who loves words and the magic words have to transform you from your world into another.

High style and high risk reap moderate reward. An intriguing tale with well-developed characters, this novel's plot is winding and convoluted, sometimes with unnecessary off-shoots that don't pan out. All the same, I enjoyed this story from a talented, if not gifted, writer.