Her Fearful Symmetry - Audrey Niffenegger

Sadly, in my busy state of affairs over the last few months, I have not kept up with my reviews. I finished Her Fearful Symmetry months ago and thus am unable to give this particular book the review I wanted and that I felt it deserved.

After, like most of the female population of the UK at least(!), absolutely falling for Niffenegger's first novel, The Time Traveller's Wife, I rushed out to purchase the hardback of her second full-length novel, something I try not to do! Although this review is not too spoilerific, I have mentioned some details that some readers may rather not know before reading the book...you have been warned.

Her Fearful Symmetry is literally a story of life and death, and is a slow book from the start. We are introduced to Elspeth Noblin, a successful 40-something living in an apartment overlooking London's Highgate Cemetary, and dying of cancer. It is Elspeth's death that is the catalyst for the story and she remains ever-present throughout. Her will is executed by her younger neighbour and lover, Robert, a PhD student writing a thesis on the cemetary where Elspeth is eventually buried. The estate passes not to Elspeth's estranged twin sister Edie, but to her American nieces, Julia and Valentina, also twins. The slow build to this book is the introduction of these characters, and the eventual arrival of the twins in London. We are not early on given the reasons behind the estrangement of Elspeth and Edie, although the answers are in Elsepth's diaries, bequeathed to her lover Robert, who cannot bring himself to read them.

The tale begins afresh with the young girls' arrival and subsequent meetings with Robert, the house-bound obsessive-compulsive neighbour Martin, and eventually Elspeth herself. For this is indeed a ghost story...the story of Elspeth, bound to her apartment, her former life and a new set of rules. She has no corporeal form nor indeed a voice, but must find a way to communicate with the new inhabitants of her apartment. She lives in a drawer, finds ways to build up her strength and even manipulate dust on a table into words. However, although the tale is Elspeth's, it is the twins that are the heart of this story. Polar opposites, the wilful and domineering Julia and the timid, fragile Valentina are inseparable, though their new life in London begins to drive a wedge between them. Valentina is stifled by Julia, unable to begin the life she truly desires, and it is her discovery of Elspeth and her burgeoning romance with Robert that drives much of the book.

Her Fearful Symmetry is certainly not as instantly gratifying as the more commercial Time Traveller's Wife. This however, felt more like a labour of love, with the author obviously spending a great deal of time researching in London, feeding every detail to the reader. The story builds slowly, allowing us to become accustomed to the characters, their lives, and their intricacies before allowing them to meet each other. Although this makes for a more satisfying understanding of the characters themselves, little appears to happen in the first part of the book, which was a time a little tedious. Becoming darker and more complex in the second half, the story suddenly turns towards the end into something quite sinister. But then it is all over too quickly and I for one would have liked that sinister Gothic feeling to perhaps have lasted longer.

Niffenegger's characterisation is top-notch however, with the heart-broken Robert, the dreamy Valentina, and the defiant Elspeth. I could not bring myself to care for Julia, though that was likely the desired reaction, but the relationship between the house-bound Martin and his wife Marijke was so delicately handled that I often wished it was more their story than Elspeth's. Rather than a pointless subplot, which it could so easily have become, the love between the fiery Marijke and the damaged Martin felt so real and beautiful, with hope for their future equally gained and lost as the story developed. It is the atmosphere of the cemetary itself that I completely fell for. With enough personality to embody its own character, the cemetary is so integral to both the joyful and the sad parts of the story. Unfortunately I have lent my copy to a friend, so cannot include here any of the passages that I was particularly enamoured with.

Without giving too much away regarding the darker side of this story, it is ultimately one of love and loss, both romantic and familial. As a novel, it is mature, artistic and complex, with a level of creativity I had not expected Niffenegger to reach in only her second novel.

Other blog reviews:
Stuff as Dreams are Made on
Stainless Steel Droppings (spoiler review)
Stainless Steel Droppings (non-spoiler review)