Book Review: Her Fearful Symmetry by Audrey Niffenegger

'Six years after the phenomenal success of The Time Traveler's Wife, Audrey Niffenegger has returned with a spectacularly compelling and haunting second novel set in and around Highgate Cemetery in London.

When Elspeth Noblin dies of cancer, she leaves her London apartment to her twin nieces, Julia and Valentina. These two American girls never met their English aunt, only knew that their mother, too, was a twin, and Elspeth her sister. Julia and Valentina are semi-normal American teenagers--with seemingly little interest in college, finding jobs, or anything outside their cozy home in the suburbs of Chicago, and with an abnormally intense attachment to one another.

The girls move to Elspeth's flat, which borders Highgate Cemetery in London. They come to know the building's other residents. There is Martin, a brilliant and charming crossword puzzle setter suffering from crippling Obsessive Compulsive Disorder; Marjike, Martin's devoted but trapped wife; and Robert, Elspeth's elusive lover, a scholar of the cemetery. As the girls become embroiled in the fraying lives of their aunt's neighbors, they also discover that much is still alive in Highgate, including--perhaps--their aunt, who can't seem to leave her old apartment and life behind.

Niffenegger weaves a captivating story in Her Fearful Symmetry about love and identity, about secrets and sisterhood, and about the tenacity of life--even after death.'

(plot summary from Goodreads)

I can’t review this novel without the inevitable comparison to The Time Traveller’s Wife so I’m just going to get it over with now: Her Fearful Symmetry was not as enjoyable. TTTW was one of those novels that I will (and have) re-read time and time again, whereas this…I’m not so sure.

Now that my judgement isn’t being clouded by that comparison, I can say that there were lots of aspects of Her Fearful Symmetry that I really liked. Firstly, the first sentence. Lots of books try (and fail) to open with sentences that hook you in, but this one is truly masterful in that respect: “Elspeth died while Robert was standing in front of a vending machine watching tea shoot into a small plastic cup.” It just contrasts something so important, so life-changing, with an activity so utterly banal, I just...wow.

I could write a whole essay on its magnificence but I’ll save that little treat for another time.

Anyhow, the gothic setting of London’s Highgate Cemetery created a very introspective feel to the novel which served to reinforce the supernatural ‘ghost story’ theme of the tale. However, it soon becomes apparent that the ghost is confined to an apartment overlooking the cemetery- a very clever ploy by Niffenegger which counters our initial preconception of ghosts traversing the cemetery at midnight. Another important theme is the idea of identity, which is conveyed through two sets of twins- Elspeth and Edie, who have fallen out over a huge family secret, and Edie’s daughters Julia and Valentina, mirror-image twins who are struggling between forging their separate identities and remaining in the safety of each other’s company. Eventually, these two plotlines become crucial to the narrative, which highlights the fact that identity really is everything.

A brilliant touch by the author was the inclusion of a side plot running parallel to the main one, in the form of Martin, a man with severe Obsessive Compulsive Disorder who lives in the flat upstairs. He formulates complex crossword puzzles for a living and orders everything online so he never has to leave his flat- he is a very lovable character and Niffenegger’s portrayal of him is a joy to read.

You’re probably wondering what made me think this isn’t as good as TTTW. Well, I think the pace of the novel plays an important part. By the time the revelations appear towards the end of the novel, they don’t have the same effect as they would, had they come a hundred pages earlier. This leaves the ending as a bit of a let-down. I was left musing about this novel for quite some time afterwards, and I think due to the fact that there is so many themes involved- loss, identity, relationships, the supernatural- you would expect it to be full of drama but it just…isn’t.

That’s why I would give this novel three out of five stars, overall- an interesting premise but a little lack lustre.