Book Review: Her Fearful Symmetry

3/5

Almost a 1.5, but it gets an extra .5 for leaving me in an extreme state of “whaaaaaaaaaat…..????????”, another .5 for being predictably unpredictable or unpredictably predictable, and another .5 for the history of Highgate Cemetery that you get reading this book. Her Fearful Symmetry is by the same author as The Time Traveller’s Wife which is why I originally picked it up. The latter book is wonderful and quite sad (don’t watch the movie), this books is…disturbing.

Audrey Niffenegger’s style of writing carries on in this book – it is just as gripping and compelling. But the story is just so very strange. Twins Valentina and Julia get a message in the mail out of the blue one day that their aunt who lives in London who they’ve never heard of has left them her entire estate including her flat overlooking Highgate cemetery. Their mother and their aunt were also twins. The story is told from three points of view: the twins, the ghost of the dead aunt, and her widowed boyfriend/partner. It is so bizarre and I found the ending to be quite depressing and a bit of a let down.

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