Her Fearful Symmetry

Her Fearful Symmetry: A Novel by Audrey Niffenegger

My rating: 3 of 5 stars
I borrowed this from Jenn to read over break, and while I didn't quite finish it during Winter Break, I managed to polish it off this morning. I had liked The Time Traveler's Wife reasonably well, but the back blurb for this one had generally excited me. Ghosts! Twins! London! Highgate Cemetary!

While some of that remained exciting (Niffenegger's fist chapter about Elspeth learning to be a ghost is particularly charming), I found I only empathized with a couple of the characters at all. Many of them I prayed would grow up or meet a bad end...and Niffenegger refused to deliver on that.

With the exception of Martin, I found that the likable characters in this book met the saddest ends, and the truly despicable characters, like Elspeth, got happier endings. In that sense, I found it ultimately unsatisfying, but there were many aspects of the book I found really enjoyable, and so I can still comfortably give it 3 stars.

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