Her Fearful Symmetry

A Novel

By: Audrey Niffenegger

Narrated by: Bianca Amato

Length: 13 hrs and 45 mins

Publisher's summary

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; they 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, including 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.

©2009 Audrey Niffenegger (P)2009 Simon & Schuster

Critic reviews

"[S]he has a knack for taking the romantic into the realm of creepiness, and she constructs a taut mystery around the secrets to be found in Elspeth's diaries and the lengths to which she will go to reunite with her younger lover. It's no small achievement that the revelations are both organic and completely unexpected." ( The New Yorker)

Beautiful and scary. So clever!

Get this book. A great listen. I could not stop until the end. Loved narrator.

I'd say a 3.5

This book kept my interest enough to finish it, surprised me in places, yet on the whole I couldn't get too excited about it. I guess I just can't get too involved with a plot line that basically revolves around people making stupid decisions. "Oh, I have these deep dark secrets that I must perpetuate....blah...blah...blah."

I think I enjoyed Time Traveler's Wife much more simply because the characters and their decisions seemed more plausible to me.

Oh honestly

Where does Her Fearful Symmetry rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

Fictionwise- toward the top

What other book might you compare Her Fearful Symmetry to and why?

oh, maybe the bible

What about Bianca Amato’s performance did you like?

flexibility in characters, very touching

If you were to make a film of this book, what would be the tag line be?

London can too be interesting

Any additional comments?

If this is how you all treat someone for making one

Couldn't Turn It Off!

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

This book was so much fun! I love Niffenegger's ability to pull me in emotionally.

Which scene was your favorite?

The whole part about the Kitten

Any additional comments?

A book you can listen too more than once.

I thought it was great except for the ending

What did you love best about Her Fearful Symmetry?

The story has a great plot. but the ending lacked

What was your reaction to the ending? (No spoilers please!)

I don't like the ending

Which scene was your favorite?

The story plot about the twins

If you were to make a film of this book, what would be the tag line be?

Lots to fear

Wonderful narrator really brought the story to life

I loved The Time Traveller's Wife, so I was eager to find more from this author.

The story started a little slowly, but I'm
glad I stuck with it. And even though I saw the big surprise coming for days, it was well told and I enjoyed the reveal.

Disturbing & Beautiful

Just let your mind get lost in the story and forget about reality. I loved the characters, great storytelling. The narrartor is excellent, off to find other books read by her!

Great Read!

I got the book for 2 reasons; first, I read "The Time Traveler's Wife," and enjoyed it and Symmetry in physics is very interesting. The plot was so full of possible directions and outcomes (Sum-Over-Paths - Hawking and Hartle), that the ending was a surprise, kind of sad and contemplating.

The author's subjects are presented as entertainment based on our accepted 20th century version of reality, somewhere in her thinking, though, lurks 21st century physics and reality.

It is a great read, I recommend it. If you read it, consider it boring, and don't like it, maybe the 21st century is not going to be your kind of place. To some degree, our understanding of reality is going to change.

Wow...just wow!

I was absolutely blown away by this book. The plot line was amazing. It was slightly predictable, but still very powerful. I enjoyed it much more than Time Traveler's Wife. The narrater could have done a little better job, there was something about her that I just didn't like very much. I certainly hope Niffenegger keeps writing novels. She has an amazing talent!

ehh

I liked her last book much better. This story takes a very long time to build up, and you want to give up listening so you invest a few more hours. it's just not that entertaining.