I was blown away by Niffenegger's debut, The Time Traveler's Wife last year. I adored its first present, double point of view and its main character. So when I came across Her Fearful Symmetry again, which I had read and not especially enjoyed a few years ago, I thought I woud give it a try again.
Written in a shifting third point of view, it lacks the intimacy of her debut, but it has an interesting set of characters including a pair of identical twins who inherit their aunt's - their mother's twin - estate on the proviso the live in her London apartment for year.
I enjoyed the first two thirds of the book. It was easy to get into, the writing was tighter than in Time Traveler's, and the descriptions of Highgate cemetary made me want to get on a plane to London and wander through it with the book in hand.
But the last third left me wondering who had edited this and why they didn't just say it was utterly implausible. Valentina, one of the twins, goes from being inordinantly close to her twin, to wanting to break away, to becoming suicidal over the need to be free -- despite never, really, seeming suicidal to me -- to concocting a ridiculous plan to allow her Aunt -- Elspeth -- who is now a ghost, to take her soul and let her fake her death.
One character arc stretching I can, maybe, forgive, but add to this the grieving Robert, former partner of Elspeth and now in love with Valentina. Now Robert has survived eighteen months since Elspeth died in a state of grief, but has seemed pretty rational through it all. His only moment of irrationality is putting off meeting the twins in person, and even that is subtly done.
So, this rational man, in love with Valentina and mistrustful of Elspeth's ghost, goes along with the fake death plan, goes through with her funeral,arranges for her to be buried un-embalmed and packed in ice because he believes in ghosts - and the undertaker agrees with barely a murmur of protest -- commits grave robbery and ... Well, at that point my already stretched disbelief broke.
The book wraps up quickly with a few storylines making me blink -- Valentina's sister freeing her ghost before I was aware they'd met each other, Elspeth in Vaentina's body having a baby with no lead up to it, and left me unsatisfied and blinking that the same author wrote both books. It would make me think twice about reading another by her, or at least make me ask some questions around editorial judgement, first. Which is a shame considering how good her debut was.
Written in a shifting third point of view, it lacks the intimacy of her debut, but it has an interesting set of characters including a pair of identical twins who inherit their aunt's - their mother's twin - estate on the proviso the live in her London apartment for year.
I enjoyed the first two thirds of the book. It was easy to get into, the writing was tighter than in Time Traveler's, and the descriptions of Highgate cemetary made me want to get on a plane to London and wander through it with the book in hand.
But the last third left me wondering who had edited this and why they didn't just say it was utterly implausible. Valentina, one of the twins, goes from being inordinantly close to her twin, to wanting to break away, to becoming suicidal over the need to be free -- despite never, really, seeming suicidal to me -- to concocting a ridiculous plan to allow her Aunt -- Elspeth -- who is now a ghost, to take her soul and let her fake her death.
One character arc stretching I can, maybe, forgive, but add to this the grieving Robert, former partner of Elspeth and now in love with Valentina. Now Robert has survived eighteen months since Elspeth died in a state of grief, but has seemed pretty rational through it all. His only moment of irrationality is putting off meeting the twins in person, and even that is subtly done.
So, this rational man, in love with Valentina and mistrustful of Elspeth's ghost, goes along with the fake death plan, goes through with her funeral,arranges for her to be buried un-embalmed and packed in ice because he believes in ghosts - and the undertaker agrees with barely a murmur of protest -- commits grave robbery and ... Well, at that point my already stretched disbelief broke.
The book wraps up quickly with a few storylines making me blink -- Valentina's sister freeing her ghost before I was aware they'd met each other, Elspeth in Vaentina's body having a baby with no lead up to it, and left me unsatisfied and blinking that the same author wrote both books. It would make me think twice about reading another by her, or at least make me ask some questions around editorial judgement, first. Which is a shame considering how good her debut was.
