Friday, February 24, 2012

Her Fearful Symmetry

Her Fearful Symmetry by Audrey Niffenegger  406 pp.

This one had been on my "to read" list since it came out a few years ago. I was underwhelmed. The book is well written but loses it's way in the end. It is a ghost story of sorts but that is only a part of the story. Chicago twins Julia and Valentina inherit a flat in London and a considerable amount of money by the aunt they never met--their mother's twin sister Elspeth. The catch is they must live in it for a year and their parents must never visit the flat. In the flat below, is Robert, Elspeth's former lover. Above lives Martin, a crossword puzzle setter with an extreme case of Obsessive Compulsive Disorder whose wife has left him. And then there is the ghost of Elspeth who is trapped in the apartment. None of the characters are particularly likable. The twins are dysfunctional without each other, Robert has made a career of researching death, and Martin is trapped in his flat by his mental illness. Late in the book the story takes some strange turns which. I probably could have left this off my "to read" list and never missed it.

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