Audrey Niffeneger's Latest Offering: Her 'Fearful' Symmetry

chillibreeze writer — Anjana Balakrishnan

As a feline who lapped up the fantastically romantic The Time Traveler’s Wife, I began Audrey Niffeneger’s latest offering, Her Fearful Symmetry, with the will to suspend my disbelief. But what the author wanted me to suspend was my sense of logic and common sense.

Londoner Elspeth Noblin, who dies of cancer, leaves her London flat and belongings to her estranged Chicagoan twin sister Edie’s mirror twins Valentina and Julia. Her will stipulates that the twins must live in the flat for a year before they can dispose it off; it also forbids Edie and her husband from entering it.

Following Elspeth’s will, the adolescent twins cross continents to move in to their inherited flat, Vautravers, where this new age ghost story unfolds. At Vautravers, Elspeth’s lover Robert who lives downstairs from the twins, Martin the obsessive compulsive language expert and crossword setter who lives upstairs and the adjoining cemetery where Elspeth is buried, condense the plot. The story takes shape as Elspeth’s ghost, stuck in the apartment, teaches itself to haunt and communicate with the twins and the renegade in Valentina begins the struggle to disengage from her bossy twin.

The story till now is credible. What I can’t disclose and what happens next are a sequence of unconvincing twists and turns which leave the reader wishing back the hours spent reading this book.

The spineless storyline staggers from plausibility to absurdity over the 400 pages of its life. Elspeth’s logic and Valentina’s brilliant idea to lead a life independent of her twin is simply unpalatable. Robert, who starts off as an interesting character loses his edge as he is roped in by Elspeth into the disastrous plan without much sweat. Martin, the amicable OCD victim whose life is restrained by the exacting rituals of his illness, also disappoints in his final labour of love. Having said so much, the icing on the cake is undoubtedly the revelation of how a ghost can leave the apartment!

Niffeneger trips on the loose ends, of which there are many, and arm-twists her characters under the rug so as to hastily reach a resolution. With a descriptive narrative that takes us on a tour of Highgate symmetry, her writing style is a saving grace in this jumble.

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Chillibreeze's disclaimer: This is a contributed article and was published on Chillibreeze in July, 2010. The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author(s) and do not reflect the views of Chillibreeze as a company. Chillibreeze has a strict anti-plagiarism policy. Please contact us to report any copyright issues related to this article. The relevance of the facts and figures cited (if any) could change after a period of time.

 

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—About our writer: Anjana Balakrishnan is a freelance writer with a postgraduate degree in communication. With over two years of experience in the publishing industry, she is currently based out of Kerala. She is passionate about writing, editing, fiction and reviewing.

 

 

 

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