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Her Fearful Symmetry

Audrey Niffenegger

Why we're reading this: Recommended by Marcy
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Aug 26, 2009 Danielle Ruse rated it liked it

Chilly twin ghost-story---it seems that Niffenegger has been reading her Henry James. The morally vapid, the shallow, the meek, the self-righteous---all are well represented---and I found myself identifying with the characters despite their obviously grotesque motives.
Honestly, this book gave me the creeps, but I read it greedily and late into the evening.

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Mar 16, 2017 Keri rated it liked it

My grandmother is a twin so the premise of this book was of interest to me. The story about the relationships between twins Edie and Elsbeth and twins Valentina and Julia were fascinating (as twins usually are). There was a bit of a mystery as to what happened to drive Edie and Elsbeth apart, but for the most part, it wasn't too hard to figure out what had happened. The author dropped little hints if one was paying attention.

The writing about the cemetery was beautiful to me. Niffenegger made be ...more

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May 10, 2010 Elaine Nelson rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: fiction

Creepy. Really, really creepy. The feel of a 19th century Gothic novel, but in a modern setting. A weird tale of twins, ghosts, OCD...and like The Time Traveler's Wife, a confused middle-aged guy with a weird relationship with a much younger girl.

The writing was amazing, vivid & richly textured, great pacing. She uses the settings of the London streets, Highgate Cemetery, and the apartment building to great effect. The whole thing had such a compelling effect that I ended up reading at odd hours ...more

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