When I think of Her Fearful Symmetry, I think of it in terms of couples.
Robert who mourns the death of his wife, Elspeth. Edie who must confront decisions made long ago with her twin, Elspeth. Martin whose mental illness isolates him from his wife, Marijke. And finally, the twenty-one-year-old twins who inherit their Aunt Elspeth’s flat in London, next door to Highgate Cemetery.
Open since Queen Victoria’s accession to the throne in 1839, Highgate Cemetery seems a never-ending study as Robert writes his PhD thesis and provides guided tours to visitors of the cemetery: “. . . the Victorians had created Highgate Cemetery as a theatre of mourning, a stage set of eternal repose. But as he did the research Robert was seduced by the personalities of the people buried in the cemetery . . .” (53).
As Kelly wrote in her blog not long after the novel’s hardback release in September of 09, Her Fearful Symmetry is a book about identity:
How much of the identity of a twin is dictated by her sister? How much are any of us defined by our family or our work or who we surround ourselves with? How much should we work at protecting that identity so that we don’t begin, as Valentina finds herself doing, fading away? And how difficult would it really be, if one were determined enough, to slip into another person’s identity?
Her Fearful Symmetry is many things: a ghost story, a family saga, a coming of age story, and an exploration of what makes us unique.
Many readers may know Audrey Niffenegger through the very popular novel Time Traveler’s Wife, which was made into a movie this past fall. I urge fans to not miss this second novel. And for those of us who have never read Time Traveler’s Wife, Audrey has written a mesmerizing, “unputdownable” tale in Her Fearful Symmetry. Often times it is one character that grabs my heart in a novel, but in Symmetry so many of them were endearing. I still think about them, especially Martin–and you’ll have to read the book to find out why.
You may not know that Audrey is also a visual artist and her original approach to the story of a time traveler and his wife was through a visual novel. She has two visual novels in publication: The Adventuress and The Three Incestuous Sisters. Years ago, Lynd Ward’s God’s Man was an inspiration for Audrey and she adopted the term visual novel from him. Audrey also designed a beautiful limited edition of Her Fearful Symmetry. A true lover of books, she has been known to write, hand-print, and bind her own books.
Come meet Audrey! She will be here Wednesday, July 21st for a signing and reading at 5:00 and 5:30. (The signing and reading will be held at our events building next door to Banner Hall.)
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