Set in the 1950s in Dublin, The Lonely Passion of Judith Hearne has just been re-released. Made into a movie in 1987, the story is timeless and appeals to good readers who love a psychological examination of characters’ motives and expectations. Judith (Judy), a lonely middle aged woman, who moves from one boarding house to another searching for love and friendship, pulls at the reader’s heartstrings. A piano teacher and a seamstress, she is essentially a woman who has fallen from society and has very little money left to buy food or clothing. As an orphaned young girl, her aged aunt took Judy in, and as years went by, Judy cared for her senile aunt, while giving up her own life and refusing to put the crazed aunt “away”.

The novel opens as Judy moves into another boarding house and immediately falls for the new man, a native Dubliner, who had lived in NY for numerous years, and who has just moved back to Dublin to live in his sister’s boarding  house. Judy thinks he is THE man and that he is quite wealthy, and that he is the one for whom she is meant and immediately falls for him.  The reader learns that he is indeed not wealthy but thinks that Judy is because of the way she dresses and acts.  Essentially, each wants the others money which does not really exist.

Haunted by her aunt’s photo on her mantel, as well as a photo of “The Sacred Heart” which hangs above her bed, Judy, a deeply devout Catholic, doubts her faith as she is jilted by the NY man. Sinking deeper and deeper into depression and delusional thinking, Judy turns to alcohol for escape. The son of the boarding house owner, offers comic relief and amusement, which adds to the overall intrigue.

In the notes following the conclusion of this well written tiny novel, a classic in Ireland, references to James Joyce and allusions to Ulysses and the character Leopold Bloom are quite interesting. I wish I had read this afterword before I had read this novel. Having suffered through reading Ulysses while in graduate school, it was nice to revisit an Irish novel. For lovers of Joyce, who died only 15 years before this novel was first published, as well as for those readers who like a good Irish  novel, The Lonely Passion of Judith Hearne is captivating.  Liz at Random House recommended this little find to me, and I’m glad.The cover alone of this unusual novel will be enough to entice many readers!

-Nan

I have started reading The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake by Aimee Bender and I am very much diggin’ it (that’s how a dude says that he “loves it”… gotta be careful what you say with these light colored books with curly font). I haven’t read any of Bender’s previous works but I definitely will, Willful Creatures seems particularly intriguing. I picked up this one because my co-worker Zita is all about it, and she also wrote a blog about it a bit ago. In the bookstore it is always nice to be able to feed off each others thoughts and excitement about books. It is also fun to see a book come out, pick-up, gain speed and take off. It’s getting great reviews and feedback wherever it is read and is currently on both the CBS Early Show and Good Morning America’s list of hot books this summer.

For me, though I am in the beginnings, the substance of this novel is already pressing on me. It is very pleasant to see an author not get bogged down in a beautifully good idea, like having a nine-year-old girl who is suddenly able to taste the condition of a person’s soul in food they have prepared, but to take the idea and be able to say something powerful through it. As Yann Martel said in his latest, these clever ideas are used to open people’s eyes and ears so they can better listen and see what the sayer is trying to illuminate. When authors are able to use this tool well, they seem to be able throw you off just enough to create a gap in your breastplate and have their way with our hearts. With her keen eye and seemingly perfect descriptions, I believe I trust Ms. Bender and can’t wait to finish this book and see the full picture that she is painting.

-John P.

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.)

Audrey Niffenegger’s official website