Smoke and Mirrors

I’ve decided that I will dedicate a review or two to Audrey Niffenegger. She’s a lady whom I truly admire – a very talented writer and illustrator. The Time Traveler’s Wife is very probably my favourite book. This is something which surprised one or two of my friends. I am not on the whole any kind of romance fan but this book revolves around one of the most fantastical and believable relationships I’ve come across in literature. I could wax lyrical about this novel for a long time but I have decided to start my miniature Niffenegger-a-thon with her second novel, Her Fearful Symmetry.

To give a quick synopsis (without spoiling the plot), the central characters are Julia and Valentina Poole, a pair of identical twins. They inherit a flat from their aunt and decide to travel from America to England to live in their newly acquired home. This is a place haunted by all kinds of ghosts – both personal and supernatural. The building and its other inhabitants set in motion two different journeys of discovery for the twins who suddenly find that they have to work out who they really are both together and apart. More than anything it is about the strain of wanting to be together but also wanting to pull away and be somebody else.

I'm going to let the Evelyn Evelyn explain that situation. This sums up a lot of what goes on in 'Her Fearful Symmetry'. All credit here needs to go to the talented Neville sisters. 

So after our musical interlude, I'll start by saying that the set up and story are excellent. Thinking through everything that happened so I could write my review made me realise quite how much is going on in this book. It’s a story with endless parallels and mirrors. These narrative twins reflect the actual twins around which the story revolves. It also has some really elegant pieces. The first two page chapter is a little masterpiece in its own right. It’s a truly lovely beginning.

The problem with this book is that my expectations were so high. The Time Traveller’s Wife was a hard act to follow. Her Fearful Symmetry in my eyes does not sit in the same league. However, this does not stop it from being a very interesting and enjoyable book. Niffenegger writes beautifully. The book has echoes of Orpheus and Eurydice as well as any number of old ghost stories. It's a strange mix of genres but I suppose it is a kind of modern gothic novel more than anything and it has a wonderful atmosphere. The London Niffenegger creates captures both the grey tourist trap and the darker spiritual places that lie alongside that.

I'm not good at ghosts...

 Despite me loving her use of London, there is a little gripe that I need to get off my chest and that is how she creates it. There are a lot of places where you can really tell that this is an American writing about English people. It’s in the little details where you can see she’s a bit too hell-bent on getting all the peculiarities and iconic items in. There’s nothing that rings false but there is a bit too much packed in. It’s all marmite, tea and quaint bookishness reiterated again and again. This isn’t Rom. Com. London with buses, Big Ben and “British accents” but little things kept jarring.

So what is my overall opinion? It’s good - Niffenegger is an excellent writer, however this book is perhaps not all it could have been. It takes a great premise and then meanders around it. I have no problem with a slow burning plot but this rambles. Worth reading? Definitely. Worth re-reading? Perhaps not.