Her Fearful Symmetry
The dust jacket says:
“An unnerving, unforgettable, and enchating ghost story, a novel about love and identity, secrets and sisterhood and the tenacity of life—even after death.” I must vehemently disagree.
I have to say that I absolutely LOVED the first two-thirds of this book. I found all the characters engaging, to various degrees. I read with anticipation, waiting to see where the story led me.
Then the novel suddenly turned one-hundred-and-eighty-degrees and became a ghoulish nightmare, where many of the characters were not the quirky-but-nice folks that I thought they were. They were cruel, selfish, uncaring monsters.
SPOILER ALERT: plot points exposed…
A mother who gives up her children at nine months old and walks away, never to have anything to do with them (while she is alive) again.
A twin who wants to separate herself from her sister but who is too emotionally weak that she cannot, kills herself…never thinking of the pain she will cause her family. Never ONCE thinking of anyone but herself.
A mother who helps her daughter to kill herself and then ghoulishly takes her body so that she can live again.
A man that realizes that his ex-lover has participated in the daughter’s death and taken her body, but that lives with her again anyway.
A couple that have deceived each other, and their children, with unforgiveable lies.
This was NOT the enchanting, quirky, romantic book that The Time Traveler’s Wife was, this is a horror novel. I HATE horror novels, movies, whatever…
I wish I had been forewarned, as I would never have read this book. And now, I’m actually sorry that I did.
Audrey Niffenigger, I am so disappointed. I will no longer automatically read whatever it is you write.
Horrible. Horrible. Horrible.
Recent Comments