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Aug
17
The one in which we collectively gush about HER FEARFUL SYMMETRY
2009 at 1pm Posted by Rebecca Joines Schinsky
So, a couple weeks ago I told you all about Audrey Niffenegger’s upcoming book Her Fearful Symmetry (and okay, maybe I gloated a little bit about scoring an ARC so early). After I posted about the book, Regal Literary, which represents Ms. Niffenegger, contacted me to let me know about some exciting giveaways.
Her Fearful Symmetry rocked my world and left me almost speechless, and I’m finding that now, even after I’ve had two weeks to think about it and process it, I’m still sort of incapable of talking about it intelligently. But I’m not going to let that stop me! Since I posted the Regal giveaways, several of you have commented and tweeted to let me know you were getting an ARC, and now a few of you have even finished it.
So, let’s talk about it!
Jen from Devourer of Books tweeted last night that Her Fearful Symmetry is the best book she’s read this year (I wholeheartedly agree!), and Janelle jumped into the conversation when she finished it. We had a hard time controlling ourselves, internet, but we didn’t want to spoil the book by tweeting about it so far before the release date.
So we’re going to effuse about it here.
BEWARE! SPOILERS BELOW!
Is that warning enough for you?
Here are just a few of the things I adored about Her Fearful Symmetry.
- Niffenegger’s description of Elspeth’s new form—it was quietly beautiful and made me really want a desk drawer of my own to curl up in. And how cool is it that she’s made of electricity/energy?!
- All of the clever little plays on symmetry—Julia and Valentina are mirror images of each other not just physically but also emotionally, and I just loved it. I also loved that Niffenegger brought the other characters into it as well, particularly using Robert and Martin as complements to each other.
- The way the relationship between Robert and Valentina played out with Elspeth watching and reacting and eventually getting involved, tangling her selfish desires up with her desire to help Valentina
- And the ambiguity/complexity added by the fact that we never really know what Elspeth’s true motives are
- Niffenegger’s ability to tell a story with gothic, ghostly elements in a very gothic setting without making the book feel too dark
- The supporting characters, particularly Martin and Marijke, were just as fully realized as the main characters and added a great deal to the story
- The ending! It was perfect.
Leave your own gushings in the comments here, and I’ll update the post sporadically to include the highlights of our ravings about this phenomenal book. I’m so excited to see the praise grow and the conversation build steam as more and more of us read the book and spread the word!
I agree with you on everything you adored about the book. Martin and Marijke were adorable. I cried when they reunited.
The ambiguity surrounding Elspeth’s intention is something I really liked to. Part of me wants to believe that she truly wanted to help Valentina, yet I also kind of feel like she was out to be a bodysnatcher from the original formulation of the plan… but then I think, “Why would she want to kill her own daughter?”
One of the scenes I loved was the first time Elspeth accidentally pulled the soul out of the kitten. From that point on in the story I started to have trouble trying to calm myself down. I had to remind myself to slow down and take in the story. I was too excited!
This book reminded me somewhat of another one of my favorite books, The Mercy of Thin Air, in terms of the ghosts being made up of electricity/energy.
I feel very badly for Robert however, I feel like he ended up the only one in the story who got completely screwed over.
Oh and I love how he robbed Valentina’s grave and it didn’t at all seem scary or wrong. I was like “Hurry up before someone sees you!” When he heard someone breathing in the cemetery I thought everyone was done for.
I could gush and gush over this book. The longer I think about it after finishing it the more things seem interesting to me. It’s like little threads of a web coming together over time.
I’m so glad you are here to talk about it with!
Oh, I completely agree about the grave robbing thing and how it’s awesome and weird that we’re actually rooting for Robert, hoping he’ll be able to pull it off. I also loved the Kitten of Death.
I just got the book TODAY, so have skipped over the spoilers in your post. Have a long train ride into NYC tomorrow for a doctors appointment and guess what book I’ll be bringing with me?
Yay! Come back and gush about it soon!
I also skipped over the spoilers — I am an unlucky non-ARC holder. I’m so jealous of all of you! In due time I will join you in gushing, I’m sure. I can’t wait!
I really loved that Robert left Elspeth at the end, which is sort of strange to to be happy about a man leaving a woman carrying his child. He was put through so much by Elspeth, it felt like he finally stood up for himself.
I also loved that Valentina finally found a way to go off and be free of Julia, after having been stuck with her even more after passing away.
I’ve got to say, the Edie/Elspeth secret was totally confusing. It made me stop and try to figure out exactly WHAT they did.
Me too! I actually turned to a blank page at the back of the book and mapped it out.
If you have a scanner and want to share that via email, I wouldn’t say no! I’m not 100% sure I understand what went on, even now.
Well it was a word map. I figure we’re not the only ones having trouble with it. Here’s what I got.
Julia and Valentina’s father was dating the real Elspeth.
The real Elspeth started pretending to be Edie, and the dad went along with it.
So the real Elspeth took on identity of Edie, meanwhile real Edie sleeps with the dad once & gets pregnant.
The real Edie marries the dad, moves to USA, and has Julia and Valentina.
Then they switch, so the real Edie becomes the Elspeth we know, and the real Elspeth becomes the Edie the girls know as mom.
Right?
I think so.
I love that he left her too. I feel like he got completely screwed… look at all he did and sacrificed for Elspeth… it’s like sweet revenge… although I am a little surprised that he left the child, especially after knowing how that felt to him, not having a father figure in his life. How does one with organs on the opposite side of her body even have a baby? I remember thinking, oh man, if she has twins I’m going to be totally turned off.
that sounds about right. what screwed me up completely was the part where Jack was saying he never slept with Elspeth (the real Edie) and wasn’t sure that he was the real father of the twins.
Didn’t take much convincing for Robert to show Jack the journals either… what a wimp! LOL jk
can’t wait to hear what you think Stephanie!
Oh and another thought I had was that Julia and Valentina were going to pull the switch as well and it was really going to end up being Julia who died and was buried as Valentina. That would have been really bad because we would have had Julia dead and pretending as a ghost to be Valentina and Elspeth (who is really Edie) bodysnatching Julia’s body, thinking it was Valentina’s and going on living as Elspeth in Julia’s body! Everyone would have been duped!
I was thinking that too, at least that Julia might be taken instead of Valentina through some confusion.
I think I had a twinge of worry about those as well (the concept of Valentina having twins and of J & V switching places), and I think it’s a testament to Niffenegger’s instincts that she knows better than to take things that far. It would have been way too melodramatic.
I skipped most of your post because I didn’t want spoilers, but I can’t wait for this one!
I didn’t read it all because of the spoilers!! Let’s just say that I can’t wait to get my hands on a copy of this one!!!
I didn’t read your post because of the spoiler alert. Suffice it to say I can’t wait until I get my hands on this one!!
Not lucky enough to score and ARC, but this sounds like one I’ll have to pick up as soon as it hits stores!
I couldn’t read anything but your post title as I’m going to dive into this one as soon as I can get my hands on it. I’m thrilled, based on your blog post title, that it was a hit!!!
Alright, ladies. I’ve been reading the post and the comments and I am just completely surprised that you all seem to like the ending. It seemed rushed to me. Of course, Robert couldn’t have stayed with Elspeth, but that he stayed long enough for her to have gotten pregnant (weird, by the way, what was the point of that? and a boy?) and then just leaves, no word no scene. AND leaves his manuscript with her???! Valentina flies off with the crows and becomes “free”??? Elspeth has no complications after inhabiting Valentina’s body? We’re not privy to any internal turmoil or consequences of her soul merging with another’s body? Come on. Surely not.
I was completely entranced with the book and read it in two nights because I just couldn’t put it down. I was so disappointed that the same care that had made me fall in love with these characters, all of them, wasn’t taken with the ending to ensure it was full, rich and flowed with the rest of the story. It seemed as though someone other than Audrey had picked up her manuscript and added an ending all their own; someone who hadn’t had the relationship with these characters that Audrey must have had. Or, contrastly, that Audrey had really taken time to cook this story, then had to hurry up and write an ending for whatever reason. I just can’t reconcile the paths of Elspeth and Valentina. It not only needed a different ending, it needed more substance in the ending.
By the way, what Audrey gave to Martin in terms of his character and its developement was sheer brilliance!
I’m glad to have read it, I just keep playing my own made-up endings in my head to satisfy what was left unfinished for me.
OK, I’m back, having finished the book this afternoon. Two things I want to point out. I have to agree with Robyn about the ending. I love the way the story ended, but really felt that it could have been expanded a few chapters, as I too felt it was rushed. I also hit a lull right in the middle of the book (before the Elspeth takes the kittens soul chapter).
What I did really love is the fact that we really don’t know whether Elspeth planned the switch the whole time (which I think she did, as even Robert admitted at some point the Elspeth wasn’t a real nice person) or she did it because Valentina’s soul wasn’t ready. All in all, HFS was an enjoyable read.
I love the scene where Elspeth accidentally takes out the Kitten’s soul, just by catching it on her finger. That was such a good scene – how she’s so embarrassed and quickly puts it right back again.
And I also liked it how the two sets of twins seem to find it so difficult to have their own individual identities, but the people around them – the people who know them – don’t really struggle to differentiate them. I thought that was interesting (and true).
I got an ARC and I loved this book! I finished yesterday and it was so well crafted and beautifully written–I couldn’t put it down last night as I reached the end…and what a great ending it was! I really didn’t see the twists coming, and it was fabulous. She handled the ghost aspect with the same aplomb with which she did time traveling!
Gorgeous writing and imaginative and lovely plot, with all the characters. Loved it. Can’t wait to read it again!
Hi Stephanie–I think you may be right about Elspeth being not so nice (as Robert dos admit) but I Iiked the way AN doesn’t give in to the reader’s normal curiosity–I think we’re never supposed to know. And even if she(Elspeth) had planned it that way, and the reader has a feeling of omniscience over all the characters throughout the rest of the book, AN shatters that illusion with the ending, by making you wonder if you really did know it all. I though it was very clever, and I like those “unsatisfying endings”. They make you think and wonder about the characters long after you put down the book.
There is an “Her Fearful Symmetry” fan page on facebook, and it has some good video of An talking about the book, the source of the title the symbolism, etc. Check it out if you have time.
I think some of the difference in opinions about the ending that have been expressed here might have to do with the issue of “unsatisfying endings” that you bring up. I happen to like them. I like ambiguity and being left wondering (when they’re done well), and I thought HFS’s ending was pitch perfect. I’m wondering now if, for some of the folks who didn’t love the ending, the ambiguity was one of the reasons why. Very interesting point.
Despite really, really enjoying the experience of reading this book, I had some of the same problems that Robyn had with the endings, particularly that they felt rushed, and also a feeling afterwards of being surprised by how much so many of the characters were ones that I ended up disliking. That isn’t a criticism of Niffenegger’s story telling, just something that I was surprised about. It is startling to like a book so much and feel so ambivalent about some characters and so frustrated with others. I did love Martin and Marijke though. What a beautiful story. Pity his trip to see her, which was a very interesting part of the story, felt like the author was rushing through it. I think there was more beauty to be rung out of that scene and I wish it wasn’t so rushed. I did love Martin’s last line though. It really hit me powerfully.
Niffenegger has certainly proven that her first novel wasn’t a fluke.
I love that you have this spoiler thread. I did a non-spoiler review and a spoiler review on my site simply because this is a book that shouldn’t be ruined for anyone who hasn’t read it and yet needs to be talked about by those who have.
Thanks for coming by, Carl! I’m really enjoying this spoiler thread and reading about everyone’s thoughts on the book. I agree that not all of the characters were likeable, but they were all engaging in their own unique ways, and I wanted to know more about them, even if that meant that I would learn things that made me like them less. I think it’s a true testament to Niffenegger’s skill that despite some intentionally unlikeable characters, we can’t get enough of her stories. I don’t have to love the characters in order to love a book, and the things that made some of the ones in this book unlikeable are also the things that gave them added depth and complexity.
[...] a Facebook page is a great place to gush if you haven’t gotten your fill at my spoilerific gush fest, where there are some very interesting comments about the ending of the book. This is a book that [...]
I am in the same boat on the Edie/Elspeth thing and why it ended up being the big deal that it was since Jack seemed to have known the entire time. I think I would have rather not known. That niggled at me for the rest of the book. I’d take a copy of your mapping, too.
That’s how I understand it, too. I guess I just can’t quite fathom it’s importance. It seems like the mystery should have been bigger, more sinister, less concrete or something.
I found the last chapter with Elspeth near perfect – the way it should be. I hope that Julia finds happiness, too. I feel sorry for Valentina on the one hand because she got tricked (at least that’s how I view it because I don’t think it was really her own idea), but she is by far the character in the best place in the end.
This has been a great post, Rebecca!
I agree that all the characters were definitely engaging, though Robert became somewhat less so as the novel wore on. I made a comment elsewhere that it is almost like he was slowly becoming a ghost as the story progressed, as if his body was just a shell and he was fading away.
I don’t have to like the characters to like a book either, I think I was just surprised afterwards by how many of them had not endeared themselves to me in any way as I somehow expected them to become more likeable as the story went on. And you’re right, this book has all kinds of depth and complexity that makes it a real joy to talk about. I have very high regard for the book, don’t get me wrong. I think it is an amazing work. It won’t make that next leap up into the category of books that I LOVE…books that I consider good friends and would want to read over and over again…but that is fine, I don’t expect every book that I read to be that way and it in no way takes away from the ability to look at this book and see just how skillful an author Audrey Niffenegger is.
I wrote a more detailed review on my blog, but I also found the Edie/Elspeth switch unnecessary and frankly…a bit cheap. I didn’t say as much in my review because I didn’t want to deter anyone from reading it (I think HFS is VERY worth reading), but yeah. Part of why I loved TTTW so much is because I bought every single decision the characters made – good and bad. I didn’t buy a lot of the decisions made in HFS, especially near the end. But it was still a really good book and I’m thrilled I got an ARC. I’m thrilled that she’s writing. There are so many things about her writing that I don’t get from any other author.
[...] as I turned the last page were, “What?! That’s IT?” I know there has been much gushing from bloggers over this book, but I haven’t read the posts (only skimmed). I haven’t [...]
RIght. But did Jack know the real Edie slept with him and gave birth to the twins, and then switch back when they were four months old? I think not, because he tells Robert that he never slept with the real Edie, so he thought the twins weren’t his until he found out about the real Edie (Elspeth)’s letter.
SO what Jack knew was about Elspeth pretending to be Edie. He knew the woman he was married to for all those years was the real Elspeth, but went along calling her Edie (why? Why not come clean and say “I know it’s you”) He did not know he ever slept with the real Edie.
Right? Clear as mud?
I just finished the book last night and I’m working through my feelings.
I can’t understand why Elspeth got pregnant with Robert. She said many times throughout the book what a terrible parent she would have been. Plus with Valentina’s mirror image body, I’m sure pregnancy would have been physically complicated for her.
I wanted Elspeth to have more physical problems with Valentina’s body. It started that way, with her being weak and having breathing difficulties. I wanted her to experience a full blown asthma attack or something really significant to make her think, “Oh no, what have I done?” a little more than she already did.
I’m glad Robert left her. Do you think he considered her a liar? A murderer? I wanted MORE from Robert. I didn’t like that he just slithered away (like a ghost!) I thought perhaps he’d try a little harder to contact Valentina, or at least question Julia more about whether she’d been in touch with Valentina. Although I wanted him to stay away from Julia.
I REALLY wanted some sort of final showdown between Elspeth and Valentina. Or maybe some kind of indication from Valentina to Julia re: Elspeth’s true motivation for the bodysnatch.
Such an interesting book. I’m still processing it!
[...] My thoughts as I turned the last page were, “What?! That’s IT?” I know there has been much gushing from bloggers over this book, but I haven’t read the posts (only skimmed). I haven’t decided [...]
[...] http://thebookladysblog.com/2009/09/12/my-first-time-with-judy-blumes-forever/ http://thebookladysblog.com/2009/09/01/big-release-day-catching-fire-by-suzanne-collins/ http://thebookladysblog.com/2009/08/26/writing-real-people-into-fiction/ http://thebookladysblog.com/2009/08/17/the-one-in-which-we-collectively-gush-about-her-fearful-symme... [...]
This is an awesome book. Check out this review:
http://electro-candy.co.uk/2009/09/17/review-her-fearful-symmetry-audrey-niffenegger/
My name is Matt from Regal Literary.
If you enjoyed TTW, you might be interested in knowing that we have just announced yet another contest to coincide with HFS’s release. Regal Literary is giving away ten advanced reader’s copies and three first edition hardcovers of the new Audrey Niffenegger book, Her Fearful Symmetry, on October 1st in a lottery to anyone who joins the facebook page as a fan and sends an e-mail to hfs@regal-literary.com. Good luck!
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Her-Fearful-Symmetry/68080996784
I loved the book, but I am just not buying this ending..I cannot believe a mother would do that to her own daughter…as a parent, you would give your life for your child..not take their body from them. I know that Elspeth did not raise the twins, but I still feel that connection would have stopped her from doing what she didt..also, she got to know Valentina after her death, which makes me find what she did to Valentina even more unbelievable to me….
I completely agree with you Robyn 150%. From the beginning the book had me and then the ending was just nothing… It was VERY rushed. he finished the thesis, gave it to Elspeth and left, the end. Wow. It keeps me wanting more. BUT maybe that is her purpose. She did that to keep people wanting more and she is going to write a follow up book.
I think she left us hanging because there’s something beautiful about the ambiguity. Ms. Niffenegger doesn’t strike me as one to take the cheap “I’ll leave the ending open so I can write a sequel” way out.
[...] at Regal Literary love bloggers, and I think they just might have appreciated my extensive gushing about Her Fearful Symmetry. So they’ve offered me an exclusive of this video of Audrey [...]
I completely agree as well. I LOVED it until the end. I was so disappointed in how Audrey finished it that it almost made me think I did not like the book as a whole. However, the one part that I loved about the end was Robert leaving. Yes it took too long, but at the same time, I am so glad he did. And frankly, I think that he left the manuscript because that belonged to his life with Elspeth and therefore he wanted no part of it anymore. In addition, I think that it was her fault it took him so darn long to complete it.
Did anyone pick up on Edie & Elspeth’s father dying of “head trauma”? It made me wonder if one of the twin’s bashed his head in.
I really enjoyed the book.
[...] at Regal Literary love bloggers, and I think they just might have appreciated my extensive gushing about Her Fearful Symmetry. So they’ve offered me an exclusive of this video of Audrey [...]
[...] a Facebook page is a great place to gush if you haven’t gotten your fill at my spoilerific gush fest, where there are some very interesting comments about the ending of the book. This is a book that [...]