Simple Questions

[Amy]

I really didn't like this book too well either. I can't fully remember the details after this long, but I also remember thinking Elspeth was a villain for taking Valentina's life for her own gain. I think the "Symmetry" refers to Elspeth's making her life/soul symmetrical/in line with Valentina's life. I could be wrong of course.

[Mia]

I didn't like Valentina for wanting to do it in the first place, so I ended up disliking everyone involved in the situation. Just tell your sister how you feel instead of selfishly devastating your entire family, because you're too weak to break out on your own.

Ugh, it's been years since I read this book and just thinking about it still pisses me off.

[Normandy]

I read this a few months ago. It was weird but I did enjoy it. I think it took a turn with the kitten. Everyone seemed kind of selfish. The ending was just way too inappropriate somehow. I thought the symmetry applied more to the twins. They were so much alike but tried so hard to be different.

[Wendy]

I enjoyed this book. I had just finished reading The Thireeth Tale, so this was an unexpected tie in for me. I do agree that Valentina was selfish and she did not have a will to break free on her own, much like Elspeth and Edie?

[Erin]

The first two-thirds are great. The last third - not so much.

[Gretchen]

I also read it awhile ago. I took the symmetry to be more about the two sets of twins. How they were symmetrical, opposite reflections of one another. I also took the actions of the birth mother who stole her daughters life as wretched. I think she planned it from the start and had no intention of helping her daughter.

The ending left me sick but it was a good ending just the same. It just showed the ugliness of all of the character's natures.

[Simone]

I read it such a long time ago and LOVED it!!! I think because it was such a surprise and so DIFFERENT than anything else I've ever read - I want to reread it with the perspective of knowing what's coming next, especially now with the image of Elspeth as a villain.

[Leona]

This book definitely made me think. I don't think that Valentina's idea that death was the only way for her to escape is unusual. I thought it was very sad at how trapped she felt by Julia's suffocating love. My sister and I both read it together and both seemed to understand the ending differently. Where did Robert go at the end? What did he do? I thought he left to join Valentina, my sister thought he simply left Elspeth. What do you all think?

[Deidre]

L wrote: "This book definitely made me think. I don't think that Valentina's idea that death was the only way for her to escape is unusual. I thought it was very sad at how trapped she felt by Julia's suffoc..."
I think Robert just left Elspeth.

[Della]

Well, "fearful symmetry" is a phrase from a Blake poem, The Tiger, I think. Part of the point of that poem is comparing the tiger to the lamb, so maybe Elspeth is the tiger and her neice is the lamb. I read this 2 years ago, and actually litened to it on audiobook, so don't have a paper copy in front of me. If I'm mistaken and it's anther William Blake poem, I'll post back in a few days.
I liked this quite a lot, actually, maybe even more than Time-Traveller's Wife. I guess it was partly a fantasy--two young American girls in London with lots of time on their hands, not having to work. I went to London when I was not much older, but didn't have their time and resources. I think that one important key that the story turns on is when Robert tells one of the twins that Elspeth was not a nice person. I think that may have been an understatement.

[Tamsin]

Mia wrote: "I didn't like Valentina for wanting to do it in the first place, so I ended up disliking everyone involved in the situation. Just tell your sister how you feel instead of selfishly devastating your..."

I totally agree with every thing you've written there. I loved The Time Traveller's Wife but this one left a very nasty taste.

[Linda (Miss Greedybooks)]

I was so expecting another great book like "Time Traveller's Wife" and was disappointed with this one.

[Leona]

Deidre wrote: "L wrote: "This book definitely made me think. I don't think that Valentina's idea that death was the only way for her to escape is unusual. I thought it was very sad at how trapped she felt by Juli..."But if he simply left her why would he leave his completed manuscript with her? Surely if he simply left her he could have taken it with him? All a little confusing isn't it?

[Lace]

Simone wrote: "I read it such a long time ago and LOVED it!!! I think because it was such a surprise and so DIFFERENT than anything else I've ever read - I want to reread it with the perspective of knowing what's..."

i agree i think i just liked the fact that it was sooo unique to anything ive read too! i had just read the time travelers wife and liked it a lot so i got this book because of my like for audreys writing. i loved it, despite some weird and WTF parts...i gave it 5 stars and cant wait for the next book she puts out!

[Kendra]

I enjoyed this book. She didn't try to wrap it all up in a pretty little bow. It showed the absolutely disgusting lengths people will go to to both get what they want and avoid hurting someone. Valentina thought dying would be easier for Julia to deal with than her leaving.

It was a really good book.

[Linda]

I, too, was a bit lost about Robert's disappearance. He went to the library to get the books he had ordered. While there he seems to have an epiphany of what he should do. Then we see him going to visit Jessica and tell her as much as he believes she can understand. He leaves and she wonders if she will ever see him again. I guess the "solution" to his dilemma was not so obvious to my dense brain. Any suggestions or clues I missed.

[Kendra]

Honestly, I kind of think he went to kill himself and be away from Elspeth.

[P.J.]

I absolutely loved "The Time Travellers Wife" (TTTW). It's one of my favourite books of the past 10 years. I was, therefore, really eager to read Audrey Niffenegger's next book and was so bitterly disappointed. I thought it was dreadful compared to TTTW. I didn't particularly like the characters and found that so little actually happened in the first two thirds of the book that I really did begin to think - what's the point? Admittedly, the story picks up in the final third but otherwise it feels like somebody else has written this book and not the same author who wrote the wonderful TTTW. I would totally avoid this. Sorry to everybody who may like it!

[[deleted user]]

I really enjoyed this, I'm not entirely sure why - I think just the fact that although there are supernatural elements it's still about the characters more than the ghosts. And of course Elspeth's stealing Valentina's life was awful, but I don't think Niffenegger was trying to create characters that were all good or all evil...it didn't really cause a problem for me.

[Nick]

Really interesting discussion. I largely agree with Philip in that I absolutely adore The Time Traveller's Wife and constantly recommend it to anyone who will listen so was looking forward to whatever came next. Unfortunately when I read Her Fearful Symmetry I felt very let down by how slight the story seemed in comparison. It's that comparison that is almost certainly the problem because if I'd read them the other way round I'd probably think of them as a good book followed by a great book; instead I think of them as a richly woven novel filled with with believable characters set against a detailed background followed by a far more simplistic and yet claustrophobic novel with generally unlikable characters whose motivation never really seems to ring true.

[Calvin]

Hebe (The English Student) wrote: "I really enjoyed this, I'm not entirely sure why - I think just the fact that although there are supernatural elements it's still about the characters more than the ghosts. And of course Elspeth's ..."

I enjoyed the story too. The ending didn't bother me at all, but I like supernatural elements. I guess I need to read The Time Traveller's Wife.

[Emilie]

After her first novel I was soooo excited to read another one of her novel. MISTAKE because it sucked!

[Stephanie]

I have read both The Time Traveller's Wife and Her Fearful Symmetry. I enjoyed them both but in very different ways. I thought they were both very unique ideas and I enjoyed the author's way of weaving the story around interesting characters in both books. They are very different, however, and to look at them as a pair isn't really fair to either piece of fiction, in my opinion. I feel like you have to let each of the novels stand on it's own two feet without making comparisons to the other. I also think the author deserves points for writing two books that are so very different. It really shows her talent as a writer, I think.

[Jennifer]

Tamsin wrote: "Mia wrote: "I didn't like Valentina for wanting to do it in the first place, so I ended up disliking everyone involved in the situation. Just tell your sister how you feel instead of selfishly deva..."

[Jennifer]

Yes, I believe the "symmetry" refers to the poem. You can easily look the poem up online if you like.

[Jaye]

Patti wrote: "Like or dislike? Was anyone bothered by the fact that Elspeth took place of Valentina at time of transition? I know it was because Valentina was to weak, but it made me dislike the Elspeth charac..."

julia and valentina were 'mirror image' twins

[Jaye]

Wendy wrote: "I enjoyed this book. I had just finished reading The Thireeth Tale, so this was an unexpected tie in for me. I do agree that Valentina was selfish and she did not have a will to break free on her ..."

i did the same, wendy: read 13th tale then fearful symmetry...how strange