Her Fearful Symmetry

Just in case you've forgotten your Shakespeare or your O'Henry, along comes Audrey Niffenegger to remind you that messing with life and death, ghosts and resurrection always ends badly. Well, maybe not exactly badly for everyone, but certainly there are unintended consequences to actions even from beyond the grave.

Her Fearful Symmetry isn't as good as the excellent The Time Traveller's Wife, but that would be hard to follow up. True to form, though, Niffenegger's characters are fascinating. Notice I didn't say likeable. There are two creepy sets of twins, a handsome, crossword puzzle setter with severe OCD, an apparently perfect lover left bereft by his long-time girlfriend's death, some very serious-about-their-jobs cemetery tour guides/care takers, a kitten and--oh, a ghost or two.

Elspeth dies early on. In fact, the first chapter is called The End, so I'm not giving anything away. Still, as you might expect in a gothic-style novel, she does tricky things with her will and estate, sending for her estranged twin nieces to come live in her London flat after her death. The twins are down-right creepy in their twinness (images of those twins seen briefly in The Shining come to mind). First of all, they're mirror twins (same features, in revers including placement of the heart), their daughters of a twin, they dress exactly alike--even at the age of 21. They sleep together, the do everything together. It's weird. But they're at loose ends so they come willingly enough to occupy their unknown dead aunt's aparment. There they meet Robert (eventually), Elspeth's lover and arguably the best or nicest character in the book. They also become friends with Martin, their OCD neighbour who's pining for his wife, recently decamped to a place where she doesn't have to sidle just right through a doorway or watch her husband scrub floors for hours.

Valentina and Julia also meet the neighborhood which includes the lovely Highgate Cemetery. Niffenegger clearly spent time here and does a wonderful job of making it sound beautiful and appealing to both the living and the dead. When I finished the book, I was extremely tempted to send a contribution (as requested) to help maintain this lovely place (I was gently mocked for this by friend Alyssa).

So, yeah, the cemetery is important, but it turns out that's not the only place ghosts hang out. Yep, the dead aunt is still hanging about in the flat. Niffenegger has some interesting ideas about ghosts, though the why isn't ever made clear. Maybe we're supposed to assume that ghosts are everywhere in England, which would explain why apartments over there are so cold and draughty. Ghosts who haven't figured out how to get out the door are still hanging about their old homes, drifting through people in the hopes that someone will leave a book open or turn on the TV so they don't stay eternally bored.

But things aren't all fun and games for the ghosts or for the living. The creepy Valentina and Julia have some mysteries to solve and have to find a way to become their own person; Robert has to deal with his pining for Elspeth; Martin has to make it out his door...someday; and Elspeth also has a few things to settle. Never underestimate a ghost is all I can say.

This book is both wonderful and disturbing, dark and creepy, and sad and icky. Who doesn't desperately hope to become reconnected with the love of your life, or to have childhood mysteries solved from thin air? Niffenegger explored some of this in The Time Traveller's Wife, and she's very good at portraying eternal love that isn't bound by things like time and space or, say, death, but this is a different book from her first. It doesn't have the freshness of Time Traveller's Wife, but Niffenegger puts her stamp on the afterlife. She's not just connecting dots here and it shows. The characters and perhaps the mystery will draw a reader in, and the end is very satisying. I'm not saying it's a perfect ending, but each character's conclusion seems somehow just right.