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Mary is anxiously attempting to finish her chores when a mysterious stranger enters the room with an enticing but frightening proposition: Push the button on this box I have. If you do so, I will give you a large sum of money. Someone -- you will not know who, and the action will never be traced to you -- will die. Four different Marys, arrayed in four different countries, deliberate over this choice with highly theatrical, simultaneous action. Your per performance fee will be provided during the ordering process. See " eScript Details " below for more information.
They are for reading on personal computers, tablet devices and eReaders i. These files may be printed. The number of prints that you are allowed will correspond with the number of eScript Printable Editions that you order. He was Espeth's lover both before and after she died. Like ghosts without sufficient practice and power to organize themselves and enjoy the afterlife with or without haunting the living , the plot becomes weaker and weaker as the novel goes on until on the final pages it evaporates altogether.
Yes, there's a grim resolution to it all, but it's a weak one and we no longer care. I suspect the author fell in love with the cemetery and wanted to write a story about it. Naturally, the dead came to mind. But they weren't strong enough to frighten us or make us care about the symmetry.
Fearful Symmetry is a phrase from William Blake's poem "The Tyger It has been used as the name of a number of other works: In film and television: "Fearful. Fearful Symmetry: A Study of William Blake is a book by Canadian literary critic Northrop Frye whose subject is the work of English poet and visual artist.
View all 11 comments. I read Niffenegger's first novel before the days of GR; and I remembered when I decided to rate it, I wavered between 3 liked it and 4 stars really liked it. I ended up opting for 4 stars, because I did remember so much of it due to its sense of place and its unique storytelling. Her second novel has these same elements -- her strengths are obviously her imaginative story lines, which she roots in concrete reality.
But the story, which started out strong, lost its way long before the weak en I read Niffenegger's first novel before the days of GR; and I remembered when I decided to rate it, I wavered between 3 liked it and 4 stars really liked it. But the story, which started out strong, lost its way long before the weak ending. My strongest complaints, though, are with some of the writing. The point-of-view was all over the place, changing sometimes from sentence to sentence within a paragraph. I don't have a problem with this kind of thing if it can be pulled off, but here it seemed inelegant and clunky even lazy.
And while the writing was very visual to great effect, in many instances some of the details were unnecessary and pedestrian. It had such potential and could have been so much more. Oct 06, Margo Kelly rated it it was amazing. If I could give it more stars in the rating I would. I wish I could have one of "those" discussions regarding this book! This book is excellent on so many different layers and levels, my head is still considering them all.
The language was clean and there was no "carnal" sex in this book unlike my opinion of Time Traveler's Wife. So, these missing elements did NOT interfere with my enjoyment of this book. I had a couple of plot elements figured out at the beginning of the book, but the author took a couple of turns I did not expect and the layering of the characters was a real pleasure. I highly recommend this book. And, if you are a local friend that would like to go to lunch and discuss it - I would love that!
Aug 21, Kim rated it it was ok Shelves: Kept waiting for this to get good, and it never quite did. The two major "surprises" are painfully transparent well before they actually happen I was hoping that I was being misled, because it couldn't be that obvious, could it? Glad I didn't give into the impulse to buy a copy for myself, and instead borrowed it from the library - I'd be even more upset And of course, I'd be more forgiving if I hadn Wow, disappointing! And of course, I'd be more forgiving if I hadn't loved the author's first book so very very much.
It's like this was a first draft of the ghost story she really wanted to write, and it got accidentally published by mistake. Or maybe the sex scenes were supposed to be scrubbed out and it was intended to be a young adult novel? I'm almost sorry I read this - I waited so long for it to come out, and I wish I were still waiting, imagining how wonderful it will be when it's finally published. Perhaps I'm a little biased, but I think I'll go re-read A Fine and Private Place to cleanse my palate and remind myself of what a good ghost story can be like.
View all 13 comments.
I loved this novel I wasn't sure what to expect so I tried not to have any expectations, which is exactly the attitude to have going into this book. It has a few curveballs, so don't bother reading ahead like I did Overall, I enjoyed it because it's one of those stories that stays with you after you've finished the last page. View all 19 comments.
Sep 04, Wealhtheow rated it it was ok Shelves: When Elspeth dies, she leaves her papers to her boyfriend and her flat to her twin's children, the twin sisters Julia and Valentina. They have no friends, no lovers, little education, and no interests besides watching tv together. They are astoundingly boring. Meanwhile, their upstairs neighbor is struggling with OCD and a passionate love for his wife, who has left him because of it.
And their downstairs neighbor is When Elspeth dies, she leaves her papers to her boyfriend and her flat to her twin's children, the twin sisters Julia and Valentina. And their downstairs neighbor is Robert, Elspeth's grieving boyfriend. And their own flat seems to be haunted Niffenegger has a beautiful writing style, and her characters always feel precise and real to me. She knows the specifics of their lives--what kind of wine they like, how they brush their teeth, what they feel at 3 in the morning. She knows every inch of their environments, and describes them with a casual fluidity.
But although every other character felt real and probable to me, I never bought Julia and Valentina. For one thing, they flop around in their lives like limp fish. Instead of just leaving in the night, or having a fight with Julia and then leaving, Valentina is sure that the only way is to kill herself, have a funeral, and then come back to life via's Elspeth's ghostly powers. Not only is this the worst plan I've ever heard, but then Elspeth and Robert decide to go along with it because hey, otherwise she might try to kill herself for realsies.
At this point in the narrative, my eyes crossed. So two adults kill a girl, hide her body, and then try to bring her back to life, all so Valentina doesn't have to talk to her twin for ten minutes. And then in the end, Valentina can't get back into her body, so Elspeth takes over and runs away with Robert to be luvahs again, but he is racked with guilt or whatever.
I mean, he still runs away with her and has a baby with her, but then he decides to run away. Meanwhile, Valentina's death frees Julia to act like a normal teenager, and Valentina to become One with the Wind and be Free. Why she had to die for any of this to happen, I do not know. There are kernels of a much better novel in this book Robert and the cemetary, or Martin and Marjike , but they are overtaken by the gothic grand gestures of the two sets of twins.
This is the story of two sets of twins hence the symmetry who have an extremely odd system of relationships -- "system," because the story explores the highly varied and yet remarkably similar relationships between the four twins. To say too much about these relationships would be to give away bits of the plot, but let me just say it was not at all what I expected, and the title word "fearful" is definitely apt.
While this story lacked for me, at least some of the magic of The Time Traveler's Wife , it is just as artfully written and explores the intricacies of relationships with the same deftness and insight as Niffenegger's earlier work. I would have liked to learn a bit more about Jessica and James, whose characters seemed to be placeholders and whose stories were never fully developed, but otherwise Niffenegger does a phenomenal job of developing a very intriguing cast of characters.
Some of the traits are a bit extreme, perhaps -- there was certainly room for a bit more gray area on the black-and-white spectrum -- but overall the people seemed real and their actions were largely believable. Whether or not you believe in ghosts, of course, remains up to you.
One of the things that delighted me most about this story was that the text did not seem to "Americanized" -- the British slang remains intact, and the text makes reference to London life without apology to a clueless American audience. On the other hand, one of the things that delighted me least was how unabashedly straightforward all the characters were. Julia even points out that "American" may be a euphemism for "rude," so it seems that Niffenegger was conscious of how straightforward all the characters were, but it seems that perhaps she couldn't help herself and had to use this sort of brashness to progress the plot and explain some of the intricacies.
Given that we see so many characters' perspectives in the narration, this seemed like a bit of a cop out. I can't say the ending was totally a surprise -- I could see it coming a few chapters in advance, especially coming as it did on the heels of so many characters' questioning and extrapolating. And to be honest, I have to wonder how much of her idea for this story came from talking to Neil Gaiman as he was writing The Graveyard Book.
There are some interesting parallels between the stories, and in some ways this seems to be almost a grown-up version of the same not a bad thing, but still But overall, I loved the story, and very much enjoyed the fact that Niffenegger continues to be unconstrained by the strictures of reality as we know it.
Meanwhile, Valentina's death frees Julia to act like a normal teenager, and Valentina to become One with the Wind and be Free. Trivia About Her Fearful Symmetry. After the cast credits are shown and the rest of the credits start to roll, look for red letters sprinkled among the white. Hayes July 25, at It's been a long time since a book did that to me. Here I just noticed acceptance.
Her writing remains a delight. William Blake "The Tyger" I don't even know where to start with this book. The fact that it was set in and near Highgate Cemetery in London gave it a creepy, gothic, horror movie kind of quality. One of the main characters is the ghost of the late Elspeth Noblin. The description of the twin sisters, Julia and Valentina, portrays them as almost ghost-like as well.
They are whispy, pointless, lackluster, colorless young women who have no identity outside their twin-ness. The upstairs neighbor is a recluse who suffers from I don't even know where to start with this book. The upstairs neighbor is a recluse who suffers from obsessive-compulsive disorder and lives his life in ghostly isolation as well. The book is divided into three parts. As always, I like Niffenger's writing style. She's interesting and easy to read and introduces characters with unbelievable literally, unbelievable problems like time-travelling or being a ghost with remarkable credibility.
But she went off the rails with this book. It was an absolute and total train wreck. I felt like I was reading the book version of a campy Frankenstein movie. It almost felt like she wrote part of it with a movie in mind. The big secret that the author kept hinting at? One set of twins switched identities. Isn't that just about the oldest twin prank in the book? Don't most books using twins as main characters use the same plot twist?
Does that even qualify as a plot twist anymore?? I thought the ending was just downright ridiculous. I loved Time Traveler's Wife. It was so original. And this one just felt like "been there, done that, eww gross. For people who "loved" TTW, I would recommend tackling this book with significantly lowered expectations as there simply cannot be anywhere near the level of emotional attachment to the characters.
I suggest borrowing this book from the library until you have read it and have a better sense of whether or not you want to add this to your personal library.
Aug 24, Lori rated it it was amazing Shelves: I don't think there is a more fitting time of year for curling up with this novel - Chilly mornings, Damp afternoons, wrapped in a blanket watching the leaves change color and fall to the ground It's a ghost story but so much more.
It's a story about transition, about love, about separation, about strength, about deciet, about abandonment. It's hopeful, and sad, and wonderful, and pathetic, and confusing, and thrilling. It's everything a good book should be. And in my opinion, better than TTW. View all 4 comments. Oct 03, Amy rated it really liked it Shelves: I'm amending my review of this book, and making a new rule that I will not do reviews for at least a day once I've finished.
What changed for me here was a lack of connection with the characters. I can't rate this as five stars because I really, in retrospect, didn't like any of them all that well or how they behaved. I awaited this novel with eager anticipation and read it so fast, I will have to revisit it. I hate plot summaries, that is what Amazon and book jackets are for, so let me synopsize. Again, Niffenegger's theme is love. There are two love stories at the heart of this novel: At first, I thought there was a third: But as I write this review, having finished the novel a mere half an hour ago, I have to take it back.
All of the lines of the novel point out love that is changed by death, but never broken. Again, Niffenegger turns our expectations of a ghost story and a love story inside out, and leaves this reader with a new perspective on familiar concepts. In particular, the title, which I puzzled over for the vast majority of the book, became completely clear in the end. The characters are rich and well-drawn, each was an individual, and vividly portrayed. As with The Time Travelers Wife, each character makes moral choices that make sense within the narrative, but one has to question in the broader sense.
However, it is this complexity of choice that has fascinated me about Neffenegger's writing. She makes the fantastical so real, and her characters so clear, that how her characters react is completely understandable. In short, I loved this book almost as much as The Time Travelers Wife, my second favorite book of all time.
In presenting a view of life beyond the veil it reminded me of The Lovely Bones, as a new take on what happens after you die. As a story of twins, I gained insight into a world that Isn't part of my experience. As a novel of love, I am reminded: View all 5 comments. Beagle's A Fine and Private Place, a wonderful book that actually combines the supernatural and the natural world beautifully, is still barely known. View all 27 comments. I had some sympathy for Valentina and her desire to split from her overbearing twin, but the scheme concocted to acheive this was over the top even more over the Such a disappointment.
I had some sympathy for Valentina and her desire to split from her overbearing twin, but the scheme concocted to acheive this was over the top even more over the top than a time traveling man Elspeth's experience as a ghost kept me engaged for a time, but at the end my sympathies for her, wane. The secondary characters of Martin and his wife were intriguing.
His story is the most triumphant of the lot. The writing was not as sharp as in TTTW, the pace was slow - lots of description of the cemetery for which the author has great fondness, but boring to read about. Overall such a let down from an author I hoped would write beautiful stories for years to come. Oct 07, Amy rated it liked it. The beginning of this novel was lovely I quickly grew frustrated, though, with the characters' general inertia and then their downright horribleness towards the end with the exception of OCD Martin.
I just found Niffenegger's ghosts so unappealing and their habits so not right and the whole soul-removing thing too bleh. Not what I wanted from this story at all! I still think sh The beginning of this novel was lovely I still think she's a great writer and will look forward to her next book, but this one just really disappointed me.
Sep 08, Morgannah Mayfair rated it liked it.
Niffenegger's claim to fame, and after reading Her Fearful Symmetry it is very likely I never will. This was not a bad book by any means but for me it simply failed to deliver the "goose bumpy" moments I so sincerely hoped for. All the variables were there, there were creepy mirror twins, cooky neighbors, a spooky cemetery, a mystery to be solved and even a ghost in residence. But nope, just because the variables were there it didn't mean the equati I have never read The Time Traveler's Wife , Ms.
But nope, just because the variables were there it didn't mean the equation was in balance. What really let me down the most was I thought this was a Gothic novel, my favorite flavor. There were only three truly Gothic aspects of this novel and all were totally wasted. The ghostly elements could have been turned into so much more. There was a beautiful scene early on, of children playing in the graveyard, and it was obvious even at that point that these children are ghosts.
Yet they were not mentioned again until the very end. Fortunately this episode is up on the PBS site to watch in its entirety they usually have all Masterpiece shows up on the site for a few weeks so I can watch it again or at least fast-forward to the end credits and see what you are on about. AnnaZed Oh my goodness! Every episode has a secret word embedded in the closing credits. After the cast credits are shown and the rest of the credits start to roll, look for red letters sprinkled among the white. They spell out a word relevant to the episode. This time it was postlapsarian.
I agree this one is a clunker. Too many red herrings. Why did they have to be teaching a primate human words? Why did they have to have a swinging foursome? My wide awake husband, a college professor, had the same problem. Yasmin confused me too. At the end of the episode I figured I must have missed something that would have made it make sense. So I went back and watched part of it again. Leslie Gilbert Elman I did not know about these words and I ahve been watching Masterpiece for decards seriously.
Well, you learn something new every day. What on earth was that swinging foursome thing even supposed to be about? Agree with all of you.
Had to watch the episode three times and it still did not come together for me. Can anyone tell me the name of the music the choir was singing? I too find it very soothing and relaxing to watch, something beautiful about the scenery and I love the chemistry between Lewis and Hathaway, I in particular love the character of Hathaway very well played by Laurence fox.
That whole storyline was bizzare and baffling to say the least. There seemed an attempt to add to many characters into the plot and they all seemed connected but with absolutely no meaning??? I mean, the doctor in the lab was sort of a suspect but not really??? Also what was the point in introducing his secretary as his bit on the side, what was the point??? Ps I can see why silas was killed…because of his obsession with Jessica.. We have three new episodes coming to Masterpiece Mystery in October! Did I miss that explanation?