Book Review: Her Fearful Symmetry
Despite sobbing for the last half of the book and movie, I thoroughly enjoyed The Time Traveler’s Wife. The plot was original, the writing tight, and it ingeniously crossed science fiction and romance. This weekend, I tore through Niffenegger’s Her Fearful Symmetry largely because the location — Highgate Cemetary in London — is one of my favorite places on earth.
Highgate Cemetary
Perhaps it’s morbid, but historical cemeteries are fascinating. Highgate Cemetary puts anything we have in America to shame. The barely contained wilderness is trevassed by paths and streets that meander through the elaborate tombs and vaults. It can only be described as a gothic fantasy land and couldn’t exist outside of London.
Built at the height of Victorian drama and ritual in the 1830s, Highgate was one of the first commercial cemeteries in London and catered to the Victorians desire for pomp and class structure even death. After it fell in disrepair, a group of local residents bought it and only mildly attempted to control the underbrush, which heightens the surreal aspects.
This eerie wonderland is the backdrop of Niffenegger’s novel, which I can only describe as a trippy ghost story/tragedy.
Julia and Valentina are 20-year-old mirror twins. Not only are they are identical, but all of Valentina’s features are reversed. Her heart and organs are also on the opposite of her body causing a number of health issues. She serves as the “weaker” twin.
Julia is healthy and the “strong” twin but has an odd co-dependency on her sister. They share every waking moment and even sleep together. While Julia is described as the extrovert, it’s Valentina who actually wants to forge a life for herself independent of her twin. This provides much of the tension of the novel.
Julia and Valentina’s mother and aunt, Edie and Elspeth respectively, are also identical twins but are estranged. Julia and Valentina never meet their aunt. When Elspeth dies in her early 40s, she leaves her estate to the twins on two conditions: they live in her flat overlooking Highgate Cemetary for one year, and their parents can never set foot in the flat.
Highgate Cemetary
The twins move to London and basically spend their time being professional tourists. Valentina wants to be a clothing designer and go back to school, but Julia is hellbent on doing nothing. She bullies her weaker twin every time the idea of school emerges in order to keep them together. Even at 20, the two are still dressing alike.
They soon meet the colorful cast of characters that Elspeth knew and loved. A character can’t have a name like Elspeth and live in a fabulous flat overlooking one of the most famous cemetaries in the world and have boring neighbors. In real life, this would likely be the case, but in fiction world, no writer can resist creating memorable supporting characters.
Before long the twins meet Robert, Elspeths much younger grieving lover and neighbor. Elspeth was apparently something of a refined couger who owned a rare book business. Robert is taking the 20-year approach to grad school and has been writing a dissertation on Highgate Cemetary for 13 years. He knows almost everything there is to know about it and also works as a guide for Friends of Highgate. He serves as the executor of Elspeth’s estate, and eventually helps the twins settle into London.
Not suprisingly, he falls in love with Valentina, who is miserably stuck in a creepy relationship with her controlling sister. Soon after moving into the flat, Valentina discovers that Elspeth is haunting the place. Using Robert’s knowledge of Victorian spiritualism, they communicate with her, and Valentina spends long hours getting to know her aunt. Julia takes an automatic dislike to Elspeth and avoids talking to the ghost.
Valentina adopts a kitten that they find wandering through Highgate. While playing with the kitten and Valentina one day, Elspeth realizes she can snatch the soul of the kitten out of its body and effectively kill it. She returns the soul and the kitten comes back to life.
Valentina uses this information to devise a way to permanently escape her twin and run off with Robert.
In true Niffenegger form, nothing ever turns out as it should, and several bizarre twists occur to make the story even more…disconcerting. While I enjoy her writing and tight plots, her books are unsettling. These aren’t happy escape books or beach reads. These are strange, twisted works of art.
Detail of a tomb in Highgate
The ghost element was strange. Niffenegger found a way to write about ghosts without involving any type of spirituality. You never wonder about the afterlife or God. The story is too intriguing.
Niffenegger also bases much of her plot on the tension of relationships. Why is Julia the strong one, yet the one who refuses to let go of her twin-ness. Why is that her only identity? How does Elspeth feel about having her niece start a relationship with her lover of 13 years while she’s still “present?” Why did Edie and Elspeth stop speaking to each other. What happened before the twins birth that drove the sisters apart?
If you like unsettling books that will stay with you for days, I recommend this. It’s an interesting take on an modern gothic tale and has the perfect setting. Niffenegger obviously spent a tremendous amount of time researching Highgate and captures it well.
