Julie's Review: Her Fearful Symmetry

Summary: Following her breakout bestseller, The Time Traveler's Wife, Audrey Niffenegger returns with Her Fearful Symmetry, a haunting tale about the complications of love, identity, and sibling rivalry. The novel opens with the death of Elspeth Noblin, who bequeaths her London flat and its contents to the twin daughters of her estranged twin sister back in Chicago. These 20-year-old dilettantes, Julie and Valentina, move to London, eager to try on a new experience like one of their obsessively matched outfits. Historic Highgate Cemetery, which borders Elspeth's home, serves as an inspired setting as the twins become entwined in the lives of their neighbors: Elspeth's former lover, Robert; Martin, an agoraphobic crossword-puzzle creator; and the ethereal Elspeth herself, struggling to adjust to the afterlife. Niffenegger brings these quirky, troubled characters to marvelous life, but readers may need their own supernatural suspension of disbelief as the story winds to its twisty conclusion. ~amazon.com

Review: I just finished this book an hour or so and pretty much don't know what to think of it. I didn't love it and I didn't hate it. I guess I'm indifferent about it. There were parts of this novel that I loved: the setting, London; the story of sisters; the historical nuances of the cemetery that is essential to the novel. Essentially this is a ghost story that goes awry. We meet Elspeth Noblin as she is dying of Leukemia and leaves her estate to her nieces that she's only met a couple of times. Through her death we meet the people in her building who have their own stories. Probably the most interesting is Martin. A man so debilitated by OCD that he can't leave his own apartment when his wife of 20 years leaves him. With Martin we see someone overcome their demons and truly grow.

I've read some reviews about this book that weren't too kind on Julia and Valentina but honestly I just think they are typical 20 year old girls...self-centered and naive. I'm not a twin but I've read that they have an uncommonly strong bond with each other. Even stating that, the bond with Julia and Valentina is a bit eerie at times. Neither one lives their own life, with their own interests. Instead they are intertwined in a pretty unhealthy way. You can't be that dependent on each other and have it be good for either of you. Valentina's nickname is "mouse" and this is because she's the quiet and skittish one. Julia is the strong one, the leader. Valentina doesn't even want to go London for the year but doesn't resist Julia's insistence in going.

There are a lot of things in the book that I can't even go into because of the way the book unravels. There are two big twists that I didn't see coming, although with one of them I feel like I should have seen it.

The characters are interesting, even if they aren't particularly likable. I found Elspeth to be extremely well-written but extremely unlikeable. She is self-centered and egotistical. In my opinion she never even truly loved Robert but only used him for her own reasons.

I do love the way Audrey Niffenegger writes her books. She has a gift for crafting a story that transports you to that place. I could picture the cemetery and the flat.
As with a great many sophomore novels, this one just doesn't live up to that of The Time Traveler's Wife even if they are completely different novels. In other words, if you are looking for another TTW, don't pick up Her Fearful Symmetry.

If you are looking for a love story that is also a ghost story, I highly recommend
Peony in Love: A Novel by Lisa See.

Even though this book was a bit of a disappointment, I will continue to check out Ms. Niffenegger's future novels.

Final Take: 3.5/5

Book to Movie: The Time Traveler's Wife

Summary: This clever and inventive tale works on three levels: as an intriguing science fiction concept, a realistic character study and a touching love story. Henry De Tamble is a Chicago librarian with "Chrono Displacement" disorder; at random times, he suddenly disappears without warning and finds himself in the past or future, usually at a time or place of importance in his life. This leads to some wonderful paradoxes. From his point of view, he first met his wife, Clare, when he was 28 and she was 20. She ran up to him exclaiming that she'd known him all her life. He, however, had never seen her before. But when he reaches his 40s, already married to Clare, he suddenly finds himself time travelling to Clare's childhood and meeting her as a 6-year-old. The book alternates between Henry and Clare's points of view, and so does the narration. Reed ably expresses the longing of the one always left behind, the frustrations of their unusual lifestyle, and above all, her overriding love for Henry. Likewise, Burns evokes the fear of a man who never knows where or when he'll turn up, and his gratitude at having Clare, whose love is his anchor.

Review: So it's been 2.5 years since I've read The Time Traveler's Wife,but I remember the essential story. They really did capture the essence of the story, while making Clare a bit more bitter, which was a good thing. I had no doubts that Rachel McAdams and Eric Bana could capture Clare and Henry. It wasn't that I visioned Rachel as Clare and Eric as Henry when I read the book but the casting was perfect.

I also loved that it was filmed in Chicago. I was worried that they'd change the location of the movie to fit Hollywood and they didn't. I think that Chicago is as much a part of the story as any other character.

Sure they had to leave a couple subplots out, it's to be expected when the book is 560 pages and the movie was 108 minutes. Nonetheless, the romance of the story was very much there and that's what I wanted to see. The special effects of making Henry disappear and reappear were wonderful. It looked like they just erased him from the screen when he would time travel.

My complaint about the book was that I didn't always follow the time travelling and would find it confusing at times. The movie made it easy to follow and understand.

I will admit that I cried a couple of different times, especially when Alba was introduced. I think the parts with Alba and Henry affected me more now that I'm a mom and I see the relationship between my husband and daughter.

I often describe The Time Traveler's Wife to people as a cross between The Notebookand Ghost but I don't even think that does it justice.

Did you see it? Did you like it/hate it? How do you describe it to those who haven't read it?

Book to Movie Final Take: 4/5

Time Traveler's Wife

Jenn posted the trailer for Harry Potter and now it's my turn. The Time Traveler's Wife starting Eric Bana and Rachel McAdams hits theatres on August 14th. This is one FANTASTIC book if you haven't read it. I'm anxious to see how it plays out on film. I think it was brilliantly cast.



A little shout to Stephanie at The Written Word for putting it up there.
What are your thoughts? Excited? Dismayed? Apprehensive?

To Re-Read or Not to Re-Read? That Is The Question.

I went to see a movie Friday night and I saw two trailers for movie adaptaions of popular novels. I have a love hate relationship with movie adaptions, as I am sure most avid readers do, and I struggle with whether to see a movie that's been adapted from a novel. I often struggle with something else - whether to re-read the book before going to see a movie, or not. It's a big investment of time to re-read a book and lately I haven't a lot of time to keep up with and read the things I usually want to (I still have no idea what Stephanie was up to in Fearless Fourteen). With 5 major adaptations coming to the theatre this year, I am seriously wondering whether to invest the time. For some I already know the answer to this question, but for others, I still really don't know. Perhaps you all could offer up an opinion?

The Books/Movies

Angels & Demons
(May 15) - I vaguely remember the plot of this book. Yeah, I remember the big themes, the ending and I absolutely remember this book being really good, however the details completely escape me. Knowing what I know about adaptations in general and remembering how extremely pissed off I was at the cop-out that was The DaVinci Code movie, I wonder if a re-read is warranted?

My Sister's Keeper
(June 26) - This was one of the trailers I saw the other night and I can already tell you there are departures from the book. I still believe this will be a major tearjerker, though, that's not my issue. This book was so very good and so heartbreaking that I knew when I was done that I couldn't never read this book again. I want to, but I'm not sure I can.

The Lovely Bones
(December 11) - Umm, I haven't read this yet, so I guess I'll be reading it.

The Time Traveler's Wife
(August 14th) - Have you read this book yet? Seriously, this is a must read. I read it when it first came out, and like Angels and Demons I can't recall a lot of the details. I have some serious love for this novel, so I really won't mind another visit.

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
(July 15) - There's no question. Oh wait! Just one - Have you seen the new trailer?