Her Fearful Symmetry
Audrey Niffenegger


rating: 8 out of 10 "books"

Having read Niffenegger’s first novel “The Time Traveler’s Wife” and not caring for it in the least, I went into the reading of this book with no expectations. The main reason I even picked it up was because I discovered after seeing Neil Gaiman speak at one of my local libraries and reading his Newbury Medal Award winner, “The Graveyard Book,” that Gaiman and Niffenegger both visited Highgate Cemetery (I believe it was Highgate…can’t remember all the details) together while writing their “ghost stories” respectively.

I’ve seen many reviews by people saying this book is a huge disappointment; that it doesn’t measure up to “The Time Traveler’s Wife,” blah, blah, blah. And I suppose I can understand why people might feel this way. However, if you go into the reading of “Her Fearful Symmetry” expecting “The Time Traveler’s Wife Part II” you will no doubt be disappointed. This book is in no way a love story. Sure there are some romantic elements to the story, but if anything the overarching theme is people moving away from one another over time, not the other way around. The story begins with the death of Elspeth Noblin, who in her will, leaves her London flat and everything in it to the twin daughters of her own twin sister, Edie. Elspeth and Edie have long been estranged, and part of the mystery of the story is finding out the reason why this is. Twenty-ish year old twins Valentina and Julia move to London from Illinois to live in the Aunt they’ve never met’s flat, at least for one year before selling it, as the will states. They encounter all of Elspeth’s neighbors; from her much younger lover, Robert, to her strange upstairs neighbor, Martin, who suffers from severe obsessive compulsive disorder, causing his wife to leave him for Amsterdam early in the story. The twins not only look about twelve, as described in the book, but they act that way much of the time as well, which may cause readers some annoyance. The girls have never had a job, never really been on their own, and can’t even stay in school long enough to get any sort of degree. The story almost feels very Young Adult more than Adult at times, which may be reason why dedicated fans of “The Time Traveler’s Wife” may not like this book.

The title of “Her Fearful Symmetry” factors in a few parts of the story: the twins are what the author calls “mirror twins.” Valentina is the exact opposite in appearance from Julia in that while a mole on Julia’s face is on one side, let’s say the left, Valentina’s is on the right. They are identical but each of their features is opposite as if they were looking into a mirror when glancing at each other. Even the girls’ internal organs are opposite. While Julia has a normal layout of internal organs, Valentina’s are all opposite; from the placement of her heart on her right side of her chest and so forth. The author describes how the doctor had to use a mirror when performing surgery on Valentina as a baby because the reflection that it gave (of a normal heart) was how he was used to seeing it. Another portion of the novel that references symmetry is a passage narrated by Martin describing the way he likes to have symmetry in his washing and shaving patterns. As for the actual meaning of the title, that is up for the reader to decipher.

Although the twins do everything together and dress identically, their behaviorisms are very different as far as attitudes and interests. Julia is more outspoken than her twin and Valentina often feels resentful for the things they do not do because they are always things Julia does not want to do. Whereas Julia seems to have no life aspirations, Valentina would love to go to fashion school and get a real job. As the story begins to unfold, we see the twins’ relationship begin to unravel. Add to that the fact that the flat may be haunted by the ghost of Elspeth, which we do in fact find out, is the case. The story builds up to a very twisty climax and finishes on an utterly somber note.

As mentioned before, this is not a book for those looking for a happy ending. I was very surprised at the turn this book took. Niffenegger’s writing was very well done, especially in the descriptions of Highgate Cemetery, and I found this story very easy to read. There is definitely a style that I think Niffenegger has developed that can be seen in this story as well as in “The Time Traveler’s Wife.” I don’t know exactly how to pinpoint it, but in reading her passages on the more “intimate” parts of both stories, I can see a definite resemblance, especially in the male point of view. I honestly have to say that I enjoyed this novel. It was very different than much of the literature out there, and I felt it took a very different perspective as far as “ghost stories” go. I didn’t find it predictable in the slightest. Maybe it’s the average rating I would give “The Time Traveler’s Wife” that enables me to look past Niffenegger’s first novel and not feel disappointed by the second. I therefore give “Her Fearful Symmetry” a rating of 8 “books” out of 10.

Goth Girl Rising
Barry Lyga


rating: 7.5 out of 10 "books"


The end of “The Astonishing Adventures of Fanboy and Goth Girl,” saw Goth Girl aka Kyra sent away after Fanboy alerted her father to some worrisome activity. Well, Kyra is back after missing the end of the school year, the summer, and the beginning of the new school year at her Maryland high school. After six months with no email from Fanboy, Kyra is a little upset but ready to make up with Fanboy. When she returns to school, she is surprised to find that much has changed since she’s been gone. Fanboy is popular! By publishing his graphic novel as a serial through the school newspaper, Fanboy has suddenly become the newest member of the high school upper class. Feeling abandoned, Goth Girl cooks up a plan to ruin his life.

Whereas “The Astonishing Adventures...” was from Fanboy’s point of view, “Goth Girl Rising” provides us with an opportunity to finally see into Kyra’s head. We never really got the back story of Goth Girl in Lyga’s first novel and I personally wanted to know the deal as to why Kyra was always so pissed off. This story was much heavier than the first as we come to find out that much of Kyra’s attitudes towards things stem from the death of her mother and the unhealthy way she dealt with it, as well as the grudge she continues to feel towards her father, whom she feels was the main cause of her mother’s death. It may be hard to imagine when reading the story, but Goth Girl was not always the bitter, angry, dark clothes wearing sixteen year old. Much of this story is about Kyra trying to find herself and feel comfortable in her own body. We see one display of this as Kyra takes much care to cover up and disguise her figure.

I got angry at both Goth Girl and Fanboy alike at times. I got angry at how Kyra reacted in many of the situations, especially at the fact that she was always so defensive and unable to see things right in front of her. She may have seemed confident in “The Astonishing Adventures of Fanboy and Goth Girl,” but in reality Goth Girl seems to suffer from self-esteem issues like any teen. She gets hurt by a lot of the things Fanboy does, and instead of facing them head and confronting him about them, she plots to continually destroy his life. Then again, it’s easy to sit back and yell at the way Kyra acts, but in reality, this is how many teenage girls act. Minus the destruction part of course. Fanboy on the other hand, seems to act more like your typical sex obsessed teenage boy in this novel. But it must be mentioned that we are viewing the story from Kyra’s point of view so it is to be expected at least a little. I still got pretty fired up with some of the stuff he did. This coming especially after reading Goth Girl’s thoughts and explanations of how boys just want girls for their looks and bodies, and how Goth Girl purposely covers herself up to ensure this objectification will not happen to her.

I really enjoyed this book and am glad Barry Lyga decided to write a sequel to Fanboy and Goth Girl. It was a nice way to finish off the story of Donnie and Kyra, even if you had to wait until the very end of the story to see anything happen between the two.