Journal Entry 1 by amberC from Darwin, Northern Territory Australia on Thursday, October 01, 2009

Julia and Valentina Poole are normal American teenagers - normal, at least, for identical 'mirror' twins who have no interest in college or jobs or possibly anything outside their cozy suburban home. But everything changes when they receive notice that an aunt whom they didn't know existed has died and left them her flat in an apartment block overlooking Highgate Cemetery in London. They feel that at last their own lives can begin ...but have no idea that they've been summoned into a tangle of fraying lives, from the obsessive-compulsive crossword setter who lives above them to their aunt's mysterious and elusive lover who lives below them, and even to their aunt herself, who never got over her estrangement from the twins' mother - and who can't even seem to quite leave her flat 

Journal Entry 2 by amberC from Darwin, Northern Territory Australia on Monday, October 05, 2009

The story telling is magical, the story thought-provoking and bittersweet. All the elements and characters of a fantastic book are there, but somehow it missed......something. 

Journal Entry 3 by amberC at Darwin, OZ VBB -- Controlled Releases on Tuesday, November 24, 2009

Released 2 yrs ago (11/24/2009 UTC) at Darwin, OZ VBB -- Controlled Releases

CONTROLLED RELEASE NOTES:

CONTROLLED RELEASE NOTES:

Chosen on the OZ VBB. Enjoy! 

Journal Entry 4 by tqd from Sydney, New South Wales Australia on Tuesday, December 01, 2009

Thanks amberC! I did love The Time Traveller's Wife (didn't we all?) and will make room in my reading schedule to read this one asap!

UPDATE 8 August 2010: I've popped this one into the Oz VBB, and it will be winging its way to sally906 as soon as I've read it! Next book to read, hopefully won't be long. 

Journal Entry 5 by tqd at Sydney, New South Wales Australia on Wednesday, September 08, 2010

I was, of course, a fan of Audrey Niffenegger's The TIme Traveller's Wife. (Weren't we all?) So I was happy to have a chance to read this one, even if overall it wasn't a great read.

Identical twins Julia and Valentina, perpetual college dropouts and unsure of what to do with their life, move to London after their aunt Elspeth dies and leaves them her flat overlooking Highgate Cemetery, on the condition that they live in it for a year, and that their parents do not visit. Elspeth and her identical twin sister (who is, of course, Julia and Valentina's mother) had some falling out many years ago.

Living in the same block of flats is Elspeth's younger lover, Robert, who is writing an endless thesis on the Cemetery, and Martin, an academic with obsessive compulsive disorder, and his wife Marijke, who is slowly coming to the end of her tether looking after her husband and his obsessions. And then there's the cemetery.

Yes, there are a lot of separate plots in this book. Some were worthy of time (I particularly liked Marijke and Martin's story), others were less so. Sometimes it felt like I was reading four different books as each chapter seemed to be about different characters!

Instead of the wonderful exploration of one fascinating idea that we had in The Time Traveller's Wife, we got a mismash of plots and ideas and characters, and I don't think any of the plots and ideas were very well thought through. Some plot twists in particular I didn't like - they seemed to just make things harder (or slightly ickier) for the plot (or characters). I don't think she quite knew what to do with her plot, resulting in these strange nonsensical events and a somewhat underwhelming and obvious ending.

On the plus side, it was a remarkably easy read, and I powered through it. The characters were well rounded and interesting, some of the ideas were great, and I loved the Cemetery itself. While I mostly liked it, it did seem to be more of a collection of interesting ideas vaguely held together, rather than a coherently plotted book.

This one will be heading back up to the N.T., to sally906 as soon as I get to a post office! 

Journal Entry 6 by tqd at Sydney, New South Wales Australia on Friday, September 17, 2010

Released 1 yr ago (9/17/2010 UTC) at Sydney, New South Wales Australia

CONTROLLED RELEASE NOTES:

In the post to sally906 today!

Happy reading! 

Journal Entry 7 by sally906 at Darwin, Northern Territory Australia on Tuesday, September 21, 2010

LOL from the NT to NSW and back here again :)

Arrived here today 

Journal Entry 8 by sally906 at Darwin, Northern Territory Australia on Wednesday, October 13, 2010

Opening Sentence: ‘…Elspeth died while Robert was standing in front of a vending machine watching tea shoot into a small plastic cup…’

The words “Fearful Symmetry” is a phrase from a favourite poem of mine by William Blake, The Tiger:

Tiger, tiger, burning bright

In the forests of the night,

What immortal hand or eye

Could frame thy fearful symmetry?

I was curious to see why this phrase was chosen by Audrey Niffenegger as part of her title. It turns out it is entirely appropriate – but I can’t say why as is a serious spoiler. What a tease hey?

HER FEARFUL SYMMETRY proposes that death is not the end but the beginning, which is good for Elspeth Noblin as she dies on page one. She leaves behind a devastated lover, Robert; an estranged twin sister and two identical twin nieces. It is to these nieces, Julie and Valentina, that Elspeth leaves her London apartment to, and the two 20 year olds duly arrive to live for a year as the will stipulates.

The book mostly follows the twins, who are obsessed with being twins, as they adjust to life in a new country. The plot also follows the lives of the other apartment dwellers, Martin and Robert. Martin is an obsessive compulsive who also has agoraphobia. His wife leaves him just after Elspeth’s funeral. Robert is a PhD student who is obsessively writing a history of HighgateCemetery, which backs on to the apartment block. Yep, obsession is the theme running through the book, but more than that it is about what happens when the obsessions are interrupted or even stopped.

Elspeth is now a ghost. Being a ghost doesn’t come with a set of instructions, but she soon finds she can’t leave the apartment. She claims an empty desk drawer as her home, and once the twins move in she teaches her self how to haunt – and gains strength as she does. Eventually she learns to communicate with Robert and the twins by writing in dust and by manipulate a bottle top on a makeshift Ouija board.

All their lives the twins have done the whole twin thing, dressing alike, doing everything together and are so close that they even sleep in the same bed. But the obsession with sameness is breaking down – one of the twins, Valentina, is champing at the bit to break free, and Elspeth is happy to help and advise her. Which is a bit odd as Valentina is falling for Robert, and he for her.

The writing is excellent, and I loved all of the characters, they were so richly developed that I felt as though I knew them all personally. Martin was the most interesting for me – he was suffering with his long list of obsessive compulsions but at the start of the book was not yet at the point of being willing to change, the change does come though. Robert changes his obsession from a dead woman, to a live one, only to find the dead woman is talking to him. The inclusion of HighgateCemetery in the setting is a master stroke in a book about death, and the history is fascinating. I loved the ending – did not see it coming, and the twist was almost evil. There were some scenes that were really awful and made be uncomfortable, such as, without giving too much away, the scene with the Kitty. The plot is creative and a wonderful piece of story telling. The ending left me unsettled but was in complete fitting with the rest of the story. All in all – a must read page turner.

 

Journal Entry 9 by sally906 at Darwin, Northern Territory Australia on Wednesday, October 13, 2010

Released 1 yr ago (10/13/2010 UTC) at Darwin, Northern Territory Australia

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Passing onto a friend who bookcrosses occassionally