Her Fearful Symmetry (ranting a bit... Sorry)

Pin It

**Disclaimer** Whenever I give a book a bad review I write my review and then I don't post it for quite a few days because I want to make sure that I really mean what I am saying and not giving a sort of deserving book a bad wrap.  So if I sound terrible and snarky it is because this book made me this way.  I chose and rechose my words carefully and this is purely my opinion.

You know when you were a kid and Christmas or your Birthday rolled around and there was that one great big box dressed all in bright beautiful paper that you were just dying to rip into?  The one that you just knew was that most coveted toy or that puppy you asked for?  Then when you were given the OK you tore off the wrapping paper and opened the lid only to be confronted with a few pairs of rolled up sock that our Aunt Hilda knitted you.  Well that doesn't even slightly compare to the disappointment I was in store for when I set out to read Her Fearful Symmetry.  I was looking forward to this book so much and I wanted to love it really really hard despite the bad reviews it was getting, but alas, the reviews were bad for a reason people!  After The Time Travelers Wife (which I consider my all time favorite book, and have read almost 8 times) I was expecting my mind to be blown with her amazing story telling skills and genius mind like I was the first time I read TTTW, but y'all, it was blown because the book was utter garbage!  Audrey can tell a story I will give her that, her writing is BEAUTIFUL with a capital B-E-A-U-T-I-F-U-L and her mind goes place that no one else's can go but this story was so disjointed and so pointless that I wanted to beat myself with the book rather than read it.  I know I sound hateful but my heart is broken with disappointment and like a child I don't want to wear my disappointment with dignity, I want to through a temper tantrum!

So I guess I have to tell you what this book is about a little bit.  And there might be some spoilers here but I edited out all the twisty bits.  Ok so, Elspeth and Edie are twins.  They have a big falling out and one moves to the Untied States (Edie) and one stays in London (Elspeth).  Elspeth gets the cancer and she dies.  Edie has twin girls of her own (Julia and Valentina) and they are lazy, whiney, 20 year olds that just sit around all day watching HGTV (seriously).  Anyway, Elspeth dies of the cancer like I said and leaves her nieces (Julia and Valentina) her flat in London with the stipulation that they live in it for a year before they sell it and that their parents are not allowed to come into the flat, ever.  Meanwhile, Elspeth's boyfriend Robert is devastated by Elspeths death and can't get over her at all so he does some really naughty things with her shoes (umm yes he did).  Julia and Valentina move in to their aunts flat but guess what?  Elspeth is a ghost and she lives (errr.. haunts) in the flat too.  Then Robert falls in love with Valentina which is creepy and Elspeth gets a little jealous.  Elspeth learns how to communicate with the girls and Robert via a Ouija Board (I am dead serious) and she also learns how to take the souls out of living things and then put them back (and she practices on a poor little kitten that Valentina loves).  Throughout this whole train wreck of a story Valentina has some pent up resentment for her sister Julia and decided she has to kill herself to get away from her (ummm... because that's what I feel like I have to do when I'm annoyed with my sibling).  So Valentine concocts this brilliant plan to have Elspeth rip her soul out of her body, keep it safe, and then replace it once her sister and her parents think she is dead and buried in the cemetery that is next door (and is probably the most important character in this book -um the cemetery not Valentina).  (Come on!!!  Seriously??  I mean decay??  Gross??)  Elspeth is happy to oblige because Valentina is getting a little too cozy with Robert.  Now about this time the story starts to take some crazy twists and turns that will leave you scratching your head and muttering WTF under your breath but believe me you are better off not wasting your time.  Unless you are like me and want to find out for yourself.  But don't say I didn't warn you.

Obviously you can tell that I am in deep hate with this book, so here is where I usually tell you who I would recommend this book to.  NO ONE.  Don't waste your time.  If you feel the itch to read Her Fearful Symmetry just pick up The Time Travelers Wife instead.  I can't believe that the same person wrote both of these books!  I mean TTTW was so ingenious, Niffenegger told that story with so much detail and the whole idea of that story was so thought out and just perfect but Her Fearful Symmetry felt like she used up all her creative juices with TTTW and just threw HFS together at the last minute because Simon and Schuster gave her a FIVE MILLION DOLLAR advance and she forgot when the deadline was, then all of a sudden she looked at her calendar and was like "crap I have to write a book by next Thrusday!  Whatever am I going to do?"

BOOK vs. MOVIE: I might watch this as if it came out as a movie.  Because the book was so terrible that the movie would probably be really good!  I mean movies made about great books usually suck so maybe we would get a blockbuster with this bad book.

RATING: 1 and a half star (the half star is for the fact that the writing was done well just not the story part)

3 More Reviews of Her Fearful Symmetry:

Books I Done Read (She LURVED the book so I wanted to give you the flip side)

Gus Greeper

Well Read Reviews

Her Fearful Symmetry by Audrey Niffenegger:

9781439165393

Pages: 401

If you liked this book than read: The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield

The Time Travlers Wife

Pin It

Okay.  I think it is finally time...  I have been waiting for just the right moment to review my #1 favorite book on my book shelf.  It is the book that changed reading for me forever.  I put books into two categories, before Time Travelers Wife, and after Time Travelers Wife.  Before The Time Travelers Wife I didn't really know how much I could actually LOVE and appreciate a book.  After Time Travelers Wife I have found other books that rival this one in either writing or plot (but never really both).  The reason it has taken me this long to write my review is because I just didn't know how to put my love into words.  I am still not sure I am up to the task but I think I am going to finally give it a whirl.  The first thing I want to say is that when you pick up The Time Travelers Wife you have to clear your mind of any expectations you may have for this story and start completely fresh.  I have read this book multiple times and every time I flip open the cover I have to forget what I already know.  I have to pretend I have never met Clare or Henry before, that I don't know about their unique love story, that I don't know the fate of these two characters, I have to start fresh Every. Single. Time.  And every time I read this brilliant piece of writing by Audrey Niffenegger, I laugh at the funny parts, and I cry at the sad ones, and even though I know all of them by heart, I fall in love again.

Bear with me and try to wrap your head around this creative plot...  When Clare meets Henry for the first time, Clare is a very little girl and Henry is a middle aged man, and Henry at the time of Clare's first meeting is married to Clare in the future.  When Henry meets Clare for the first time, Clare is in her early twenties and Henry is on the brink of thirty, but Clare has known Henry for her entire life and Henry is just meeting her for the first time.  Henry has a genetic disorder that hurls him (unwillingly) back and forth through time so a meeting like this can be possible. We follow Henry and Clare through their unique lives, through both of the first meetings, through their marriage, their family, and life as a Time Traveler.  And there is no way in heck you are going to pry more information out of me about this story.  You will just have to read it yourself to find out more about this amazing love story that takes place in the past, present, and future.

I know the plot sounds complicated but Niffenegger has penned a tale that is so easy to follow yet so intricate in nature that you are instantly drawn into the story.  Every time I read this book I am flabbergasted that someones brain works the way that Audrey Niffenegger's does.  She is a genius to be able to come up with a story line so complicated, and yet so beautifully written that you can follow it so well.  I only wish I could have her brain for an hour or two so I could experience how it works.

Book vs. Movie: Sadly (like always) the movie did no justice to this story.  If you have seen this movie please don't judge book.  There is so much information packed into the pages of the novel that it would be nearly impossible to put it into a 2 hour movie.  When we went to see the movie my husband (who has not read the book) leaned over to me and said "this is a great movie".  I turned to him and looked at him like he was crazy.  I was so disappointed.  At least he enjoyed the show but if he ever reads the book (highly unlikely) I am sure he would agree that there is not even the slightest comparison.  

The Time Travelers Wife
by Audrey Niffenegger

If you liked this book read: The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield