Her Fearful Symmetry by Audrey Niffenegger

isbn: 978-1-4391-6539-3

isbn: 978-1-4391-6917-9 (e-book)

published 2009. 

read from: 10/15-24/2013

WHAT did i just read!? 

this was another impulse purchase at the dollar book store. 

after seeing the cover how could you NOT want to read it? 

like others, it was sitting on my shelf until i decided hey! lets pick her right up. 

i've never heard of Audrey although she did write The Time Traveler's Wife. 

i have not read the book nor seen the movie. 

im still not sure if i am. 

(i do have her on my TO READ list in this little booklet i carry everywhere with me.)

any who, 

Her Fearful Symmetry is based on 2 different sets of Twins; Edwina & Elspeth Noblin and (Edwina's daughters) Julia and Valentina Poole (mostly on this set).

Elspeth has passed away and her last and only wish is to have Julia and Valentina travel to London and live in her apartment  for a year with the condition that their parents NEVER step foot in the place. 

once the year is up they can sell the flat and divide the money or they can continue to stay there.

in the beginning there is a detective following Edwina because her husband Jack thinks that she is cheating on him. 

the only thing she is doing is going to a mailbox to retrieve the letters Elspeth has been sending her. 

she receives the final letter where Elspeth states that shes already passed away (sent by Robert after her death) and where she also learns of the twins new situation. 

the twins (J & A) are both quite the opposite although they never leave each others side. 

Julia is the outgoing twin. she was born first i believe by a few minutes and everything with her is fine. 

Valentina is the shy quiet one. whatever Julia says goes. she was also born the opposite of Julia. 

all her organs are on the opposite side of her body unlike Julia's and all other humans. 

they travel to London where things slowly but quickly start to unravel. 

Elspeth, although dead, is still hanging around. 

turns out she's a ghost (no duh!) but i mean i didn't see that one coming (i really didn't!) 

little by little she learns to control her actions and how to communicate with the twins (and Robert, her lover.) 

along the story Valentina tries to catch a kitty and Elspeth grabs it for her which is how she starts to make herself known. 

in London, Valentina starts to try and become more independent and Julia is not having it. 

once she communicates with Elspeth she comes up with an elaborate plan (one she saw her do with the cat) to have Els do to her what she did to the cat so that she can lose reigns with Julia and become her own person. 

the twists and turns and events had me going like "what is going one here!?"

you know that movie with Leo DiCaprio, Inception? 

yea this is what it was. 

im still not sure what happened, erm how it happened with Jack, Edwina & Elspeth. 

what a trip!

i dont want to spoil it for all so read below for the spoilers. you have been warned!

tun tun tuuuun!

i see you decided to cross over to the dark side!

Enjoy!

Edwina and Elspeth have not talked for 20 years. 

it turns out that Edwina was to marry Jack but Elspeth despised him and whatever Elspeth said went. 

Edwina decided to play a trick on Jack and pretend to be Elspeth and flirt with him to see if he went along. 

he did. 

but he knew all along. 

heres comes the inception part!

Elspeth left Robert a letter letting him know that her and Edwina had switched spots so in reality, Elspeth was Edwina and Edwina was Elspeth. so the real mother of the twins had actually died and all this time Jack thought he wasnt the father of the twins when in reality he was. 

he stated something to Robert about how he knew this whole shenanigans and that he noticed that Edwina was so different when she came back from London some odd years ago. 

the part where i get lost is where after Robert tells him about the letter, Jack reveals to him that he actually never slept with Elspeth. 

so im still lost on that one. 

who the freak is the mom? who's who!? whats going on!? 

what Noblin sister is dead!? 

Jack doesnt learn all of this until they travel to London for Valentinas funeral and he speaks with Robert. 

yep she dies! 

Valentina: 

she falls in love with Robert and in the same sense, Robert falls in love with her as well. 

Elspeth takes notice of this and it begins to bother her. 

Elspeth somehow managed to take the soul out of the kitty and put it back in to her so she was dead for all of a few seconds. 

once Valentina finds out she begins to hatch a plan with Elspeth to make it happen and at first she is hesitant but she gets on board. 

along with Robert. 

(i know! what the!?)

it all goes through and Valentina does die. 

Robert sets it up at the cemetery where he works that her body is to be kept cold in ice and that none of the "hey youre going in the ground" procedures get applied to her. 

all goes as its supposed to happen and then Robert goes back steals her body then goes to Elspeths (the twins) place and Elspeth does her "putting the soul back in the body" procedure. 

all goes well, erm in that we got what we needed kind of way. 

Elspeth is such a bitch! (pardon my french!) if she is indeed the mother of the twins, because im still lost!, then what a horrible person. i mean it was horrible to begin with but you know. 

instead of returning Valentina back, she lets her soul go and Elspeth enters her body. 

once Robert finds out,  he kind of (what a moron!) figures out what she was up to.

Julia feels Valentina's presence through out the apartment which is why she never wanted to leave. 

eventually Valentina realizes that after all this time of wanting to leave Julia, she is now forever stuck with her. 

what a catch-22!

she finally realizes what she must do to leave the apartment and to finally leave Julia and that part was just all weird. 

one random day months later, Julia runs in to Valentina's body and even though Elspeth "took care" to make it not so noticeable, Julia see's it but doesn't quite get it. 

Elspeth, PREGNANT!!!!!!!!!!!,  heads home and lets Robert know that they have to move because she has been spotted. 

this is where she then reveals where she wants to go and what she wants to do and this is also where once again! it hits Robert of her plan all along. 

he lasts through out her pregnancy and a couple of months once the baby is born. 

but then he leaves her. 

never to return.

AAAAHHHH!!!!

SPOILERS OVER!!!!!!!!

Oh man!

what a story!

im still reeling!

i honestly liked the book and im glad i waited to write this post because im the kind of person that processes feelings for a few days afterwards and to this day im still like what did i just read!?

i hope that you enjoyed my post in regards to this book.

if you happen to read it let me know what you think. 

and if you can let me know the riddle (who's who!) let me know.

oh!, PS: i didnt spoil the entire book! 

theres also Martin & Marijke!

boom!

"In the seconds before she died, Elspeth remembered a day last spring when she and Robert had a walk along a muddy path by the Thames in Kew Gardens. There was a smell of rotted leaves; it had been raining, Robert said, "we should have had kids," and Elspeth replied, "Don't be silly sweet." 

She said it out loud, in the hospital room, but Robert wasn't there to hear. 

be careful what you wish for!!!!  

thank you for taking the time to read. 

on to the next one! (: