by Audrey Niffenegger
My favorite novel by Niffenegger, hands-down, is "The Time Traveler's Wife" - which many have seen in its movie form (sidenote: very well done adaptation).
That being said, "Her Fearful Symmetry" is an intruiging novel with four intriguing main subjects- two generations of identical twins, which alone suggests a mystical connection between two humans that others cannot understand.
The story revolves around the mysterious comings and goings at London flat vacated by the younger twins' deceased aunt- the twin of their mother. The twins quickly discover that they aren't as alone as they think they are...both in the living and in the deceased sense.
Becoming involved in the lives of their neighbors, the twins begin to question their deceased aunt's relationship with everyone around them....including their own mother, whose twin held secrets she never intended to reveal.
As the twins story starts to imbed itself in their mother's and their aunt's story, and eventually plays out, the roles and identities of these four twins become nearly interchangeable.
The book was engaging in the sense that you knew something wasn't quite right, but it wasn't easy to put you finger on exactly what was wrong. The ending, as well, will leave you with the sense that things may not have all come out terribly right in the world, which is another of Niffenegger's themes- happy endings that aren't, always.
