Her Fearful Symmetry

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.

The Rest Of Her Life and While I'm Falling

by Laura Moriarty



I was trolling around in the bargain areas at Borders when I discovered "While I'm Falling" by Laura Moriarty. The book cover was intruiging enough, but what really grabbed me was the single-sentence review on the cover.



"Moriarty keeps getting better and better."- Jodi Picoult.



JODI. PICOULT.



Um, confession. I might have a slight obsession author crush fondness for Jodi Picoult.



The kind that makes me run out and buy every single one of her books, the day it comes out, in hard cover, at full price.



Ahem.



Anyway, I figured that any book Jodi liked I'd be a fan of as well, so I picked up "While I'm Falling," and discovered a gem of a novel about the events in a character's life surrounding the first time she falls in love, including her relationship with her mother as her parents own marriage is questioned.



Later in the year I also picked up (or somehow acquired- it's possible, in fact, that this was one of my mother's book club picks that she passed along to me) "The Rest of Her Life," another Moriarty book with a Picoult endorsement on the cover. This one, again, focuses largely on the relationship between mother and daughter following a tragic accident.



In both, her characters are incredibly realistic and well done. I'm definitely looking forward to reading more of her books!