Her Fearful Symmetry, by Audrey Niffenegger

As a child, I thought being a twin would be great--having another person who understood you because, in essence, they were you seemed like an incredible gift. After reading Her Fearful Symmetry, I have changed my mind. Niffenegger paints a picture of obsessively intertwined relationships between twins of two generations that is only made slightly more frightening by the ghostly elements she adds to the story.

As the book opens, Elspeth is dying in London with her younger lover Robert by her side. The two live in a block of flats next to historic Highgate Cemetery; Robert is working on a 1000+ page history of the cemetery (his thesis). Upstairs from Robert and Elspeth live Martin and Marijke; Martin suffers from OCD and Marijke is about to flee from the unbearable life he has created. Meanwhile, in Lake Forest, Illinois, Elspeth's estranged twin Edie is receiving letters from her sister that she is hiding from her husband Jack, who was once engaged to Elspeth. In the letters, Elspeth reveals that she is leaving her flat and belongings to Edie's twin daughters Valentina and Julia.

Valentina and Julia, when we first meet them in Lake Forest and later in London (Elspeth's will requires that they live in her flat for a year) seem to be rather fey and tremendously overinvolved with one another. They dress alike, sleep together, and are essentially layabouts because they want to be together all the time. Julia seems the stronger of the two--both in terms of personality and physical health, but as the story develops, it becomes clear that Julia is more dependent on their twinness. Her obsessiveness about doing everything with her sister may be the factor that leads to her friendship with Martin, to whom she decides to sneak medicine under the guise of vitamins. Meanwhile, Valentina, who has begun a relationship with Robert, is desperate to break free of her sister and "grow up." A bizarre escape plan is hatched between Valentina, Robert, and Elspeth's ghost. (Yes, it's a rather large plot point I haven't mentioned; Elspeth reemerges as a spirit confined to her flat very shortly after her death.)

I won't say more about the plot, in hopes that some readers will find it surprising. Unfortunately, I found most of the twists Niffenegger provides predictable, if not in every detail, at least in a general way. Despite this, Her Fearful Symmetry held my attention with its bleak and disturbing view of humanity and human relations (and echoes of Our Town). Still, I prefer the more positive view that runs through even the saddest parts of The Time Traveler's Wife, which also featured a more interesting structure and supernatural element. If you haven't read The Time Traveler's Wife, by all means make time for it before you move to Her Fearful Symmetry.

Favorite passage:

What's wrong with me? I feel positively fuckwitted. I think death has knocked fifty points off my IQ. I used to be able to reason. Now I just waft around making random experiments regarding the nature of existence. And wallowing in self-pity.

(As you can probably deduce, these are the thoughts of Elspeth in and on her ghostly state, but I think they describe aging pretty well, too.)