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Book Review of Her Fearful Symmetry

Her Fearful Symmetry
noisechick avatar reviewed on + 95 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 5


The premise is terribly inviting: 21 year old twins move to London after inheriting their estranged aunt's flat & estate. They live next to Highgate Cemetery, and have dealings with their Aunt's boyfriend & neighbors. There aunt begins to benignly haunt them.

Other than that, it sucks. This is why I stay away from general fiction literature. The twins are soppy milquetoast used to getting their way, the boyfriend is a spineless wimp who takes up with one of the girls, and I don't know WHY so much time was spent on the upstairs neighbors. (Their lives are interesting, true, but really have nothing to do with the plot, it seemed the author was intent to legitimize her interest in OCD by adding a character to the book. )

And while I found the descriptions and history of Highgate Cemetery interesting... again, it just smacks of the author writing off a year in London as a tour guide at the Cemetery. This story could of happened anywhere else in London, or the world. The cemetery setting is barely necessary.

It was rather like being forced to read "The Scarlet Letter" in high school: someone called this 'great literature' because it has one stupid historically accurate bit. But the plot, the characters... one dimensional and pointless. I'd like to kick all their butts for wasting my time.