Book Review: Her Fearful Symmetry

(no spoiler ahead, don't worry).

Back in the glorious, long-gone days of Christmas Break when I had nothing to do all day except sit on the couch and read books, I finished Audrey Niffenegger's Her Fearful Symmetry in oh, about two days.  DEFINITELY the best book I have read in a lonnnng time.  I read The Time Traveler's Wife so long ago that I can't remember enough details to compare the two books, but I would say if you liked that book you WILL LOVE this one.  It doesn't really fit into a specific genre; part ghost story, part love story, part life-contemplation.  Niffenegger has an amazing gift in making a non-realistic fantasy situation seem completely believable and never cheesy, and she is an all-around amazingly talented writer.  I rarely get sucked into a book deep enough to laugh out loud or actually cry but this book made me do both at certain points.  At the same time, it was serious enough to be entertaining and exciting on a much deeper level than typical popular fiction, but never too depressing that I had a negative reaction to the story (unlike certain movies I have seen recently....ha).  Plus, I am connected to the author by only two or three degrees of separation (or one? I don't know how it works), which I think is COMPLETELY AWESOME and I would probably be starstruck and intimidated if I ever met her.

Overall, a MUST READ for anyone, regardless of whether or not you have read or liked or seen TTTW. Amazing.

(photo source)

Have you read it? What did you think?