Tag Archives: goodreads

Her Fearful Symmetry by Audrey Niffenegger

My rating: 4 of 5 stars
I didn’t read The Time Traveler’s Wife. The synopsis never struck me as something I really wanted to read and I couldn’t get into it. I can’t decide if that was a good or bad thing. Probably good, because from the reviews, a lot of people went into reading Her Fearful Symmetry on the heels of Time Traveler’s Wife and expected it to be similar. It apparently wasn’t. I also didn’t know the two books were written by the same author– this book came recommended by two different people in two different circles of friends. I picked it up on a whim and started reading it. I find the best books that way!

This story begins oh, so right. Niffenegger (you mind if I call her Audrey? That name is a toughie)jumps right into the middle of the story and wades around in it. Our main character, you see… dies on Page One. And I figure if someone dies on Page One, there’s a good reason for it and a good story behind it.

This novel is the story of two sets of twins: Edie and Elspeth, and Edie’s twin daughters Julia and Victoria.  Edie and Elspeth are estranged. Have been for nearly twenty years. Elspeth’s terminal illness does not change this. Elspeth lives in London, in a flat above  companion Robert. Edie, her husband Jack, and the twins live in the States.

When Elspeth dies, she leaves her flat, all of her belongings and her money to the twins, with the stipulation that they have to live in the flat for a year before they can sell it. And that their parents, Edie and Jack, must never set foot in it. Her papers and diaries are removed, property of Robert. No one is to see them. Robert avoids reading them until absolutely necessary.

The twins are 20, but are small and thin and alarmingly co-dependent. Victoria is a mirror image of Julia, down to the beauty mark on her cheek. Victoria is weak, with a heart defect and severe asthma. Julia delights in taking care of Victoria, a constant companion. Victoria is the more artistic and fashionable one. She creates and sews and makes her own clothing. Julia is the smart one, the healthy and strong one. The trade-off, Julia thinks, isn’t fair. Victoria is the pretty one, despite their being twins. Julia is envious of the attention Victoria receives without even trying and insists on clinging to her. They have to do everything together. One cannot attend school without the other. One cannot work without the other. Both are still virgins because…what one does, the other must also. The suffocation is palpable. Read the rest of this entry »

Rainwater by Sandra Brown

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I’m a huge fan of period pieces, especially if the author does a superb job of transporting the reader back to a simpler time. I’m not really a thriller reader, so I had never even thought to read Sandra Brown before. It was a recommended novel on a Kindle list so I picked it up one day a few weeks ago.

From page one, I was engrossed in the story. We follow Ella through her everyday life as the owner of a boarding house, preparing breakfast and daily meals, cleaning, being a general companion to her boarders, her maid and right hand woman Margaret and her son, Solly. Solly is a special needs child, living in a time when doctors were just beginning to discover autism and not treat it like a mental illness. Ella rails against putting Solly in an Institution, away from her, where he’ll be locked up like a criminal. He’d live a much better life, albeit limited, by her side.

Enter one David Rainwater, a relative of the local Physician. He needs a room and Ella has one. He’s calm and disarming, polite and charming, especially to the two old ladies -sisters- who also board at Ella’s. Something about him both sets Ella off guard and intrigues her. The comfort she feels around him makes her uncomfortable, and his almost immediate rapport with Sully is both heartwarming and embarrassing. Mr Rainwater is able to accomplish so much in such a short time, more than Ella had tried or had time to accomplish in the entire time he was alive. Read the rest of this entry »