I've decided to join my neighborhood's book club. When it was first started I had a time conflict and then I forgot it was going on. But recently I saw something about it on Facebook and decided to jump in. (Plus, last November someone was asking for directions to our house. A neighbor knew who Steve and Emma were but not me. Hmm... time to get a little more involved?)
This month's selection was Her Fearful Symmetry by Audrey Niffenegger, the author of The Time Traveler's Wife. I usually do not like ghost stories, but this book wasn't too creepy. The premise is that two twins, Julia and Valentina, inherit a London flat (next to Highgate Cemetery) from their Aunt Elspeth, who was a twin to their mother, Edie. There is some family secret that the girl's can't figure out and strange things are happening in their new home.
I liked the character development in this book. It felt like I really got to know each person and cared about them. The history of the book was interesting and when I get back to London, I'd like to visit the cemetery. I wish I had looked at the cemetery's web site as I was reading the book. It is much larger than I pictured.
Being a person who loves totally happy endings, the conclusion left me feeling a bit hollow. Some characters' stories were wrapped up neatly but I would have preferred different endings for others. However I suppose it ended the way it needed to. Wish I could be less vague but I don't want to ruin it for you if you read it. :)
When I picked up this book, I also checked out two books by Elizabeth Berg. Talk Before Sleep is a story of two best friends, one who is dying from breast cancer. Open House is about a woman who is discovering herself while going through a divorce. Both were good books and yesterday I checked out two more by Berg.
that's great you joined a book club! i really enjoy the one that i belong to, plus it's fun to read different things that you might not pick out for yourself. i think "Open House" is my favorite book by E. Berg, although I read "Home Safe" last year and enjoyed it. last week, i read her latest "Last Time I Saw You."
Posted by: vanessa | February 17, 2011 at 01:31 PM
i loved the time travelers wife, i'm definitely going to read this one now that i know more about it. when i was in london i was in the area of high gates cemetary looking for a historic home-no one told me that the cemetary was right near the tube stop-one of those london hidden treasures, i'm sorry i missed. thanks for the book review.
Posted by: lydia | February 17, 2011 at 01:34 PM
I loved Time Traveler's Wife but haven't tried reading this one - I will give it a shot, though. Elizabeth Berg is good but after a while I found that her themes were just too similar and I couldn't keep the stories separate.
Posted by: Carole | February 17, 2011 at 01:47 PM
I've read Open House by Elizabeth Berg and I enjoyed it although I found it quite similar in feel to The Year of Pleasures, which I preferred. I'll have to look up some others...I'd forgotten how much I like her work!
Posted by: Kim | February 17, 2011 at 03:08 PM
Ooh, please keep posting about the books you read and what you think of them... I've been wanting to read more adult literature lately. I mean, Harry Potter and the 5th and 6th grade novels are great, but you know, sometimes it cracks me up, the stuff I check out of the library!
Posted by: greetingarts | February 17, 2011 at 05:57 PM