Her Fearful Symmetry
By Audrey Niffenegger
Now, I loved The Time Traveller’s Wife, I absolutely adored it. It was so well written and thoughtful, so naturally, I had high hopes for this: Audrey Niffenegger’s next book. I’m not going to beat around the bush. It was slow to get going, I found the characters quite boring and in some cases unlikeable, and the whole premise was slightly too far-fetched (Yes – even compared to a man who spontaneously travels through time). It struck me that it was a bit too easy for Elspeth (a ghost) to learn to exert herself upon the real world. Surely if it were that easy, everyone would do it. I thought it was a bit too predictable in places too, and the ending was very unsatisfactory. One of the best bits of The Time Traveller’s Wife was that it was so intensely sexy at times – I would’ve liked more of that, and less of the awkward teenage angst.
Speaking of the intensely sexy The Time Traveller’s Wife – I watched the big screen adaptation of it recently. Boy, was I let down, again. They missed out several important characters and details, such as Henry’s ex (and how she died), ruined some of the mystery by showing the passage of time in a very strange order (compared to the book, anyhow), and glossed over some of the unexpected outcomes of the unexpected situations that emerged from Henry’s unexpected visits.
Also, it wasn’t intensely sexy. š
