Saturday, July 10, 2010

her fearful symmetry

Yes I do have a pile of some 15-20 read books I really, really want to write a few words about. Most of these books have not been read that recently and I fear many of the thoughts I had about them while still fresh in mind have sadly fluttered away.

One of these days I will write about those books, though the might have to share one post alas.

This post will be about the book I have just finished though. "Her Fearful Symmetry" by Audrey Niffenegger, the author of "The Time Traveler's Wife" (a book which I enjoyed, but for its annoying amount of spelling errors and sentence construction oddities, but for that I blame the translator/editor and not the writer).

"Her Fearful Symmetry" (a curious and alluring title I still haven't quite figured out) is a ghost story set in and around the Highgate Cemetery in London - which clearly is a most enchanting and haunting place that I now have on my must-see-list. Oh I love walking around cemeteries, with their many stories and lives told and untold. Beautiful, sad and eerie places that makes one think and ponder about the transiency of it all, walking in cemeteries somehow put things and life in perspective, if only for a while - a story about family secrets and family ties, twins, love, loss, death and resurrection.

It may not be a world-turning, obviously thought-provoking all-time-best read, but the story is different, the setting is, yes, captivating, one may not sympathize for all the characters (far from really) or understand their respective motives, but still the story catched me from the first few pages and I enjoyed the read very very much. An easy read, well-written (without being mind-blowingly so) and different.

Yes, I do recommend the book to be read.

3 comments:

Poppy Q said...

Hi Pia, I read this book a little while ago so forgive me for not rembering much. I found it a bit on the annoying side. My impressions were that she came up with some good ideas for a story, but somehow failed to captivate me and made it all a bit cliched and yet muddled at the same time.

I was frustrated with the book by the end, and just wanted it to end.

Please do continue with the book reviews though.

Julie Q

Anonymous said...

TIGER, tiger, burning bright
In the forests of the night,
What immortal hand or eye
Could frame thy fearful symmetry?

In what distant deeps or skies 5
Burnt the fire of thine eyes?
On what wings dare he aspire?
What the hand dare seize the fire?

And what shoulder and what art
Could twist the sinews of thy heart? 10
And when thy heart began to beat,
What dread hand and what dread feet?

What the hammer? what the chain?
In what furnace was thy brain?
What the anvil? What dread grasp 15
Dare its deadly terrors clasp?

When the stars threw down their spears,
And water'd heaven with their tears,
Did He smile His work to see?
Did He who made the lamb make thee? 20

Tiger, tiger, burning bright
In the forests of the night,
What immortal hand or eye
Dare frame thy fearful symmetry?

William Blake. 1757–1827

Pia K said...

oh it depends on the mood du jour, if you enjoy a book or not sometimes. or well, we all see and think different about most things we read, nevermind you not liking it the way i did, julie. because sometimes we do:)

thank you so much for the lovely poem, anonymous, now why didn't i google the title beforehand...

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...