ALN Monthly Book Club: Her Fearful Symmetry (Old Town)

For our October Monthly Book Club, we will be reading Audrey Niffenegger's "Her Fearful Symmetry!"

EDIT: We will be hosting this event at a member's private residence. Exact address will not be posted in this event description to protect their privacy. Check your messages for details.

Content warning: Death, suicidal thoughts and suicide, adult/minor relationships, incest/family secrets, and mental health struggles. Details not given here to avoid spoilers. Contact an organizer if you have concerns about the book's content.

Twin sisters Valentina and Julia show up in London near Highgate Cemetery after their Aunt Elspeth dies of Cancer and leaves them her estate. Their Mom has been estranged from Elspeth for twenty years. When they show up, Aunt Elspeth is still there in ghostly form.

We hope to see you there!

Discussion Questions:

1. Intro: What is your name and how would you spend your time if you became a ghost after you died?
2. Several characters in this story make a number of very poor decisions. When you see a character in a story making such a choice, how do you typically respond?
3. Before she dies, Elspeth tries to explain to Robert the nature of her relationship with Edie, saying "All I can say is, you haven't got a twin, so you can't know how it is." What did you think of the depiction of weak vs. strong identical twins in this novel? Do real twins have these relationship dynamics? Does Valentina live up to her nickname "Mouse?”
4. How does Robert and Valentina’s sudden romantic attachment affect Julia and Valentina's relationship? How does it affect Robert? How did you react when you realized that Robert and Valentina might become lovers? What do you think of the age gap romantic relationships in this novel?
5. Why do you think Elspeth chose to leave her apartment to Julia and Valentina? At one point, Robert conjectures that “it’s the extravagance of the thing that appealed to her.” Do you agree? Does your opinion of Elspeth change over the course of the novel?
6. Do you think Elspeth planned to take over Valentina’s body from the beginning or do you believe her claim that she was truly trying to make the best of a bad situation? What does the context of Elspeth being Valentina’s biological mother make you think of this body snatching?
7. Though ghosts figure prominently in the storyline, the characters in the novel spend relatively little time asking themselves about the spiritual implications of their predicament. Why do you think that is? Do you feel differently about character deaths in stories where there is a canonical afterlife?
8. Niffenegger depicts several long-term romantic relationships in Her Fearful Symmetry: Elspeth and Robert; Martin and Marijke; Edie and Jack; Jessica and James Bates. Which, if any, of these relationships is successful, and why? What do you think of Robert leaving Elspeth at the end of this novel after she had the newborn in Valentina’s body?

Upcoming Events:
November: I Who Have Never Known Men, by Jacqueline Harpman
December: Moss'd In Space, by Rebecca Thorne
January: When Women Were Dragons, by Kelly Barnhill
February: Service Model, by Adrian Tchaikovsky
March: How to Live Safely in a Science Fictional Universe, by Charles Yu
April: The Forever Desert Trilogy, by Moses Ose Utomi
May: Infomocracy, by Malka Older
June: The Works of Vermin, by Hiron Ennes
July: Braiding Sweetgrass, by Robin Wall Kimmerer
August: Kings of the Wyld, by Nicholas Eames
EPIC: Dungeon Crawler Carl, by Matt Dinniman
September: 2027-2028 ALN Book Selection!