by Audrey Niffenegger
Hennepin County Library audiobook 12 discs
read by Bianca Amato
genre: ghost story
I decided on "ghost story" for a genre because this book is as strange as Niffenegger's Time Traveler's Wife. I liked many aspects of the story during the first quarter of it, but then got steadily more disgruntled. It's beautifully written and Amato's vocal work is exquisite, but it is kind of a warped story.
Twins Edie and Elspeth haven't talked to one another in twenty years. Edie and her husband Jack have twin daughters, Julia and Valentina, who have no real ambitions and live as though they're conjoined twins rather than mirror identicals. When Elspeth dies, she leaves everything to the twins on the condition that their parents never set foot in the London flat and the girls have to live there for at least a year before they sell it.
Elspeth's much younger boyfriend Robert removes her personal papers before the twins come (at Elspeth's request). Upstairs neighbor Marjike leaves OCD Martin just after the funeral. The Highgate Cemetery is a key "character" in this book. Ultimately, I was disgusted and dismayed by "Elspeth," disappointed in Robert, and underwhelmed by the ending. Still, Niffenegger, does something absolutely amazing with language. I was definitely captivated by this story.
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