Her Fearful Symmetry: A review

So, maybe I commited a cardinal sin by giving such a celebrated author a one star rating, but I am pretty easy to please, and I found myself less than impressed.  For starters here is the book summary (as provided by the Goodreads website):

metery in London.

When Elspeth Noblin dies of cancer, she leaves her London apartment to her twin nieces, Julia and Valentina. These two American girls never met their English aunt, only knew that their mother, too, was a twin, and Elspeth her sister. Julia and Valentina are semi-normal American teenagers--with seemingly little interest in college, finding jobs, or anything outside their cozy home in the suburbs of Chicago, and with an abnormally intense attachment to one another.

The girls move to Elspeth's flat, which borders Highgate Cemetery in London. They come to know the building's other residents. There is Martin, a brilliant and charming crossword puzzle setter suffering from crippling Obsessive Compulsive Disorder; Marjike, Martin's devoted but trapped wife; and Robert, Elspeth's elusive lover, a scholar of the cemetery. As the girls become embroiled in the fraying lives of their aunt's neighbors, they also discover that much is still alive in Highgate, including--perhaps--their aunt, who can't seem to leave her old apartment and life behind.

Well, I'll tell you. I tried, at first half-heartedly, then by really trying to throw my guts into it - you know, enjoy the damn thing! Well, I got fed up, quit trying, and gave the book a single star (out of 5) on the Gooreads site.

Knowing that I have the refined literary palette of Jane Austin, but paired with attention span of a fruit fly, my best friend Lisa sent me the following message:

LisaLoohoo Wrote: please review this. I would love to hear what made you rate it one star!

(See, Lisa knows right now that I have either hit it dead on the nose or have completely missed the mark, because for me, there is so in-between)

So here it is. . . The reason for my low review

Her Fearful Symmetry by Audrey Niffenegger
(Goodreads Author)

So first off, I never finished it. It was like nothing was happening, then all of the sudden . . .

There was this part where the ghost of the  45-yr old woman comes back and watches her 24 year old boyfriend lay on top of her old clothes while whacking off and crying for like a day and a half. (Oh -- and when she sees it, she wants to touch herself, but doesn't know how to use her sad little ghost body yet).

It was grotesque, heartbreaking and was really the first real exciting thing to happen. I just stopped reading it eventually. I am going to add a "never finished" shelf and add it. It sort of the reason that I hesitate to read The Time Traveler's Wife.

But, I am willing to one day give it another shot, maybe I was just in a weird mood that week.