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molsballou's review against another edition
5.0
HOLY BANANAS. I loved this.
If you are someone who likes a story with a beginning, middle, and end, you might not love this book. (Although, this book has that. It's just not delivered in a straightforward way.) I'm blown away.
If you are someone who likes a story with a beginning, middle, and end, you might not love this book. (Although, this book has that. It's just not delivered in a straightforward way.) I'm blown away.
bev's review against another edition
emotional
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.0
jove64's review against another edition
3.0
I enjoyed reading this book but there was something off about it. There is no real plot, but that's not really the main issue. I think it's that the whole thing is emotionally very flat. The sections are not really connected (except by a shared character between the first section and the third). The only connecting theme seems to me to be one of feeling like you don't really belong. But there is no emotional depth to it.
This is weird because the whole first section is about a love affair. One with a kind of problematic premise given that there is a very significant age difference and a very significant difference in status within a shared industry (publishing). I guess I was hoping that as it developed I would have some reason to abandon my political misgivings because of the obvious love. But no, the statements of love felt like statements with no real grounding in emotion.
The return to the older male character in the final section confirms all my initial misgivings about that relationship and his character. It is redeemed by being a very engaging and well written genre piece, though I suspect it's a polished version of a character study exercise. (The format would certainly make a good character study exercise.)
The middle section seems completely unconnected (which probably explains the title of the book) but is fascinating in itself. CW for immigration detention though the experience described seems atypical and possibly misleading, though I have no personal experience. At the very least it seems improbably that on any night at Heathrow there would only be 2 or 3 people in immigration detention while things were "cleared up". I'd like a more developed story of this character, but probably written by someone else. [b:Hotel Arcadia|25016210|Hotel Arcadia|Sunny Singh|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1424862252l/25016210._SY75_.jpg|44689120] may have spoiled me for how this kind of thing could be written.
I give it 3 stars because I did actually want to finish it. It was well written. The text was engaging enough to finish even if it was sometimes hard to motivate myself to pick it back up again. It was well enough written that I hoped it would gain some emotional depth which increased my disappointment at the ending. (Personally, if I think somethings only worth 1 or 2 stars I wouldn't have finished it.) YMMV
This is weird because the whole first section is about a love affair. One with a kind of problematic premise given that there is a very significant age difference and a very significant difference in status within a shared industry (publishing). I guess I was hoping that as it developed I would have some reason to abandon my political misgivings because of the obvious love. But no, the statements of love felt like statements with no real grounding in emotion.
The return to the older male character in the final section confirms all my initial misgivings about that relationship and his character. It is redeemed by being a very engaging and well written genre piece, though I suspect it's a polished version of a character study exercise. (The format would certainly make a good character study exercise.)
The middle section seems completely unconnected (which probably explains the title of the book) but is fascinating in itself. CW for immigration detention though the experience described seems atypical and possibly misleading, though I have no personal experience. At the very least it seems improbably that on any night at Heathrow there would only be 2 or 3 people in immigration detention while things were "cleared up". I'd like a more developed story of this character, but probably written by someone else. [b:Hotel Arcadia|25016210|Hotel Arcadia|Sunny Singh|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1424862252l/25016210._SY75_.jpg|44689120] may have spoiled me for how this kind of thing could be written.
I give it 3 stars because I did actually want to finish it. It was well written. The text was engaging enough to finish even if it was sometimes hard to motivate myself to pick it back up again. It was well enough written that I hoped it would gain some emotional depth which increased my disappointment at the ending. (Personally, if I think somethings only worth 1 or 2 stars I wouldn't have finished it.) YMMV
marialauradibello's review against another edition
emotional
inspiring
reflective
sad
medium-paced
3.0
ddejong's review against another edition
4.0
Finished the book, promptly read 3 different reviews (NY Times, New Yorker, Guardian), & still pondering what Halliday was doing with the plot and structure of this book. A true piece of literary fiction and thus not for everyone but I enjoyed the way it made me think.
sloatsj's review against another edition
3.0
Very well written and I like the point the author has to make. So that's important.
But did I enjoy this structure? Not really, even if I appreciated the separate stories.
But did I enjoy this structure? Not really, even if I appreciated the separate stories.
zdkb24's review against another edition
3.0
I thought this book was beautifully written, with characters that have a lot of snap, and I kind of loved the writer for slipping in praise for her own book into the third section. However, I'm not sure if it adds up to much more than a statement of the author's own gifts. The revelation of the third section - that Amar is Alice's literary creation - recontextualizes him as an expression of her, and while I found that interesting, and found her interesting in the book's first section, none of it felt especially urgent. I enjoyed the display of technique, but I never cared too much what happened. I don't think it's just that the characters are stuck in their respective ways. There's something inert about the whole project that limited my enthusiasm.
maureenr's review against another edition
3.0
This is a perfect book to apply Auden's book verdicts structure: "I can see that this is good, but I don't like it." or, in my case, it was fine, I just wasn't enthralled as many of the reviews led me to believe I would be. I can see it is good - Halliday's language is wonderful, with unique descriptions and passages, particularly in the first section. But there is a central conceit that seems to blow everyone away, and the reality is I knew two paragraphs into the second section what was going on, and therefore didn't have the Gone Girl aha moment that others seem to have had. I'm not saying this to show how smart I am, but just saying that I think that colored my enthusiasm and led me to be not as interested in the second part of the book, which is a completely separate story from the first, one which I found much less interesting and honestly kind of ponderous.
gilmoreguide's review against another edition
3.0
(2.5)
Asymmetry is a novel split into three separate and seemingly unrelated parts. I know, sounds like short stories, but there is supposed to be a thread connecting the three. The question is whether I was able to find it or not.
The first section is Folly, wherein 27-year-old Alice meets Pulitzer Prize winning author, Ezra Blazer, in Central Park. They talk and after several such meetings he invites her to his apartment where they bond over a love of baseball. Soon they are lovers despite Ezra being old enough to be her grandfather. The relationship spans years, with Alice moving from the fringes of Ezra's life to its very center.
Madness is the second segment and is an abrupt change from the small quietude of Folly. Amar Jaafari is an economist traveling from Los Angeles to London and then on to Iraq to see the brother he has not seen in almost five years. An Iraqi citizen by birth, despite never having lived there, he is detained at Heathrow with no explanation. His stay in London is supposed to be brief, but with a veneer of obsequious civility the customs officials force him to explain himself again and again as more of his possessions and, finally, his body, are examined for reasons no one will share. Thirty-six hours later he is still in a holding room with his plans in disarray, but we have traveled with him back to his childhood, through his life in America and visits to Iraq, to learn how deep the love of a brother and family can run.
Asymmetry's finale is Ezra Blazer's Desert Island Discs-a program with Blazer where he picks the eight recordings he'd take with him to a desert island. The interview occurs at some time after Folly because we learn more about what happens to Alice. Beyond that, the conversation feels glib and stilted with Blazer playing the expected role of elderly, world-weary author. He comes off as slightly flip and when he flirts with the married interviewer, it feels distinctly skeevy. The entire segment feels incongruous next to the other two and left me not knowing what to make of it.
The rest of this review is at The Gilmore Guide to Books: http://gilmoreguidetobooks.com/2018/02/asymmetry-lisa-halliday/
Asymmetry is a novel split into three separate and seemingly unrelated parts. I know, sounds like short stories, but there is supposed to be a thread connecting the three. The question is whether I was able to find it or not.
The first section is Folly, wherein 27-year-old Alice meets Pulitzer Prize winning author, Ezra Blazer, in Central Park. They talk and after several such meetings he invites her to his apartment where they bond over a love of baseball. Soon they are lovers despite Ezra being old enough to be her grandfather. The relationship spans years, with Alice moving from the fringes of Ezra's life to its very center.
Madness is the second segment and is an abrupt change from the small quietude of Folly. Amar Jaafari is an economist traveling from Los Angeles to London and then on to Iraq to see the brother he has not seen in almost five years. An Iraqi citizen by birth, despite never having lived there, he is detained at Heathrow with no explanation. His stay in London is supposed to be brief, but with a veneer of obsequious civility the customs officials force him to explain himself again and again as more of his possessions and, finally, his body, are examined for reasons no one will share. Thirty-six hours later he is still in a holding room with his plans in disarray, but we have traveled with him back to his childhood, through his life in America and visits to Iraq, to learn how deep the love of a brother and family can run.
Asymmetry's finale is Ezra Blazer's Desert Island Discs-a program with Blazer where he picks the eight recordings he'd take with him to a desert island. The interview occurs at some time after Folly because we learn more about what happens to Alice. Beyond that, the conversation feels glib and stilted with Blazer playing the expected role of elderly, world-weary author. He comes off as slightly flip and when he flirts with the married interviewer, it feels distinctly skeevy. The entire segment feels incongruous next to the other two and left me not knowing what to make of it.
The rest of this review is at The Gilmore Guide to Books: http://gilmoreguidetobooks.com/2018/02/asymmetry-lisa-halliday/