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beefmaster's review against another edition
5.0
This is either the best novel from 2018 I’ll read or the best Emperor’s New Clothes situation I’ve been implicated in.
chillcox15's review against another edition
3.0
A solid 3.5 stars. The first section keeps ratcheting up the unspoken tension so you know that something bizarre is going to happen, but I was not expecting that second section-- and I wish it worked better for me, considering how in the bag I was for the riff on Roth/Updike style novelists at the start. I like Halliday's daringness, but that second section seems to be fighting against itself in certain ways (i.e. "Who can tell which stories?") without much of a resolution to that core conflict. It maybe requires a second reading just to see where I come down on if it melds these two plots together well enough.
margot_psd's review
3.0
Lost me completely at the end with how lurid Ezra becomes. But I was so invested in both Alice and Ezra's relationship and Amar (mostly Amar), because to me their relationship was already flawed. He was clearly a manipulator who preyed on younger women and it's so much more visible in the last part of the book. Meanwhile Amar's story feels like it could have been twice as long and I would have stayed invested.
bornslippy's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
4.0
raijoy's review against another edition
5.0
I appreciated a number of the author’s adverbs in the first third of the book
toniclark's review against another edition
4.0
I knew, before I started, that this would be a bit of a puzzle, that it might be hard to figure out how the three sections were tied together. I definitely picked up some of the hints, reverberations back and forth between the three parts of the book, but missed a lot too. For instance, I didn’t know anything about the author’s history and didn’t get that Ezra Blazer was modeled on a real person. (A real person who was very famous but whom, nevertheless, I have never read. Maybe that’s why I didn’t get it.)
I absolutely loved the first section. I wanted the story to go on and on, though I could see that it probably couldn’t go on much longer. And then, the book would have been so much less than it is. I loved the characters and the dialog most of all. Most people don’t want to work too hard to find hidden meanings in a novel. I don’t mind it, but am sorry to say I just didn’t enjoy the second section of the book (Amar's story). My mind wandered. On reflection, I appreciate the whole book more now than when I was reading it (and finished the book wondering whether I should reread the middle part). Halliday definitely pulled off a rather amazing intellectual feat. In retrospect, I like thinking about the structure, the many forms of asymmetry encompassed, the varied and interwoven themes (the book has a sort of musical structure), and the characters’ reflections on art and life, truth and imagination. I certainly highlighted a lot of passages (and read many of them aloud to my husband).
I wish I had known more going into it. And I think I'm talking myself into rereading.
There's also some great writing, startling images. Here's a favorite:
“Light shimmered in the trees, whose leaves, when the wind ran through them, sighed like the gods after a long and boozy lunch.”
I absolutely loved the first section. I wanted the story to go on and on, though I could see that it probably couldn’t go on much longer. And then, the book would have been so much less than it is. I loved the characters and the dialog most of all. Most people don’t want to work too hard to find hidden meanings in a novel. I don’t mind it, but am sorry to say I just didn’t enjoy the second section of the book (Amar's story). My mind wandered. On reflection, I appreciate the whole book more now than when I was reading it (and finished the book wondering whether I should reread the middle part). Halliday definitely pulled off a rather amazing intellectual feat. In retrospect, I like thinking about the structure, the many forms of asymmetry encompassed, the varied and interwoven themes (the book has a sort of musical structure), and the characters’ reflections on art and life, truth and imagination. I certainly highlighted a lot of passages (and read many of them aloud to my husband).
I wish I had known more going into it. And I think I'm talking myself into rereading.
There's also some great writing, startling images. Here's a favorite:
“Light shimmered in the trees, whose leaves, when the wind ran through them, sighed like the gods after a long and boozy lunch.”
ericfheiman's review against another edition
5.0
The hype on Asymmetry is pretty deserved. It’s one of the better contemporary novels I’ve read in the last few years. Still processing and my rating might go up after it sinks in a bit. It’s first half is a must-read for any Philip Roth fans.
pmurphy23's review against another edition
2.0
This may be my all-time "Why did critics love this?" book.