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sbaylouny's review against another edition
1.0
I felt like there was supposed to be a lot to unpack with this book, but I couldn't find any of it. This book was an extremely slow read for me, and I feel slightly dumb for not being able to even understand the basic premise of it. After reading other reviews, I can see what might be interesting about the structure and the writing of the novel, and I should recognize that there were times I was very impressed with the writing. Still, I found myself disappointed with the story after reading all of the praise for this book.
tonytharakan's review against another edition
3.0
"Asymmetry", the debut novel by Lisa Halliday, is a well-crafted work that may seem like two novels in one but explores asymmetries in a relationship between a celebrated writer and the novice he is sleeping with, between the West and the Middle East, between youth and old age. This is an intriguing work of art.
henrymarlene's review against another edition
3.0
I was challenged by this book, 'Asymmetry' by #lisahalliday. The three novellas (I love that word) were different in theme and in the way they were written. Nothing matched - asymmetrical in their length, topics, characters (to a point). It was beautifully written and I enjoyed it from that perspective, even though the themes were not in my usual interest areas. There was one theme that caught my attention. Memory. All three novellas were recollections of some sort: Alice and Ezra's love affair over time, Amar recalls his life in Iraq and life in the USA, and Ezra recalled his literary life in interview. Is the memory something we can rely on?
missjenm's review against another edition
3.0
At heart, it’s a book about writing and writers, and I am more interested in the reading than the writing. I found myself trying too hard to find the seams between sections and not really getting any emotional resonance from the story. It’s an excellently constructed and intriguing novel, just not the right book at the right time for me.
pammoore's review against another edition
3.0
Then writing was excellent. The first part was oddly absent of any insight into either Ezra or Alice’s inner lives yet it was clear that Alice wasn’t happy with the relationship.... and somehow the vagueness totally worked.
The second part was interesting and totally different than the first; our protagonist there is deeply introspective with a rich inner life... but I failed to understand why i was supposed to care. I skimmed parts of it toward the end.
Then I get to the coda where I’m expecting all will be revealed... and it isn’t. At least not to me. I’ve since read reviews of the book from The New Yorker, the New York Times, and the Washington Post and at this point I’m guessing this says more about me than about the book.. but I still don’t get it.
I get that there’s a lot to think about as far as gender, identity, race, class, and power... but I still don’t get it.
I’m tempted to read the final section again to see if I can determine how everything fits but that won’t change the fact that I can’t give it more than 3 stars. Yes I like to be challenged when I read but I don’t like to feel like I have no idea what happened.
The second part was interesting and totally different than the first; our protagonist there is deeply introspective with a rich inner life... but I failed to understand why i was supposed to care. I skimmed parts of it toward the end.
Then I get to the coda where I’m expecting all will be revealed... and it isn’t. At least not to me. I’ve since read reviews of the book from The New Yorker, the New York Times, and the Washington Post and at this point I’m guessing this says more about me than about the book.. but I still don’t get it.
I get that there’s a lot to think about as far as gender, identity, race, class, and power... but I still don’t get it.
I’m tempted to read the final section again to see if I can determine how everything fits but that won’t change the fact that I can’t give it more than 3 stars. Yes I like to be challenged when I read but I don’t like to feel like I have no idea what happened.
coralrose's review against another edition
2.0
Thank goodness I'm done with this. I don't get it and I didn't like it.
oshrat's review against another edition
3.0
peculiar. interesting. not totally figured it out.
Each chapter by itself was quite capturing but the total impression remains, mmmm, rather unclear I am afraid. Perhaps will reveal its wonders on a re-read.
Each chapter by itself was quite capturing but the total impression remains, mmmm, rather unclear I am afraid. Perhaps will reveal its wonders on a re-read.
citizen_noir's review against another edition
4.0
At some point during this year I must have heard (or read) the buzz about Lisa Halliday's debut novel, ASYMMETRY, and reserved it at the library. It came through a week or so ago and, since it's in such high demand at the library, I moved it to the top of my TBR pile.
I liked the book (quite a lot, in fact), but I'm a little surprised by the rave reviews of the critics. Just tonight I was listening to the NYT's Book Review podcast with its Top Ten Books for 2018, and this was the book that had the reviewers gushing the most. The podcast revealed something I didn't know about Halliday - and that may be one of the reasons why this book is such a hit with the lit-fic folks.... I'll save that reveal for a bit later.
ASYMMETRY is a book in three parts - and the parts don't seem closely related at all. In part 1, "Folly," we follow Alice, a young literary editor working in New York City who randomly meets the world famous author, Ezra Blazer, in Central Park and embarks on a love affair with him, even though he's 40-some years her senior. The affair is handled well by Halliday, who manages to make it seem tender and friendly, without the ickiness that one might expect from such a disproportion in age and power (money, fame). In part 2, "Madness," we meet Amar, a Brooklyn-raised economist who is detained in Heathrow Airport while trying to visit a brother in Kurdistan. Most of this section is told in flashback to Amar's travels to Iraq in the aftermath of the 2003 invasion, as society crumbles around him and his family. In part 3, "Ezra Blazer's Desert Island Discs," we listen to a radio interview between Ezra and a BBC interviewer who is keen to uncover the author's all-time favorite records, while at the same time uncovering tantalizing tidbits about his life, love, and legacy. Three distinct and separate sections, seemingly unconnected. Or, are they?
At some point in the NYT's podcast, I shuddered when a reviewer referred to the book as a "work of literary metafiction." I looked up the word metafiction just to make sure I understood what it means, and especially how it relates to this book. I'm cutting and pasting here from Google Dictionary:
Fiction in which the author self-consciously alludes to the artificiality or literariness of a work by parodying or departing from novelistic conventions (especially naturalism) and traditional narrative techniques.
Yes, I'd say this book is metafiction. There's no real plot to it, just vignettes about a moment in time. I'd guess this is where the title ASYMMETRY comes about. Yet, as you read the book, you do begin to find parallels, connections, and themes between the various stories that may (or may not) be intentional.
One thing is for certain, Halliday can write. Her prose from line to line is a pure delight to read. Her characters are believable, and the places they go (often just in their remembrances) are interesting. This is not a difficult book to get through, which is what I would have expected from a (shudder) "work of literary metafiction."
I am happy that I listened to the podcast because they revealed something I didn't know about Halliday: she had an affair with the world famous author Philip Roth. Knowing that, the symmetry of ASYMMETRY becomes only more interesting. As the NYT's reviewers noted, the interest in the book (Halliday's first) was mostly due to this fact about her past, and how it resonated with Alice and Ezra Black. The reviewers even mentioned that they were expecting the book to be a flop, but then became utterly enchanted with it. I agree, it's a very good book - certainly among the top five best works of fiction I've read this year - but I also have to say that I prefer my books with a little less meta, and a bit more traditional fiction.
I liked the book (quite a lot, in fact), but I'm a little surprised by the rave reviews of the critics. Just tonight I was listening to the NYT's Book Review podcast with its Top Ten Books for 2018, and this was the book that had the reviewers gushing the most. The podcast revealed something I didn't know about Halliday - and that may be one of the reasons why this book is such a hit with the lit-fic folks.... I'll save that reveal for a bit later.
ASYMMETRY is a book in three parts - and the parts don't seem closely related at all. In part 1, "Folly," we follow Alice, a young literary editor working in New York City who randomly meets the world famous author, Ezra Blazer, in Central Park and embarks on a love affair with him, even though he's 40-some years her senior. The affair is handled well by Halliday, who manages to make it seem tender and friendly, without the ickiness that one might expect from such a disproportion in age and power (money, fame). In part 2, "Madness," we meet Amar, a Brooklyn-raised economist who is detained in Heathrow Airport while trying to visit a brother in Kurdistan. Most of this section is told in flashback to Amar's travels to Iraq in the aftermath of the 2003 invasion, as society crumbles around him and his family. In part 3, "Ezra Blazer's Desert Island Discs," we listen to a radio interview between Ezra and a BBC interviewer who is keen to uncover the author's all-time favorite records, while at the same time uncovering tantalizing tidbits about his life, love, and legacy. Three distinct and separate sections, seemingly unconnected. Or, are they?
At some point in the NYT's podcast, I shuddered when a reviewer referred to the book as a "work of literary metafiction." I looked up the word metafiction just to make sure I understood what it means, and especially how it relates to this book. I'm cutting and pasting here from Google Dictionary:
Fiction in which the author self-consciously alludes to the artificiality or literariness of a work by parodying or departing from novelistic conventions (especially naturalism) and traditional narrative techniques.
Yes, I'd say this book is metafiction. There's no real plot to it, just vignettes about a moment in time. I'd guess this is where the title ASYMMETRY comes about. Yet, as you read the book, you do begin to find parallels, connections, and themes between the various stories that may (or may not) be intentional.
One thing is for certain, Halliday can write. Her prose from line to line is a pure delight to read. Her characters are believable, and the places they go (often just in their remembrances) are interesting. This is not a difficult book to get through, which is what I would have expected from a (shudder) "work of literary metafiction."
I am happy that I listened to the podcast because they revealed something I didn't know about Halliday: she had an affair with the world famous author Philip Roth. Knowing that, the symmetry of ASYMMETRY becomes only more interesting. As the NYT's reviewers noted, the interest in the book (Halliday's first) was mostly due to this fact about her past, and how it resonated with Alice and Ezra Black. The reviewers even mentioned that they were expecting the book to be a flop, but then became utterly enchanted with it. I agree, it's a very good book - certainly among the top five best works of fiction I've read this year - but I also have to say that I prefer my books with a little less meta, and a bit more traditional fiction.
superlegitjoy's review against another edition
4.0
A truly well written book. Its structure is smart and not flashy. I don’t know if the structure fully “earns” all the narrator perspectives to make a grand message successful, but it certainly is well done in all its pieces.