A review by cojack
Asymmetry by Lisa Halliday

3.0

Mixed feelings about this one. Prob a 3.5 star rating. It feels like it was written for other writers* in that the first section is supposedly based on Halliday’s relationship with Phillip Roth, the second section tackles whether authors should or can imagine the lives of others who are the completely different from them in race, gender, etc., and the last section...well I guess that’s about throwing us some reveals and about how authors present themselves?? The character Alice was written at such a remove that I barely cared what happened in the first part. I enjoyed the second section more, especially when I considered the notion of how different a white American’s life was like post 9/11 vs. that of an Iraqi American. Some passages were beautiful and thoughtful and showed me that Halliday is an excellent writer, i just felt like she was trying to do too much in this book and didn’t deliver. And honestly? This felt like the longest 300 page book I’ve ever read. It took me forever. Much of it didn’t stick with me.

* Whenever other writers fall all over themselves to praise a book, as many did with this one, I often don’t care for the book.