Asymmetry

A Novel

By: Lisa Halliday

Narrated by: Candace Thaxton, Arthur Morey, Fiona Hardingham, Aden Hakim

A singularly inventive and unforgettable debut novel about love, luck, and the inextricability of life and art, from 2017 Whiting Award winner Lisa Halliday.

Told in three distinct and uniquely compelling sections, Asymmetry explores the imbalances that spark and sustain many of our most dramatic human relations: inequities in age, power, talent, wealth, fame, geography, and justice. The first section, "Folly", tells the story of Alice, a young American editor, and her relationship with the famous and much older writer Ezra Blazer. A tender and exquisite account of an unexpected romance that takes place in New York during the early years of the Iraq War, "Folly" also suggests an aspiring novelist's coming-of-age. By contrast, "Madness" is narrated by Amar, an Iraqi-American man who, on his way to visit his brother in Kurdistan, is detained by immigration officers and spends the last weekend of 2008 in a holding room in Heathrow. These two seemingly disparate stories gain resonance as their perspectives interact and overlap, with yet new implications for their relationship revealed in an unexpected coda.

A stunning debut from a rising literary star, Asymmetry is an urgent, important, and truly original work that will captivate any listener while also posing arresting questions about the very nature of fiction itself.

©2018 Lisa Halliday (P)2018 Simon & Schuster

great book

This is a wonderful book told by three different people. Each section is a story on to itself though there seems to be a link between the 3. I especially liked the middle section which is about a young man stuck in the London Airport because of his origins. The narrator has a beautifully modulated voice and his story is heart wrenching without being maudlin.

The first and third sections are also quite good though I found those two stories (which are more closely linked than the 2nd) of less interest. The first is about a young woman's affair with a well known writer who is much older than she is. Some of the descriptive passages are quite beautiful and it is not hard, on some level, to sympathize with the protagonist's sense of futility
and loneliness but it doesn't have the same relevance as the 2nd section.

Wow. Took me a bit to get into it, but glad I kept listening

I love the way this author weaves her deeper thoughts into the everyday stories of her characters. The first story took me a while to get into. I was frustrated that Mary Alice didn’t seem to have a voice. I’m happy I kept going. Very meaningful and thoughtful work. Thank you Lisa Halliday!

Leaving a Doll's House, again

This novel was powerful, quiet, and more than the sum of its parts. I enjoyed it more knowing some of the biographical background for the first section. As another reviewer noted, the first part can be hard to follow because of the insertion of other texts and perspectives (and maybe the narrator could have offset these sections better), but you'll figure it out all right. It took me a couple of hours to get into this novel, but it was worth it.

Confusing

Maybe I did not pay enough attention to the audiobook when I listened to it, but I was left feeling confused.

Worth your time

Perfect title. The more I think about this story, the more I appreciate it. Basically, it is a catalyst for comparing how shallow, in some ways, Americans can be when compared with those who deal with wars and corruption...the kind we support.

A masterpiece

A masterpiece! Before you read this novel you have to have the notion of what constitutes a post-modern fiction. I noticed how favorably people rated Pynchon's masterpiece Gravity's Rainbow. These people were ready for what they encountered in the novel. Asymmetry is the novel of enormous complexity and difficulty (Obama loved it for a good reason; Orange Covfefe probably has no idea that it even exists). Read post-modernly the novel deconstructs your already deconstructed reading. Ah? Let's presume that you hated parts of the novel (think of a second the schmaltzy a la Hosseini mediocre Kate Runner or Herman Hesse's absolutely deplorable Damian part; I hated the second part). You've been deconstructed if you love the first part which I loved since it is impossible not to love its staccato almost absurdist rhythm. I am a hater now but if I recognize that hating here is intrinsic to my reaction (in a way I hate Tchaikovsky- Stalin's favorite composer) then I deconstructed my own being deconstructed. Etc. But now ...Three....Why do think that there three parts? Why Blazer wants to write his quite oddly structured post-modern trilogy? Why Bible, Quran and Torah are mentioned in the third part at all? Who is Blazer? Who wrote the second novel? Is the the second novel beginning, middle of the end of the world? Of course the last. Pertinently peruse carefully ): Ulysses. Adumbrate schematically its existential contours. Apropos the novel ask: What is love? What is love? What is love? Possession? Can love be deconstructed? In my humble opinion-NO! Read it and think about it. Don't dismiss it because it does not fit into the non-existent linear a priori perspective of things. The genius of Kant knew that a priori is a transcendental category and is thus a non-sustainable category in the realm of the noumenal (real) world of things-in-themsevles. What a brilliant observation! Suspend yourself while reading the novel. You won't be wasting your time - time that does not exist.

Interesting to think about...

but I wouldn't really recommend this book. I didn't like the first chapter but really liked the second. Didn't know why the author chose to leave Mary Alice's character without much depth, but still pondering it.

review

first half was wack. good book doe. would recommend for my homies and homespices. yes

I don’t get it

I’ve seen reviews that say 2 unrelated stories are brought together amazingly by a final coda. I have a degree in Literature. Reading this book and reviewing it in an academic scope I can see it has merit, but, to me, the best literature doesn’t have to be examined and over-explained by experts in order to be understood. It should be accessible.

This is 2 really good short stories and some epilogue that makes little sense. They both suck you in before you know it. They are very well written, engrossing and deliberate In how the stories are told and what parts of the character’s stories are told.

Decent stories as 2 short stories, unfortunately, to really understand the “asymmetry” of the story you have to have a degree in Literature.

Top of the World, and Not

“Asymmetry” became more intriguing the more I listened. Each new section (there are three) causes the reader to think differently about the prior sections.

The novel opens with a love affair between a stylish young editor in Manhattan and an aging, worldly novelist (reportedly modeled after Philip Roth) whom she meets while sitting on a park bench. The novelist appears to have everything—culture, intelligence, respect, the financial security to support needy acquaintances (like the guy at the neighborhood newsstand), and the charisma to attract beautiful young women. Apart from his serial wives, the novelist tries to do good and to live an exemplary life.

The second section shifts to a different world. The narrator is an Iraqi-American economist, held at a London airport as he tries to fly to visit his brother in Iraq. Through flashbacks, the narrator calmly recalls his history in both America and Iraq, where much of his extended family remains. Those in Iraq have lived through chaos and terror, but the tone is light, as if the narrator were distancing himself from his suffering relatives. The asymmetry seems to be between the affluent and sophisticated New Yorkers of the first section, trying to do good and be fair while living well, and the nearly helpless Iraqis, also educated and trying to live well, but surrounded by constant threats and danger. America's role in creating the Iraqi situation is frequently invoked.

The third section returns to a character from the first. The character is seen in a different light. This section was especially well-narrated by Fiona Hardingham and Arthur Morey.

The novel regularly slips into brief philosophical discussions, which I found interesting. Overall, despite a slow start, “Asymmetry” was a well-written, thoughtful and provocative listen.