Asymmetry Audiobook By Lisa Halliday cover art

Asymmetry

A Novel

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Asymmetry

By: Lisa Halliday
Narrated by: Candace Thaxton, Arthur Morey, Fiona Hardingham, Aden Hakimi
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Buy for $18.74

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A Time and New York Times Top 10 Book of the Year * New York Times Notable Book and Times Critic’s Top Book of 2018

NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF 2018 BY * Elle * Bustle * Kirkus Reviews * Lit Hub * NPR * Oprah Daily

The bestselling and critically acclaimed debut novel by Lisa Halliday is “a brilliant and complex examination of power dynamics in love and war” (The Wall Street Journal).

Told in two 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 explores Alice’s artistic aspirations and growing frustrations of living in Ezra’s shadow.

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 “a transgressive roman a clef, a novel of ideas, and a politically engaged work of metafiction” (The New York Times Book Review), and a “literary phenomenon” (The New Yorker). Lisa Halliday’s novel will captivate any reader with while also posing arresting questions about the very nature of fiction itself. Coming of Age Literary Fiction Emotionally Gripping Genre Fiction Family Life
All stars
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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.

great book

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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!

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

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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.

I don’t get it

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“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.

Top of the World, and Not

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Each of the two stories is interesting and well done, but they bear no relationship to one another, leaving the reader feeling that the book makes no sense as a whole, and there is no conclusion to either narrative.

Random

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