Asymmetry, Whiting Award winner Lisa Halliday's debut, is a pair of novellas with a unique narrative shift. What begins as the story of a 25-year-old editorial assistant in early-2000s New York turns into the tale of an Iraqi-American economist detained at Heathrow on his way to Iraqi Kurdistan.

In Folly, the opening novella, Ezra Blazer, a novelist in his 70s who suffers from many ailments, passes on his knowledge of books and music to Alice, an editorial assistant with whom he is having an affair. In her spare time, Alice writes about "War. Dictatorships. World affairs." In Madness, the second novella, economist Amar Ala Jaafari experiences firsthand the war and dictatorships that Alice writes about, especially during flashbacks to war-torn Iraq and when he encounters the casual racism of border control agents.

The first section of Asymmetry feels sketchy, but the novel gains considerable momentum in Madness. The prose becomes poetic and precise, as when Halliday writes that the bustle in Heathrow "had a kind of prolonged regularity to it, like a jazz improvisation that, for all its deviations, never loses its beat."

Both novellas deal with insecurity and death, and Halliday draws connections between the two seemingly disparate stories in many ways. For example, in Madness, Amar refers to Saul Bellow's line from Humboldt's Gift: "Death is the dark backing that a mirror needs if we are to see anything." The same reference appears in Folly.

In a third and final section, wherein the two novellas come together, Ezra tells an interviewer, "We have very little choice other than to spend our waking hours trying to sort out and make sense of the perennial pandemonium." Asymmetry is a thoughtful look at many forms of disorder and the eternal struggle to reconcile them.

 

This article was originally published in the February 2018 issue of BookPage. Download the entire issue for the Kindle or Nook.

Top Pick for Book Clubs, October 2018

Set in the early 2000s as the Iraq War amps up, Asymmetry, Lisa Halliday's impressive debut novel, explores the complexities of relationships and the quest for creative fulfillment through three very different characters. In New York, Alice, an aspiring writer, gets involved with Ezra, an older, celebrated novelist. Living in the shadow of his literary fame proves difficult for Alice, and when health problems put Ezra in the hospital, she's forced to come to terms with their relationship. The book's second section focuses on Amar, an Iraqi-American economist who's being interrogated at Heathrow Airport. Told in part through flashbacks, Amar's narrative is dramatic and bleak. The novel's third section unites the three characters, bringing their stories into penetrating focus. Halliday is a deft storyteller who provides remarkable insights into the human heart, and this book marks her arrival as an important new author.

 

This article was originally published in the October 2018 issue of BookPage. Download the entire issue for the Kindle or Nook.

 

In the first of two stories making up this debut novel, a young woman named Alice becomes involved with a famous, much older, literary prize-winning author. As their relationship deepens, the questions relevant to a seasoned man of the world in later life contrast with those of his naïve, inexperienced paramour. The second story concerns Iraqi American Amar, who is detained at Heathrow while traveling to see his brother in Kurdistan via London and eventually denied entry to the UK. During his 36 hours in detention, he recalls his childhood and why he chose to be American while his brother chose to be Iraqi. The story ends abruptly in disaster, and the book circles back to Ezra years after his affair with Alice, the single thread connecting the two equally well-told stories. While the first story may have readers wondering about the characters' motivations (does Ezra think he is fooling anybody by calling Alice his assistant?), the second builds a picture of life as a dual national, the eventual need to pick a side, and the consequences. VERDICT Full of choices and of opposites—young/old, seasoned/novice, American/Iraqi—this thought-provoking book is evocative of the world we live in today. Highly recommended for readers of literary fiction. [See Prepub Alert, 8/21/17.]—Joanna Burkhardt, Univ. of Rhode Island Libs., Providence

Halliday, recipient of a 2017 Whiting Award, crafts a stellar and inventive debut, a puzzle of seemingly incongruous pieces that, in the end, fit together perfectly. In the early aughts, young NYC book editor Alice embarks on an affair with Ezra, a surprisingly kind older novelist. As the American military conflict in Iraq escalates, Alice and Ezra flit into and out of each other lives, bonding over the Red Sox, Scrabble, and Ezra's failure to win the Nobel Prize in Literature. After a health scare lands Ezra in the hospital, Alice must decide the future of their relationship. The second, decidedly different section follows Amar, an Iraqi-American of complicated provenance who has been detained at Heathrow Airport on his way to Iraq. Alternating between the customs official's curt interrogation of Amar and flashbacks to his life in America, the sequence draws the background violence of the earlier section violently into the foreground without sacrificing any of the former's momentum or humor. A singular collision of forms, tones, and arguments, the novel provides frequent delights and never explains too much. Any reader who values innovative fiction should treasure this. Agent: Chris Parris-Lamb, Gernert Company. (Feb.)