This book has been on my to-read pile for a while. Its description did not really appeal, but The New Yorker, my favourite magazine,
called it a literary phenomenon (https://www.newyorker.com/books/page-turner/why-asymmetry-has-become-a-literary-phenomenon) so I finally gave in and read it. I’m afraid I don’t really agree with this
assessment.
The novel is divided into three parts.
In the first section set in 2003, Alice, a book editor in her mid-20s,
has a relationship with Ezra Blazer, a famous writer 45 years her senior. Ezra basically takes over her life and though
he heavily influences her reading, he does little to instil confidence in the
fledgling writer. In the second section
set in 2008, the narrator is Amar Ala Jaafari.
He is an Iraqi-American economist flying to Kurdistan to find his brother
Sami who has disappeared, but he is detained at Heathrow. Between interrogations, he reminisces about his
life and experiences as an immigrant with dual nationality. In the third section set in 2011, Ezra, now a
Nobel Prize laureate, is interviewed on BBC about what music he would want with
him were he to be stranded on a deserted island. In that interview he makes a comment that
links the first two parts of Asymmetry.
The mystery is why the stories of Alice and Amar belong together
despite their asymmetry. It is not
really difficult to solve the mystery.
Alice is a novice writer who lacks confidence in her ability. She dreams of living “A life of seeing, really seeing the world, and of having something
novel to say about the view,” but she worries that she cannot be cured of “the
anxiety of self-doubt.” She compares
herself to Ezra and asks, “And, hadn’t he already said everything she wanted to
say?” It seems she has tentatively started
a novel about “’War. Dictatorships. World affairs.’” and “’People more interesting
than I am,’” but has misgivings: “Alice
was starting to consider really rather seriously whether a former choirgirl
from Massachusetts might be capable of conjuring the consciousness of a Muslim
man.” Have you solved the mystery yet?
Characterization is interesting.
Alice remains very much a mystery.
Little insight into her thoughts and feelings is given. She just seems to passively let Ezra take
over her life. It is Ezra who sets the
rules for their relationship; she is at his beck and call. He constantly tells her what to read; in
fact, several long quotations from what she is reading are included so Alice
almost seems to disappear. Amar is really
Alice’s foil. He has much more
experience in the world and his tone of voice shows none of Alice’s
diffidence. His section is really a
monologue so the reader is privy to his thoughts and emotions. And then there’s Ezra. From Alice’s perspective in the novel’s first
section, he is a controlling but generous figure; in the last section which
reveals him only through his words, he is a much less appealing character. Of course, once the truth is known, the
reader’s impression of Alice also changes.
The book examines the limits of creativity. Students in creative writing classes are
always taught to write about what they know.
Halliday, however, suggests that it is possible for a writer to imagine
a life that overcomes the narrowness of one’s horizons, to “imagine a life,
indeed a consciousness, that goes some way to reduce the blind spots in our
own.” (I could not but think of Emily
Dickinson.) Writers may suffer “the
metaphysical claustrophobia and bleak fate of being always one person,” but the
novel implies that the writer’s imagination can solve this problem. Though there are limits, “someone who
imagines for a living . . . can hold her mirror up to whatever subject she
chooses, at whatever angle she likes.”
This book is very much a literary experiment. I was rather underwhelmed by the reveal at
the end since the clues are rather obvious. Asymmetry
is a book which I admired to some extent after I had read it but didn’t necessarily
enjoy while reading. Lengthy
descriptions of the roles of adrenocorticotropic hormone and cortisol in
congenital adrenal hyperplasia do not make for interesting reading. Is it necessary to read over 50 names of
people called to jury duty? I don’t mind
if a book is an intellectual puzzle but I want it also to be entertaining; I
should like it while reading and not just on reflection afterwards.
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