Asymmetry by Lisa Hallifay
Sometimes, books have “reading group” questions at the back, and most of the time, I don’t know about these sections until I get to the back of the book. This is one of those books where I wish I’d read the questions before going into it. They’re a little spoilery, but they would have given my brain something better to chew on than the things it did chew on while I tried to figure out this book. I would say it’s a good book, well […]
Asymmetry by Lisa Halliday
I kind of wanted to claim this one as “The Collection” but it’s only three stories and two of them are connected, so that felt like cheating. Much like I felt cheated out of a good time reading this book. I think I’ve just got too much going on in my life and all I want are engaging, easy reads. Or even just engaging. So, Asymmetry. Makes kind of sense. There are three stories in here but one of them is fifty perfect of the book. […]
Asymmetry by Lisa Halliday
A friend of mine gave me her copy of Asymmetry (2018) by Lisa Halliday. She said that it was hard to describe, but well written and very interesting. I was intrigued, and then I saw that it was also on NPR’s Best Books of 2018 (as well as many other “best of” lists with tons of critical praise). All of that was more than enough to make me start reading. I thought Asymmetry was very well-written, insightful, and unique. If I’d had it in the Kindle version, I would have highlighted […]
Asymmetry by Lisa Halliday
This book reminded me closely of Jennifer Egan’s A Visit from the Goon squad. For one, it’s about a familiar figure rendered on the page in the guise of a set of literary tropes. Two, it plays around with reader expectations on plot and form. Three, I was repeatedly told how great it was. Four, I didn’t think it was, actually. Five, I felt fooled by reviews. I was reminded in an odd way of Flaubert’s Dictionary of Accepted Ideas here; this was not because […]
