A young woman called Alice who works as an editor at a New York City publishing house meets renowned novelist Ezra Blazer in the park and soon begins a May – December romance. Thus begins the first part of Lisa Halliday’s debut novel Asymmetry.
The timing of this story couldn’t be better. Post Weinstein and in the era of #metoo, the author’s exploration of a relationship where the participants are far from equal and where the older, more experienced, richer and more powerful male calls all the shots couldn’t be more prescient. Ms Halliday clearly shows the asymmetry in Ezra and Alice’s relationship as it develops. Ezra calls Alice when he wants to see her. He tells her when to go home. He tells her what to wear, what to read. He makes her keep their relationship secret, introducing her as an assistant when he meets some of his friends.
It’s not all one sided though. Alice learns a lot about life and herself at Ezra’s side and Ezra pays off her college debt and teaches her how to really write although she wonders if she could ever truly lose herself to write from the viewpoint of someone who was different to her in every way.
Ezra’s advanced years bring many health problems and it is only when the author explores this aspect of their lives that the power seems to move in Alice’s favour.
The second part of the book takes us to Heathrow Airport where an Iraqi-American Muslim is detained while trying to pass through en route to visiting his doctor brother in Kurdistan. We are told Amar’s story in flashback and are shown how his family struggled with fitting in to America, a country to different to everything they have known before. Again, the author plays with themes of inequality and the economic, cultural and religious differences not only between America and Iraq, but also between Amar as a westernized Iraqi and the traditions of his family.
The final and shortest part of the book is a transcript of an episode of Desert Island Discs. Kirsty Young, although not named, fairly leaps off the page.
No doubt some of the first part of the book is semi-autobiographical. Halliday had a relationship with Phillip Roth when she worked as an editor in her 20s. I’m not worried that the author will have to mine her personal experiences for further books as part two is totally outwith her direct experience and reads perfectly believably.
Asymmetry is astonishingly good. The more I think about this book, the more I find in it to think about. Definitely a book to stay with me.
I apologise for the poor writing in this review but I’m in the middle of a fibroflare and suffering from good old fibro fog. This book is excellent. Highly recommended.
I received a copy of this book from the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.
Jake, a therapist, is newly married to Alice, a former rock chic turned lawyer. One of their wedding gifts is an invitation to join The Pact, a cult like group that promotes life-long marriage. Sounds innocuous enough , doesn’t it? But there is a manual, a long and very complicated manual, which sets out hundreds of rules and the consequences of breaking them. And if you change your mind about joining and want out, you may just find that the door has slammed shut behind you. 
I have been a Craig Robertson fan since his debut novel Random. His new book, The Photographer, is up to his usual high standard.
I know we’re not yet done with January, but 2018 will have to pull something out the hat to push Mrs Hancock and The Mermaid off my favourite book of the year spot. This debut novel by Imogen Hermes Gower really does live up to all the hype you may have heard. 
If you like good old fashioned horror like that of Stephen King, if you loved Stand By Me, If you religiously watched Stranger Things, then The Sacrifice Box is your next must read. 
I really enjoyed The Loney and had high hopes for Andrew Michael Hurley’s follow up, Devil’s Day. I can honestly say this was my favourite horror novel of 2017.
I love fiction where I learn something new. Birdsong was one such, where I learned about miners being used to create tunnels for the troops in occupied France. Manhattan Beach by Jennifer Egan is another. 
When I was a little girl we used chalk to mark out beds to play peever on – hopscotch, for non-Scots. Sometimes we’d use them to draw pictures, the braver among us describing an approximation of male genitalia on the hot summer pavements of Glasgow. In The Chalk Man, a group of disparate friends use chalk figures to send messages to each other. Lets meet at the park, see you in the woods.
I picked up this book to read because of the author. I had read and loved NOS4R2, Heart Shaped Box, The Fireman, and was looking forward to reading his new novel. I soon realised, however, that rather than a full length novel, this book was a collection of 4 novellas, all connected with the theme of Strange Weather. 
Literature is full of less than conventional families. One such recent book was My Absolute Beauty, a book that enthralled and disturbed in equal measure. Add to this list Elmet, and the story of Daniel who is heading north, looking for someone important. 
Next book, please! 