Asymmetry

Asymmetry, by Lisa Halliday, is like a puzzle. It has three parts, the first and last connected, with a section in the middle that has nothing to do with the other two parts. Or does it?

The first part, "Folly," concerns a young woman called Alice (certainly no coincidence) who has an affair with a much older famous writer (the gossip is that he is modeled after Philip Roth, whom Halliday did have an affair with). They meet on a street corner, sharing ice cream cones, and he asks, "Are you game?' She is, and they enter a relationship that though sexual, is more a companionship, and with parental overtones, as the writer, Ezra Blazer, buys her many things, including paying off her student loans.

This part is written in a very modern style, entirely in the present. She introduces Blazer on the telephone by the CALLER ID BLOCKED that comes up on her phone. They like to watch baseball together and she helps him with his various ailments, from a bad back to heart disease.

The two also have a witty repartee, with exchanges like: “I just killed the biggest wasp.” “I thought George Plimpton was the biggest wasp.”

The second part, "Madness," concerns an Iraqi-American, Ali, who has arrived in London but is detained, undoubtedly due to his Middle Eastern ethnicity. This section is full of flashbacks, as Ali recalls growing up in New York, his education (he's an economist) and his ex-girlfriend, and his visit to his brother in Iraq. As he sits in the detainment room, not upset, his mind wanders and he contemplates many things. Notably, there are no quotation marks for the dialogue, unlike the first part. In fact, in the first sentence of "Folly," we read: "what is the point of a book, thought Alice, that does not have any quotation marks?"

This is an interesting clue, because in the third part, a transcription of Ezra on the British radio Show "Desert Island Discs," he alludes to a young woman writing a book about a topic totally foreign to her. Is "Madness" Alice's writing? That is the scuttlebutt, anyway.

The "Desert Island Disc" section is the most fun to read, as it's short and we basically hear Philip Roth describe his life, though altered (Halliday awards him the Nobel Prize, which he never won). The book then comes around full circle, as the last line of the book is "Are you game?" I won't reveal the context.

I did like Asymmetry, but I'm not sure the praise is proportionate. The second part does bother me, as it does seem odd a white woman would write about Iraqi characters, and it isn't that compelling. Had the book been just the first and last sections, it would have been short, but would have been added to by reduction.