u003cbu003eA u003ciu003eTIMEu003c/iu003e and u003ciu003eNEW YORK TIMESu003c/iu003e TOP 10 BOOK of the YEAR * u003ciu003eNew York Timesu003c/iu003e Notable Book and u003ciu003eTimesu003c/iu003e Critic’s Top Book of 2018u003c/bu003eu003cbru003e u003cbru003eu003cbu003eNAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF 2018 BY * u003ciu003eElleu003c/iu003e * u003ciu003eBustleu003c/iu003e * u003ciu003eKirkus Reviewsu003c/iu003e * u003ciu003eLit Hubu003c/iu003e* NPR * u003ciu003eO, The Oprah Magazineu003c/iu003e * u003ciu003eShelf Awarenessu003c/iu003eu003c/bu003eu003cbru003e u003cbru003eu003cbu003eThe bestselling and critically acclaimed debut novel by Lisa Halliday, hailed asu003c/bu003e u003cbu003e“extraordinary” by u003ciu003eTheu003c/iu003e u003ciu003eNew York Timesu003c/iu003e, “a brilliant and complex examination of power dynamics in love and war” by u003ciu003eThe Wall Street Journalu003c/iu003e, and “a literary phenomenon” by u003ciu003eThe New Yorker.u003c/iu003eu003c/bu003eu003cbru003eu003cbru003eTold in three distinct and uniquely compelling sections, u003ciu003eAsymmetryu003c/iu003e explores the imbalances that spark and sustain many of our most dramatic human relations: inequities in age, power, talent, wealth, fame, geography, and justice. The first section, “Folly,” tells the story of Alice, a young American editor, and her relationship with the famous and much older writer Ezra Blazer. A tender and exquisite account of an unexpected romance that takes place in New York during the early years of the Iraq War, “Folly” also suggests an aspiring novelist’s coming-of-age. By contrast, “Madness” is narrated by Amar, an Iraqi-American man who, on his way to visit his brother in Kurdistan, is detained by immigration officers and spends the last weekend of 2008 in a holding room in Heathrow. These two seemingly disparate stories gain resonance as their perspectives interact and overlap, with yet new implications for their relationship revealed in an unexpected coda.u003cbru003e u003cbru003eA stunning debut from a rising literary star, u003ciu003eAsymmetryu003c/iu003e is “a transgressive roman a clef, a novel of ideas, and a politically engaged work of metafiction” (u003ciu003eThe New York Times Book Reviewu003c/iu003e), and a “masterpiece” in the original sense of the word” (u003ciu003eThe Atlanticu003c/iu003e). Lisa Halliday’s novel will captivate any reader with while also posing arresting questions about the very nature of fiction itself.
