Into The Writer’s Mind
Lisa Halliday’s debut novel, Asymmetry, won awards, ecstatic reviews and found itself on every list of the best books of 2018 list. Not every young writer gets such a welcome.
It is an in intriguing book, with two seemingly disconnected parts, and a third that is in the form of a radio broadcast.
In the first part, Folly, reportedly inspired by Halliday’s own relationship with Philip Roth, a junior twenty-something editorial assistant at a publishing house has a romance with a much older author of some stature, who is in line for the Nobel Prize. It proceeds from a simple conversation on a park bench, shared chocolate and ice cream and then progresses to a full-blown, but secret, love affair.
It is an unequal relationship, Alice, also an aspiring writer, is obviously in awe of the Ezra Blazer—he pays off her student loans, gives her gifts, suggests books for her to read (excerpts finds themselves into this book) and she brings to the table her youth and energy. He calls her on the phone, with caller id always blocked, sends her on errands and dismisses her when he wants her to leave. Despite the age difference, his experience and her naivete, there is a lot of joy in their romance—particularly in their shared passion for baseball. They have no future, however, as she would eventually tire of having a sick old man in her life.
The second part Madness, has as its protagonist, Amar, an Iraqi American economist, detained at the airport in London, on his journey to visit his brother in Kurdistan. While various officers interrogate him, he looks back on his life, his childhood, his romance with a white girl, the difference between his life in the US, and that of his brother who opted to live in unstable and violent Iraq. In a post 9/11 world, his Iraqi passport automatically makes him suspect; the way he is treated is deplorable but the officials are being ridiculously over-cautious.
The final section is a transcript of a radio interview with Ezra Blazer—who has finally won the Nobel– on a programme called Desert Island Discs, in which the writer talks about his life and tells the RJ what music he would take with him on a desert island.
The accomplishment of Halliday’s novel is the fragile connection between the three parts, and her ability to write in multiple voices. Alice wonders if she could write from the point of view of a Muslim man, and Amar’s story illustrates the power of make-believe in storytelling. Writers can be whoever they choose to be, all that is needed is imagination and perhaps, empathy—not all that easy to come by.
