Asymmetry

How can you screw up reading a book? You read it like I did this one, which is to not go beyond the story. It's in three parts and the first part is so breezy and fun that I missed what was going on, too busy enjoying myself with the story. It's not that the second and third parts are a slog to get through; far from it. But all three parts connect in fascinating ways that aren't hard to figure out but take a little more thought and consideration than I gave them. The solution would be to read it again as many have even though they got it the first time. It's that good. I haven't done so yet but may soon.

This is such a huge “it book” that there are plenty of better reviews than mine that you can google. While I appreciated the artistry and structure, I didn’t really enjoy reading it. In fact, I was rushing through to finish it and would have missed the “nugget” towards the end if I hadn’t read other reviews beforehand.

Given the hype, a big let down. Not every book is for me. I understand that's there is some unconventional narration and some meta idea going on here. I hate to write this but I was completely uninterested in the characters. They were cardboard. It's a lot of text for no emotion. That's the issue with starting a novella about a relationship with no emotion. The gratuitous abortion scene was probably the best part.