- I loved this book, released in early 2018. It’s such an accomplished first novel. An absorbing dive into the nitty gritty of life in the Big Apple, and into the ugliness of the Iraq war seen through the lives of Baghdad civilians. Both stories are rich in detail.
- It sets up innumerable and meaningful contrasts - age and youth, city and country, health and sickness, sanity and stupidity (especially in politics), East and West; New York and Baghdad. We traverse the presidencies of Bush and Obama.
- Part One, ‘Folly’, portrays an absolutely delightful and intimate relationship between an ageing and highly regarded literary author, Ezra, and a young assistant editor, Alice. They are both endearing, their relationship full of wit and spark, although Ezra is quite ill in all sorts of ways. (Apparently it's all based on Halliday's real-life affair with Philip Roth).
- The War in Iraq has begun. The times are unsettling.
- Part two of the novel, ‘Madness’, is a far different beast. It focuses on Amar, his brother Sami and their parents who are Iraqi by birth and Muslim by religion. In every way ‘asymmetric’ to the New York story. They are highly educated professionals, now American citizens, but trapped in a zone of suspicion and racism. In 2008 Amar, on his way to visit relatives in Iraq, lands in London and experiences the bizzaro world of immigration detention at the airport. It's not stated, but we know why.
- Part Three: ‘Ezra Blazer’s Desert Island Discs’, a radio interview, is superb for its exposition of music and the love of it. And Ezra’s erudition is inspiring. It’s a remarkable celebration of literacy and civilisation.
- The way the three parts fit together - or even it they do at all - is at first puzzling. On reflection, and a closer reading, it becomes clearer. And it’s immensely sad.
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