Open City: Teju Cole - Softcover

Cole, Teju

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0571279430 ISBN 13: 9780571279432

Publisher: Faber & Faber, 2012

Synopsis

'The past, if there is such a thing, is mostly empty space, great expanses of nothing, in which significant persons and events float. Nigeria was like that for me: mostly forgotten, except for those few things that I remembered with outsize intensity.'

Along the streets of Manhattan, a young Nigerian doctor doing his residency wanders aimlessly. The walks meet a need for Julius: they are a release from the tightly regulated mental environment of work, and they give him the opportunity to process his relationships, his recent breakup with his girlfriend, his present, his past. Though he is navigating the busy parts of town, the impression of countless faces does nothing to assuage his feelings of isolation. But it is not only a physical landscape he covers; Julius crisscrosses social territory as well, encountering people from different cultures and classes who will provide insight on his journey-which takes him to Brussels, to the Nigeria of his youth, and into the most unrecognizable facets of his own soul.

A haunting novel about national identity, race, liberty, loss, dislocation, and surrender, Teju Cole's Open City seethes with intelligence. Written in a clear, rhythmic voice that lingers, this book is a mature, profound work by an important new author who has much to say about our world.

About this title

Review:

'My favourite novel of the year, dreamlike and meandering, like the best of WG Sebald.' --Alain de Botton, New Statesman

'A character study of exquisite subtlety and sophistication. It is a debut of enormous promise.' --Independent on Sunday

'Open City exhibits the focus, timelessness and unobtrusive wit that its narrator admires in great painting. An exhilarating post-melting-pot novel, it delves into unexcavated histories, erasures and the bones beneath us. It marvels at the stories we contain, capturing new realities where identity is a fluid mix of inheritance, memory and fiction. A hopeful, affirming book, it depicts the world's vastness and reminds us that we all have a place . . . With breathtaking intelligence and originality, Teju Cole organises his novel to push against formal and national boundaries. As the tenth anniversary of 9/11 approaches, Open City successfully reckons with its impact and points the way ahead.' --Max Liu, Independent

'A work of great originality, sophistication and - a precious rarity in first novels these days - brevity' --Independent on Sunday Books of the Year

'A strikingly Sebaldian novel that managed to step out of the shadow of its influences to create a powerfully original and tightly controlled prose. The future, I think.' -- Alex Preston, New Statesman

'Magnificent first novel ... the narrator is a solitary peripatetic, ruminative and wholly unforgettable.' -- Jonathan Derbyshire, New Statesman

'A Sebaldesque wander through New York.' --Hari Kunzru, Guardian

'Immensely wide-ranging and ambitious.' William Dalrymple, Herald

'[Allows] individuals rather than concepts to define the passage of its fiction ... Through Cole's lucid writing style, the reader fully inhabits the complicated, contradictory yet fully convincing world of Julius ... a masterly exploration of the gap between how we see ourselves and how the world sees us. It takes confidence - courage, even - for a writer to attempt to explore this territory. Cole passes the test with aplomb.' -- Akin Ajayi, TLS

'An unusual accomplishment. A precise and poetic meditation on love, race, identity, friendship, memory, dislocation and Manhattan bird life.' --The Economist

'A strikingly Sebaldian novel that managed to step out of the shadow of its influences to create a powerfully original and tightly controlled prose. The future, I think.' -- Alex Preston, New Statesman

'Magnificent first novel ... the narrator is a solitary peripatetic, ruminative and wholly unforgettable.' -- Jonathan Derbyshire, New Statesman

'A Sebaldesque wander through New York.' --Hari Kunzru, Guardian

'Immensely wide-ranging and ambitious.' William Dalrymple, Herald

'[Allows] individuals rather than concepts to define the passage of its fiction ... Through Cole's lucid writing style, the reader fully inhabits the complicated, contradictory yet fully convincing world of Julius ... a masterly exploration of the gap between how we see ourselves and how the world sees us. It takes confidence - courage, even - for a writer to attempt to explore this territory. Cole passes the test with aplomb.' -- Akin Ajayi, TLS

'An unusual accomplishment. A precise and poetic meditation on love, race, identity, friendship, memory, dislocation and Manhattan bird life.' --The Economist

Book Description:

Open City by Teju Cole is a stunning and acclaimed debut novel following a young man's journey from Nigeria to Manhattan.

About this edition

• Publisher: Faber & Faber
• Publication date: 2012
• ISBN 10: 0571279430
• ISBN 13: 9780571279432
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 272