I got interested to read this one after attending the session called
"Afropolitans" on Day 4 of the Jaipur Literature Festival, 2012.
Writer Teju Cole was one of the 3 panelists along with Ben Okri and Taiye
Selasi. I liked the spark in his personality while he was speaking. He sounded
so clear and straightforward about everything he spoke, though he insisted that
he did not believe in everything being simple and straightforward all the time.
So, since then his Open City got into my wish list. Also, I knew that the book received the Hemingway Foundation/PEN Award, so it also added up to the attraction. From there it got into my hands as a birthday gift from one of my friends. The cover made me feel that I was about to read an intriguing suspense thriller and I got hooked to reading it. The reviews at the back cover also sounded like the ones you have for the suspense thrillers. So, I was indeed excited while reading.
The use of language was simple and lucid. The story revolves around a Julius who is an half-Nigerian, half-German from Nigeria studying and working in Manhattan as a psychiatrist. The starting few chapters seemed like a diary entry, especially the recounting of the daily life tasks and the interactions with his girl friend. I went on from one chapter to next thinking that there would be something new apart from the daily routine involving walking the streets; interactions with an Indian neighbour; few rendezvous with an aging professor; outings to galleries and flashbacks of childhood. But there was simply nothing new; except for some thrilling stuff like bugs under the bed mattress. The entire citation of those crawlers made me fetch my mattress too.
Apart from that there was one more incident in the narrative that got me involved with the book. It was the one involving Julius discovering a deed of malevolence committed in a sense of stupor when he was a teenager. His coming forth with the memory of the event which he hardly remembered gave me goose bumps for few seconds.
Though, in his book Mr. Cole was implemental in bringing out the bias that the Africans face in today's World. The way he described that people would always come up with the question of Julius's ethnicity irrespective of the circumstances of the interaction, like while treating a patient or the one when he was in a gastropub in Belgium were indeed good. I also liked the way he compared the discrimination towards people with Islamic beliefs to the ones originating from African regions. One of times when he has a discussion on the same subject with an American female physicist in Belgium was indeed phenomenal. All that confirmed my belief of Mr. Cole being the same experienced and witty person whom I heard months back.
But all in all I did not enjoy reading this one. I realized that I was more content hearing the man in person. Especially his cut throat remarks on censorship on literature. May be I need to broaden my learning and reading range. I should surely get to know after reading and reviewing the next book that Mr. Cole would come up with.
So, since then his Open City got into my wish list. Also, I knew that the book received the Hemingway Foundation/PEN Award, so it also added up to the attraction. From there it got into my hands as a birthday gift from one of my friends. The cover made me feel that I was about to read an intriguing suspense thriller and I got hooked to reading it. The reviews at the back cover also sounded like the ones you have for the suspense thrillers. So, I was indeed excited while reading.
The use of language was simple and lucid. The story revolves around a Julius who is an half-Nigerian, half-German from Nigeria studying and working in Manhattan as a psychiatrist. The starting few chapters seemed like a diary entry, especially the recounting of the daily life tasks and the interactions with his girl friend. I went on from one chapter to next thinking that there would be something new apart from the daily routine involving walking the streets; interactions with an Indian neighbour; few rendezvous with an aging professor; outings to galleries and flashbacks of childhood. But there was simply nothing new; except for some thrilling stuff like bugs under the bed mattress. The entire citation of those crawlers made me fetch my mattress too.
Apart from that there was one more incident in the narrative that got me involved with the book. It was the one involving Julius discovering a deed of malevolence committed in a sense of stupor when he was a teenager. His coming forth with the memory of the event which he hardly remembered gave me goose bumps for few seconds.
Though, in his book Mr. Cole was implemental in bringing out the bias that the Africans face in today's World. The way he described that people would always come up with the question of Julius's ethnicity irrespective of the circumstances of the interaction, like while treating a patient or the one when he was in a gastropub in Belgium were indeed good. I also liked the way he compared the discrimination towards people with Islamic beliefs to the ones originating from African regions. One of times when he has a discussion on the same subject with an American female physicist in Belgium was indeed phenomenal. All that confirmed my belief of Mr. Cole being the same experienced and witty person whom I heard months back.
But all in all I did not enjoy reading this one. I realized that I was more content hearing the man in person. Especially his cut throat remarks on censorship on literature. May be I need to broaden my learning and reading range. I should surely get to know after reading and reviewing the next book that Mr. Cole would come up with.
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| From L to R : Teju Cole, Ben Okri, Taiye Selasi |
