Open City by Teju Cole: A Thought-Provoking Novel of Urban Exploration

Paul: Empfehlenswert das Buch gebraucht zu kaufen, wenn man sich an Notizen des vorherigen Besitzers nicht stört. Super Zustand 👍🏻

Germany on Dec 27, 2020

Avid Reader: It's hard to fully review this book without creating spoilers, so I will keep this short and try to avoid spoilers...

The first thing that strikes you is the evocative nature of the writing - I was hooked in the early paragraphs. On first impressions what we seem to be faced with is a description of the well-written wanderings of an individual through New York. First impressions can be very deceptive. There's no real plot, at least there kind of is but it's a weak one (find grandmother) - if you want the heavily plotted novel with lots of explosions, "characters" and thrills then read Eric van Lustbader, Dan Brown, or Robert Ludlum - not this. This book is far more subtle than that.

There are so many aspects to this novel. At times you feel like the character is moving through a living body, going down into the intestines of the city and popping up in various different locations, which are magically described. There are concepts that arise throughout such as simulacrum, edifice, microcosms...I could go on...

Things move languidly to two big reveals, the first of which most people will get and is somewhat shocking. I'm not sure everyone will get the second big...

United Kingdom on Sep 23, 2019

Kein Torga: Había leído algún ensayo de Teju Cole, razón por la que me animé con esta novela.
El libro en sí carece de un argumento novelístico al uso. Julius, un nigeriano emigrado a EEUU, pasea por New York, donde reside y trabaja como psiquiatra.
Y eso es el libro: los paseos de Julius, sus reflexiones sobre lo que ve. En estas reflexiones mezcla el tiempo pasado de la cultura estadounidense, la europea y la africana, que confluyen en esa gran urbe que es Nueva York.
Sobre todo, Open City es un libro sobre el tiempo, la memoria y la identidad.
La memoria, y la supresión deliberada o no de algún recuerdo, serán fundamentales en este libro que no puedo dejar de recomendar.

Spain on Jan 21, 2018

Matteo Ludovico Vitali: Un libro scritto magistralmente, in modo semplice e in grado di approfondire in poche righe punti di vista e sensazioni del protagonista e dei personaggi che incontra sullo sfondo di una NY onirica, in preda alla crisi economica ma aperta ad accogliere le esistenze e le speranze di tutti coloro che la vivono.

Italy on Feb 09, 2016

Virginia Kast: If you happen to be into walking, you will appreciate this story. To say it is a novel in the traditional sense is a stretch. The main character walks the streets of New York City, observing, describing and bringing the city into full view to the eyes of the reader. Some of the stories and characters along the way are interesting, and in many sentences, the prose stands out and pulses with beauty.
The story wanders a lot. It gives background on the main character, but in pieces, and there doesn't seem to be a specific emphasis as to what part of the background is important to the main character. But the story fails to bring anything substantial together. It leaves one wanting the book to make a bigger point or at least underline the one it is attempting to make.

United States on Jan 20, 2016

Michelle: Open City est un grand roman parce qu'il réunit toutes sortes de qualités littéraires, écriture, style, pensée, émotion. La promenade dans la ville est un bon médium, tissée comme elle l'est avec la vie du narrateur, ses rencontres, ses voyages, intérieurs ou transcontinentaux. Les deux Marocains de Bruxelles, sous le regard du jeune Américano-nigérian, nous font toucher les problèmes actuels du monde avec beaucoup de finesse. Expériences du psychiatre, mésaventures du piéton, éducation sentimentale, culture, poésie, comédie, le mixage est parfait. Je n'ai pas lu la traduction, qui a dû s'avérer délicate, mais il est certain qu'un nouvel écrivain nous est révélé.

France on Aug 05, 2014

William Capodanno: There has been a pleasant spate of novels about American immigrants, a lot from first-time novelists, and many of them worthwhile reads. My favorite of these books is the "Beautiful Things that Heaven Bears", but I was pleasantly surprised by "Open City".

Teju Cole shows a lot of promise with his debut novel as he introduces us to a psychiatric resident, Julius, and his "meandering" through a post-9/11 NYC. Cole captures more than a recast and familiar face of NY, although we do see some of that, but brings us the city from the eyes of this complex character and his relationship with women, race, politics and death. Cole captured surprising moments of intimacy as well as moments of anger and violence with a melodic style of writing. And while the book is one of NY, some of its more powerful writing, especially the dialogue, occurs when Julius goes to Belgium to ostensibly find his grandmother. There he encounters an Arab immigrant managing a internet/phone cafe and they engage in spirited political and religous debate in the store and over meals.

"Open City" will appeal to the reader who enjoys nuance and a slower tempo, for those who enjoy the early Sunday lull of a...

United States on Apr 28, 2011

Charles Kell: If there is to be a new literature born from the influential shadow of the great W.G. Sebald (who died tragically in a car accident in 2001 at the age of 57) then Teju Cole and his enigmatic, sparkling first novel, Open City, occupies the place of inevitable heir by reaching back through the past while firmly, concretely settling itself in the present. The young Cole (he is in his mid 30s, and is also a photographer and an art historian) achieves this by eschewing traditional plot and using a preternaturally crystalline prose that both invites and calms the reader while shattering expectations of resolution and remapping and redesigning the terrain for that over-used phrase: the Great American Novel. Open City is a novel concerned with questions, not answers, and it is this questioning nature that permeates throughout, stopping to digress on such disparate topics as consumer society (ruminating on the disappearance of a Blockbuster video store), politics, classical music, relationships, books, movies, medical school, and academia.

Julius is in his early 30s and in the final year of a psychiatry fellowship at Columbia Presbyterian. He was born in Lagos to a German mother...

United States on Apr 04, 2011