Open City by Teju Cole
The main character in Open City is a Nigerian psychologist who lives and works in New York City. This doctor takes a back seat to the author’s description of the places he visits around New York, however. The doctor loves to walk the streets of the city at all times of day and night. Through these walks, the reader gets to read some amazing descriptions of this wonderful place.
The author’s descriptions of the city were my favorite parts of the book. Here is a delicious example: “Each neighborhood of the city appeared to be made of a different substance, each seemed to have a different air pressure, a different psychic weight: the bright lights and shuttered shops, the housing projects and luxury hotels, the fire escapes and city parks.”
I thought this was a great visual image of the many different aspects of New York. Ultimately, Teju Cole’s book was not a thrilling page-turner. Instead, it often made me feel as if I was on a long walk with the author and the main character, reading about snippets of New York that I had seen and some that I was still seeking out.
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