Great African Reads discussion

Hello everyone,

my deepest apologies for being late setting up the discussion thread. Teju Cole is quite well known now and has a beautiful website, so instead of introducing him, I'd like to just point you there

Happy reading and I can't wait to hear your thoughts! I'll be starting the book in the coming week, I hope.

Hi everyone! I've just joined this wonderful group and am excited to start "Open City"! I just wanted to ask if there is a date you aim to finish the book by or if members just begin to post as they finish reading (or as they go along)? Thanks!

Marieke wrote: "Hello everyone,

my deepest apologies for being late setting up the discussion thread. Teju Cole is quite well known now and has a beautiful website, so instead of introducing him, I'd like to just..."

Thanks for setting up the discussion thread. I also will be starting the book this week (once the US college basketball games are over).

Siobhan wrote: "Hi everyone! I've just joined this wonderful group and am excited to start "Open City"! I just wanted to ask if there is a date you aim to finish the book by or if members just begin to post as the..."

Hi Siobhan, we are rather casual here, so we usually chat as we go along. we also keep threads open, so even though this is the book for April, we can certainly keep discussing it.

Beverly wrote: "Thanks for setting up the discussion thread. I also will be starting the book this week (once the US college basketball games are over). "

are the finals this weekend? i'm so out of it! baseball season started and the hockey season is approaching play-off time, you see. ;)

I also only joined recently and will receive Open City from my library on 15.04.

Indeed Beverly, I am a graduate of Indiana so it was over for me awhile ago, but I was happy to see Rick Pitino and Louisville win this year, but there are only 9 games left in regular NBA season play before my playoff drama! ;)

Also, I've found several Teju Cole websites, which is the "official" one?

Well...the one I linked to is copyright Teju Cole and seems up to date, but I could also check his twitter profile to see if he links to a particular website.

The one he lists in his twitter profile is the same as the one I linked to above, so I'd go with that one as the official one.

Thanks so much! The twitter linked site is where I've spent the most time so far!

Not really on the topic of Open City, but rather related to Teju Cole. He does some really wonderful short tweets, which are really short stories. Do take a look.

I read Open City not that long ago, for the book club I belong to. I liked it, though it doesn't seem to have much of a plot, but is rather a series of different vignettes. Plus of course descriptions of New York, and other places. Many of us didn't really like the main character, but admitted that the writing was well done overall.

unfortunately the library at work wasn't able to locate the copy i requested, so i still haven't started. :(

nina, i enjoy his tweets too. i follow him on twitter and check regularly. :)

i'm going to see if my public library has an electronic copy...

I know I have gotten a late start to reading Open City but just wanted to drop in and say - I have started and I am enjoying - maybe because I am also a walker and enjoy allowing my mind to wander and mediate over thoughts/events/passing scenery.

I finished Part 1 this morning. I'm really enjoying it but also feeling strangely about how well it coincides with Boston marathon events...immigrant cultures, identity, integration, shared values. This aspect of the book becomes more apparent during the narrator's trip to Belgium.

I really like how he is weaving memories, reflections, conversations into a reasonably cohesive story.

i finished...i liked it but i didnt think the scene with Moji on the balcony worked...does anyone else have thoughts on that scene or anything else in the book?

i didnt write a review yet...still thinking about it...

I finished just now and I noticed that birds were talked about in the book a bit and a bird is also on the cover as well. Just found that a bit interesting.

i'm working on a Pinterest page for the book and it's helping me notice things i didn't notice the first time through. birds included!

Marieke wrote: "i'm working on a Pinterest page for the book and it's helping me notice things i didn't notice the first time through. birds included!"

Very nice!

Addy wrote: "I finished just now and I noticed that birds were talked about in the book a bit and a bird is also on the cover as well. Just found that a bit interesting."

Yes, I too am enjoying the references to the birds.

I've just finished Open City, I took my time with it. I am a native New Yorker and live here still so I feel a special kinship with the work because I can relate to the physical setting so viscerally and immediately. I'm not sure if that is a help or a hindrance in reading the book however. I was deeply moved, and found it profound and important, deceptively quiet but tremendously insightful. I wish I had fresher eyes perhaps to take in his surroundings because my familiarity with the NY geography at least may have led to a misplaced sense of complacency on my part which should not have been there....am anxious to hear what others thought. I appreciated Julian's (or Mr. Cole's) honest narration....I am thinking in particular of the immigration/detention center near JFK visiting scene in which Julian visits with an African detainee named Saidu...But I won't say more in deference to those still reading....suffice to say I admired greatly his skill of writing such a reflective novel without a self aggrandizing narrator

So... I'm really hesitant to comment, because I really didn't like this book; however, I did find it worth while to read.

What I did like: I think Mr. Cole writes well and I found his writing very accessible. I really enjoyed reading the words themselves. The book reads much like a memoir and Mr. Cole writes a believable character with some dimension. I found Julius' interactions with Seydou, Farouq and Khalil to be very compelling and would have liked to seen that story developed more.

What I didn't like: I had absolutely no empathy with the main character, Julius. Also, I found the descriptions of Julius' travels to be very repetitive and often lost interest. I didn't get any flow between the various scenes. For me the book was almost like a collection of short stories with a very loose thread of connection.

One thing I wondered is if Mr. Cole was at all inspired by the 20th C existential movement? At times I thought the loneliness (and aimlessness?) of Julius reminded me of characters in a Camus or Sartre novel.

Again, I did find the book to be a worth while read and I'll certainly keep my eyes open for further books from Mr. Cole.

Matt, I think it's better when people react differently to a book!

I really liked this book, much more than I was expecting to, in fact. But I can definitely see the things that you didn't like; they just didn't bother me, although they could have.

Camus...that's interesting. I can see that. I've been reading Proust this year and I think there is a strong Proust influence as well, which was interesting to me and which I would never had noticed if I had read this before taking a stab at Proust.

I have such mixed feelings about this book. I rated it a 3, a few things bothered me which prevented a 4 rating

-I enjoyed Mr Cole's writing style/content/premise - Cole's descriptive writing made me feel as if I was walking by his side on a detailed walking tour of NYC
-The dialog/subject matter within the various "vignettes" was piercing at times

What made it a 3 for me
-Symbolism of birds - couldn't figure out
-Julius was too much of a spectator, not enough participation I felt he was a psychiatrist 24/7 and the people, places and events were treated as a patient, analyzed. He's too quiet, aloof. Would have loved to hear more of his voice
-Moji balcony incident was brushed over, didn't care for this. Serious accusation should be addressed
-Ending was ok but would make more sense and tie every thing together if the continual bird/birds reference was made clear.

Good book all in all, just not great in my eyes. Would definitely read more of Cole's work for sure!

I know I am very late with commenting. I actually finished about two weeks ago and if I had to write a review of this book I would find it hard to do.

Here are my thoughts on the book:
• After reading there were some things I liked about this book and other things I did not like – but I could see why this book was on so many ‘best book’ lists as prose was beautifully descriptive, the topics were timely and varies, and the stream-of-consciousness format was done well. But despite this – the book will not end up on my ‘best book’ list.
• It took me longer than I anticipated to read this book – it could have been the stream-of-consciousness format (which is not my fav) but most likely it was because of the topics/events discussed caused be to pause and to think about my reaction to them. I think you could have picked any of the topics/events presented by the narrator and had lively book discussion group.
• As a long-time walker I could relate to the narrator’s need to walk – how meditative a walk can be, and how the mind wanders thinking about what happened in your day, how to resolve problems, reflecting about on past events, and how certain environmental landmarks can trigger these thoughts.
• I did not find the narrator, Julius very likable and many times thought he was need of his own psychiatry services. But, really developed a dislike for him at the end of the book when he casually dismissed a despicable act from his past and pretended as if it was nothing. Glad this revelation came at the book end and dismissed any compassion I had for him.