Open City

Wandering. I usually have the patience to overlook the absence of plot in fiction. My patience was sorely tested by Teju Cole’s debut novel, Open City. The protagonist, Julius, is a Nigerian immigrant and graduate student studying psychiatry in New York City. The novel is an assembly of the vignettes of his dreamy wandering, mostly around NYC. Cole presents the inner thoughts of Julius and the connections he makes between what he sees now and what it reminds him of in his earlier life. Just when I started to get into the spirit of the NYC wandering, Cole jets Julius to Europe, where the wandering continues. I kept reading, but never became engaged enough to care about Julius, and I found Cole’s writing became methodical and tiresome. Read a sample to see if these vignettes will bring you reading pleasure. For me, it never clicked. Rating: Two-star (I didn’t like it) Click here to purchase Open City from amazon.com.