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Bezig met laden... Elke dag is voor de dief (2007)door Teju Cole
Books Read in 2017 (430) Bezig met laden...
Meld je aan bij LibraryThing om erachter te komen of je dit boek goed zult vinden. Op dit moment geen Discussie gesprekken over dit boek. I only made it about halfway through this one (not enough plot for me - which I can also say about Marvels and Kingdom Come so there is a lot I'm sifting through that has too much description and too little plot; if there's no plot I'd rather be reading non-fiction) and even though it's obviously not for me I'll be forever grateful that I picked it up and came by chapter 10. The whole page is pure gold but I just have to share: "It is not clear if he is living as victoriously as Pastor Michael, who, as is well known, owns both a Rolls-Royce and a Lear-jet, praise the Lord. But who also, inexplicably, has just died. The Lord moves in mysterious ways." 3 stars is generous. A unnamed narrator returns to his native Nigeria having fled his country for the U.S. following a long, self-imposed absence. He finds a country wallowing in economic stagnation due to corruption everywhere because workers do not earn enough from jobs to survive. The story is told in a series of vignettes as the narrator travels in his former homeland. Sadly, Cole does not develop his protagonist (the narrator) enough, and what little is conveyed is done via his reconnecting with friends and family and the alienation from his mother. I liked some of the photographs he took in Nigeria, but thought they could have been better integrated with his travels.
Maybe, for Teju Cole, an eloquent writer who seems to be perfecting an on-the-move and not entirely categorizable subtype of fiction, the idea of writing a traditional novel feels about as exciting as spending a night trapped in darkness and unremitting heat. The narrator is returning to Nigeria after 15 years of absence; he left, we find out much later in the book, under a cloud, after his father's death, and after a spat with his mother. He is studying psychiatry in New York; he also aspires to be a writer. He is coming home to reconnect with the past, and to see if he wants to stay. It is through this scout's-eye view, always prospecting for a congenial and habitable environment, that the narrator appraises Lagos, and makes his judgment; and it is understandable that often the judgment is harsh. PrijzenOnderscheidingenErelijsten
"For readers of Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie and Michael Ondaatje, Every Day Is for the Thief is a wholly original work of fiction by Teju Cole, whose critically acclaimed debut, Open City, was the winner of the PEN/Hemingway Award and a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award, and was named one of the best books of the year by more than twenty publications. Fifteen years is a long time to be away from home. It feels longer still because I left under a cloud. A young Nigerian living in New York City goes home to Lagos for a short visit, finding a city both familiar and strange. In a city dense with story, the unnamed narrator moves through a mosaic of life, hoping to find inspiration for his own. He witnesses the "yahoo yahoo" diligently perpetrating email frauds from an Internet cafe, longs after a mysterious woman reading on a public bus who disembarks and disappears into a bookless crowd, and recalls the tragic fate of an eleven-year-old boy accused of stealing at a local market. Along the way, the man reconnects with old friends, a former girlfriend, and extended family, taps into the energies of Lagos life--creative, malevolent, ambiguous--and slowly begins to reconcile the profound changes that have taken place in his country and the truth about himself. In spare, precise prose that sees humanity everywhere, interwoven with original photos by the author, Every Day Is for the Thief--originally published in Nigeria in 2007--is a wholly original work of fiction. This revised and updated edition is the first version of this unique book to be made available outside Africa. You've never read a book like Every Day Is for the Thief because no one writes like Teju Cole. NAMED ONE OF THE MOST ANTICIPATED BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY The New York Times Chicago Tribune Marie Claire CNN The Huffington Post New York The Millions Time Out Chicago "Every Day Is for the Thief, by turns funny, mournful, and acerbic, offers a portrait of Nigeria in which anger, perhaps the most natural response to the often lamentable state of affairs there, is somehow muted and deflected by the author's deep engagement with the country: a profoundly disenchanted love. Teju Cole is among the most gifted writers of his generation."--Salman Rushdie "Every Day Is for the Thief is a vivid, episodic evocation of the truism that you can't go home again; but that doesn't mean you're not free to try. A return to his native Nigeria plunges Cole's charming narrator into a tempest of chaos, contradiction, and kinship in a place both endearingly familiar and unnervingly strange. The result is a tale that engages and disturbs."--Billy Collins "Every Day Is for the Thief is an amazing hybrid of a book. Imaginative, original, experimental, and sensual, this book revisits the way narrative is constructed with tenderness and style."--Chris Abani, author of Graceland "[Teju Cole] casts a spell that's hard to classify. Open City earned its author comparisons to the German writer W. G. Sebald, whose work wanders and ruminates in a similar way. Every Day Is for the Thief includes photos that Mr. Cole took in Lagos, a Sebaldian touch that is likely to keep the comparisons coming."--The New York Times"--
"Visiting Lagos after many years away, Teju Cole's unnamed narrator rediscovers his hometown as both a foreigner and a local. A young writer uncertain of what he wants to say, the man moves through tableaus of life in one of the most dynamic cities in the world: he hears the muezzin's call to prayer in the early morning light, and listens to John Coltrane during the late afternoon heat. He witnesses teenagers diligently perpetrating e-mail frauds from internet cafes, longs after a woman reading Michael Ondaatje on a public bus, and visits the impoverished National Museum. Along the way, he reconnects with old school friends and his family, who force him to ask himself profound questions of personal and national history. Over long, wandering days, the narrator compares present-day Lagos to the Lagos of his memory, and in doing so reveals changes that have taken place in himself. Just as Open City uses New York to reveal layers of the narrator's soul, in Every Day is for the Thief the complex, beautiful, generous, and corrupt city of Lagos exposes truths about our protagonist, and ourselves"-- Geen bibliotheekbeschrijvingen gevonden. |
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Google Books — Bezig met laden... GenresDewey Decimale Classificatie (DDC)823.92Literature English & Old English literatures English fiction Modern Period 2000-LC-classificatieWaarderingGemiddelde:
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Thoughts: I really enjoyed this a ton. I wasn't sure what to think going into this book. I had put it on my TBR list because it was a shorter novella audiobook I could get from the library. This was an intriguing and strangely engaging read.
The story is about a young man who is a writer in New York journeying back to his home town of Lagos, Nigeria. On his vacation there, he visits places from his childhood, old friends, and family and reflects on how Lagos has changed and how it compares to the rest of the world.
There are a lot of insightful discussions here. For example, he is especially focused on arts; fine art and music and how little of it there is because everyone is so focused on day-to-day survival. He also discusses the lack of museums and any recording of history; what is a nation without its history? Additionally, the lack of a manufacturing base and technology development means everything must be imported and people have very little understanding of the technology they do use, which has huge implications on society there.
I listened to this on audiobook and enjoyed it. It was well narrated and easy to listen to.
My Summary (4/5): Overall, I really enjoyed the wandering journey this novella took me on. I also really loved getting a closer day-to-day look at Nigeria, a country I know very little about. The writing is beautiful and the prose paints detailed and lifelike surroundings for the reader. I would highly recommend, this was very different from what I normally read but I really enjoyed it a lot. ( )