Every Day is for the Thief

Teju Cole’s novel “Open City” about a Nigerian psychiatrist-in-training in New York was met with critical acclaim. This book is a revised edition of a book first published in Nigeria in 2007. It is about the author’s month long stay in Nigeria meeting with old friends and relatives after years in the US. Son of a long-dead Nigerian father and a long-departed American mother, returning to his birthplace Lagos was bound to be confrontational and dramatic.
As in “Open City” TC is essentially a loner given to walkabouts. In Lagos this is fraught with risk because it is a city full of despair and danger, with home invasions, street robberies, car and truck hijacks, so walking safely requires a certain body language to deter one from becoming a target. Many things astound him: its general decay, any business and the rich relying on generators in an oil-rich, but dirt-poor country, the criminal use of internet cafés, its all-pervading culture of graft and corruption in government and Nigeria’s indifference to its history.
Seeing his old friends again was not very uplifting either and TC views the success of the Pentecostal faith as another unwelcome import: after secondhand cars, clothes, airplanes he cringes to see the appeal and success of its secondhand message. Is there nothing positive to report about? TC did find a few rays of hope, but they are for other readers to discover. Otherwise, sobering, erudite re music and literature and very well written.

Geschreven bij Every Day Is for the Thief

Teju Cole’s novel “Open City” about a Nigerian psychiatrist-in-training in New York was met with critical acclaim. This book is a revised edition of a book first published in Nigeria in 2007. It is about the author’s month long stay in Nigeria meeting with old friends and relatives after years in the US. Son of a long-dead Nigerian father and a long-departed American mother, returning to his birthplace Lagos was bound to be confrontational and dramatic.
As in “Open City” TC is essentially a loner given to walkabouts. In Lagos this is fraught with risk because it is a city full of despair and danger, with home invasions, street robberies, car and truck hijacks, so walking safely requires a certain body language to deter one from becoming a target. Many things astound him: its general decay, any business and the rich relying on generators in an oil-rich, but dirt-poor country, the criminal use of internet cafés, its all-pervading culture of graft and corruption in government and Nigeria’s indifference to its history.
Seeing his old friends again was not very uplifting either and TC views the success of the Pentecostal faith as another unwelcome import: after secondhand cars, clothes, airplanes he cringes to see the appeal and success of its secondhand message. Is there nothing positive to report about? TC did find a few rays of hope, but they are for other readers to discover. Otherwise, sobering, erudite re music and literature and very well written.

Geschreven bij Every Day Is For The Thief

Dit boek is een portret van het terugkeren naar jaren weg te zijn geweest. Hoe je zelf verandert door weg te gaan, maar hoe je land ook verandert. Maar toch blijft er iets hetzelfde. Hoe je eigen herinneringen je kunnen verraden. Een zeer persoonlijk essay, boek.

Geschreven bij Every Day Is For The Thief

Leuk boek dat je inzicht geeft over hoe het er aan toe gaat in het dagelijks leven in een grote stad in Nigeria. Hoofdpersoon komt er achter hoe weinig cultural heritage er nog maar over is in het land waar hij is opgegroeid. interessante observaties, maar maakt hem ook wel wat onrealistisch en snobistisch in zijn opvatttingen.

Leuk boek!