Open City

Author(s): Teju Cole

Fiction | Bookshop Favourites

A New York Times Notable Book - One of the ten top novels of the year --Time and NPR NAMED A BEST BOOK ON MORE THAN TWENTY END-OF-THE-YEAR LISTS, INCLUDING The New Yorker - The Atlantic - The Economist - Newsweek/The Daily Beast - The New Republic - New York Daily News - Los Angeles Times - The Boston Globe - The Seattle Times - Minneapolis Star Tribune - GQ - Salon - Slate - New York magazine - The Week - The Kansas City Star - Kirkus Reviews   A haunting novel about identity, dislocation, and history, Teju Cole's Open City is a profound work by an important new author who has much to say about our country and our world.   Along the streets of Manhattan, a young Nigerian doctor named Julius wanders, reflecting on his relationships, his recent breakup with his girlfriend, his present, his past. He encounters people from different cultures and classes who will provide insight on his journey--which takes him to Brussels, to the Nigeria of his youth, and into the most unrecognizable facets of his own soul.   " A] prismatic debut . . . beautiful, subtle, and] original."--The New Yorker   "A psychological hand grenade."--The Atlantic   "Magnificent . . . a remarkably resonant feat of prose."--The Seattle Times   "A precise and poetic meditation on love, race, identity, friendship, memory, and] dislocation."--The Economist


Product Information

A stunning and acclaimed debut novel following a young man's journey from Nigeria to Manhattan.

Winner of the Hemingway Foundation/PEN Award for a distinguished first book of fiction Finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award " ""Reminiscent of the works of W.G. Sebald, this dreamy, incantatory debut was the most beautiful novel I read this year--the kind of book that remains on your nightstand long after you finish so that you can continue dipping in occasionally as a nighttime consolation." -Ruth Franklin, "The New Republic" "A psychological hand grenade." -Alexis Madrigal, "The Atlantic," Best Books I Read This Year "A meditative and startlingly clear-eyed first novel." -"Newsweek"/Daily Beast Writers' Favorite Books 2011 "This year, literary discovery came, for me, in the form of Teju Cole's debut novel, "Open City," a deceptively meandering first-person narrative about a Nigerian psychiatry resident in New York. The bonhomous flaneur who strolls Manhattan from top to bottom, reveals, in the course of his walking meditations, both more about the city and about himself than we - or indeed he - could possibly anticipate. Cole writes beautifully; his protagonist is unique; and his novel, utterly thrilling." -Clare Messud in the" Globe and Mail" "On the surface, the story of a young, foreign psychiatry resident in post-9/11 New York City who searches for the soul of the city by losing himself in extended strolls around teeming Manhattan. But it's really a story about a lost nation struggling to regain a sense of direction after that shattering, disorienting day 10 years ago. A quiet, lyrical and profound piece of writing." -"Seattle Times," 32 of the Year's Best Books "[Open City is] lean and mean and bristles with intelligence. The multi-culti characters and streets of New York are sharply observed and feel just right...Toward the end, there's a poignant, unexpected scene in a tailor's shop that's an absolute knockout." -Jessica Hagedorn, author of Toxicology in Salon.com "Writers choose their

Teju Cole was raised in Nigeria and came to the United States in 1992. He is a writer, photographer, and professional historian of early Netherlandish art. Open City is his first novel. He lives in New York City.

General Fields

  • : 9780571279432
  • : Faber & Faber
  • : Faber & Faber
  • : 0.212
  • : January 2012
  • : 197mm X 128mm X 17mm
  • : United Kingdom
  • : March 2012
  • : books

Special Fields

  • : Teju Cole
  • : Paperback
  • : English
  • : 813.6
  • : very good
  • : 272
  • : FA