Open City in Around the World in 80 Books

Apr 21, 2011 Beverly rated it liked it

This is a 3.5 star rating for me.

My thoughts:
• 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-conscious ...more

4 likes · Like · see review

Aug 19, 2011 Patty rated it liked it

Shelves: fiction

Another contemplative rambler, a type of story that seems to be making frequent appearances in my fiction selections lately. I wonder what draws me to them so often, aside from the fact that I enjoy a contemplative ramble myself. Anyway, this is a story about a psychiatrist who walks around a lot thinking and seeing, mostly in manhattan. There is a lot of description, maybe too much for me, but I probably would have appreciated it more if it weren't describing places and things that I encounter ...more

1 like · Like · see review

Nov 02, 2012 Ra rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: nypl, african-writer

This is a rambling and musing book written in the first person, form the viewpoint of Julius, a young psychiatry practitioner, doing a residency program in New York. It is a book about New York City, about Brussels and even about Nigeria. It is about the clash of cultures and the strange delusion of being human. It is full of snapshots of people, strangers, acquaintances, girlfriends and mentors who cross the live of Julius.

If you are looking for a plot and a linear beginning, middle and ending This is a rambling and musing book written in the first person, form the viewpoint of Julius, a young psychiatry practitioner, doing a residency program in New York. It is a book about New York City, about Brussels and even about Nigeria. It is about the clash of cultures and the strange delusion of being human. It is full of snapshots of people, strangers, acquaintances, girlfriends and mentors who cross the live of Julius.

If you are looking for a plot and a linear beginning, middle and ending, then this book is confusing because it is a tale where one incident in the present calls to mind another in a distant past, and the narrative flows at the pace of leisurely wandering thoughts.

I am partial to strange reads like this one, because you often encounter your own life, or at least some images of it, drawn in one or other vignette.

For example there is a Moroccan manager of an internet cafe in Brussels who is a great example of the paradox of Arab and Muslim identity in the western world.
Then there is his remark about sanity, how do you actually know you are sane, if the mind you are judging with can actually be part of your illness.
The comment on some people - They fail to realize that they, not other people, are the common denominator in all the failed relationships.
The insight into tyrannical opposition: "The expectation that the victimized other is the one that covers the distance, that has the noble idea, is an expectation that works sometimes but only if your enemy is not a psychopath. You need an enemy with a capacity for shame. I wonder sometimes how far Gandhi would have gotten if the British had been more brutal. If they had been willing to kill masses of protesters. Dignified refusal can only take you so far. Ask the Congolese."
All of these little ideas have resonated with me on a personal level. I daresay that there will be many other different ones to resonate with other readers.

The book shows you that insight can come from the strangest of places, that people are capable of being wonderfully wise, terribly obtuse, and shamelessly callous, at different moments of their lives.

It might not be the most captivating of reads but it has many shining moment. ...more

Like · see review

Oct 19, 2021 Catherine rated it liked it

I might need some time to process this one.

I don’t need to like the characters in books. I was curious about Julius through most of the book until I was furious with him.

Reviews compare the writing to Sebald and Coetzee. I have read Austerlitz and remember nothing about it. I have not liked Coetzee, perhaps an aversion to writing that feels like toxic masculinity?

I don’t know. Need some time to think about this one, which I guess is a positive in a novel.

Like · see review

Feb 01, 2011 Erica marked it as to-read

Like