Open City

This is one of those journey of life stories that all of a sudden... BOOM, surprise, totally unexpected.  The book, Open City by Teju Cole, is the story of Julius, an immigrant to the US from Nigeria.  Julius is in graduate school at a local NY hospital, Columbia, studying psychiatry.  The story moves from current day, to his childhood, to his travels around the world.  In each of these times in his life, Julius is searching to find answers to life, make friends, and finish his education.  Much of the book captures Julius’s walks throughout NYC from Wall Street to the parks to uptown, and around the world.  He constantly engages with others to hear their perspectives on life.    At times I wondered, where it would move away from Julius’s chats with the mailman, the homeless person, or the person running the internet café, or if there would be any change that would impact Julius.  A mystery woman, whom he meets in the grocery store introduces herself to Julius, as a former acquaintance, the sister of a former best-friend.   Julius doesn’t remember the woman.  She goes into further detail about attending a party together, still Julius doesn’t remember.  She offers to stay in touch, hoping that she can invite him to meet her boyfriend.  This person will become a critical focus near the end of the book and it may actually have direct impact on his own understanding of impact – that which he has on others.  I won’t give the ending away, but will say it leaves the reader wondering are all of my actions, words and deeds, things that make me happy with whom I am?  On another note, the challenges of being an immigrant are real and we are once again reminded of how the US is not the most welcoming country for those seeking that “Dream” that is often mentioned about America.  What makes this country great is the opportunity to do anything you can dream, but it is not often attainable when means, language barriers, and discrimination raises its ugly head.  There is a lot to like about the book.  I left it being completely uncomfortable.  Hard to say whether I truly enjoyed reading it or not.  But if the goal of a book is to leave you thinking, yes this one did and still does.