Björn recenserade Known and strange things av Teju Cole
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4 stjärnor
Teju Cole is one of those authors who make me feel inadequate; what he does seems so simple that you think you could do it yourself (albeit not exactly the same, different lives and all that) but you know you couldn't. He's ridiculously well-read (-watched, -travelled, -listened) and uses it, putting it all together into patterns with the greatest of ease.
Known and Strange Things is divided into three headings: books, images, travel. As with all essay collections, the trouble is that he's going to be talking about books I haven't read, phootographers I'm not familiar with, places I haven't been... but that's only a problem if that's all he talks about, and he rarely does. He uses them as jumping-off points to discuss everything from race relations (as an African American as opposed to an African-American) to the narrative of Google Image Search, from awkward dinner parties with VS …
Teju Cole is one of those authors who make me feel inadequate; what he does seems so simple that you think you could do it yourself (albeit not exactly the same, different lives and all that) but you know you couldn't. He's ridiculously well-read (-watched, -travelled, -listened) and uses it, putting it all together into patterns with the greatest of ease.
Known and Strange Things is divided into three headings: books, images, travel. As with all essay collections, the trouble is that he's going to be talking about books I haven't read, phootographers I'm not familiar with, places I haven't been... but that's only a problem if that's all he talks about, and he rarely does. He uses them as jumping-off points to discuss everything from race relations (as an African American as opposed to an African-American) to the narrative of Google Image Search, from awkward dinner parties with VS Naipaul to hilarious takedowns of modern journalism.
I miss Cole on Twitter, and I really hope he has another 20 novels or so in him. But for now, this'll do quite nicely.