Every Day Is for the Thief

In this arresting audiobook, which carries the authority of memoir while providing the insights and satisfactions of fiction, a young Nigerian doctor returns to Lagos after an absence of 15 years, wondering if he might live there again. But life in the West has changed him more than he had realized; the level of larceny and corruption considered commonplace shocks him, even though it's not really a surprise. The ambiguity of the book's genre leaves narrator Peter Jay Fernandez with subtle choices. Is he creating drama or delivering reportage? He hits it exactly right, presenting each sentence with careful attention, as if each one is illuminating his experience of the world, as it is for the protagonist. And so also for the reader. A fascinating listen. B.G. © AudioFile 2014, Portland, Maine

April 14, 2014
Novelist Cole's Open City brought him international attention, but this novel, first published in Nigeria and now currently being republished in the U.S. and the U.K., was actually his first. Set in contemporary Lagos, Nigeria, the novel follows a nameless narrator's visit to his homeland after a lengthy stay in the United States. Estranged from his mother and unemotional about his father's death, the protagonist seeks his humanity and redemption in art. Cole's crisp language captures how Lagosâthe home of numerous Internet scams and frequent power cutsâpossesses a violence that both disgusts his protagonist and fascinates him. With journalism-like objectivity, Cole by way of his narrator details a Nigeria that is violent and corrupt, but also multi-cultural and alive. This pared-down writing style comes at the cost of character development. (For example, the narrator's training as a psychiatrist is never really explored.) As a result, the novel reads more like a beautiful work of creative nonfiction. The structure is loose, a collection of observances of daily life in Lagos in which Cole presents the complexities of culture and poverty. In addition, Cole sprinkles dramatic black-and-white photos throughout the book, but it's his willingness to explore so many uncomfortable paradoxes that sears this narrative into our brains. Agent: Andrew Wylie, The Wylie Agency.