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pawlugrech's review
4.0
A book that, probably, I would not have read had I not spotted it in the public library but am now incredibly glad that I did such is the emotive power of the writing. This is a collection of essays by Cole that revolve around a number of themes - namely politics, photography, writing and places - that avoids the familiar downfalls of such books that can be boring or repetitive. Known and Strange Things is never the former and only rarely the latter. Instead Cole manages to write with a richness of thought and knowledge on various aspects that is often humbling; how can one individual have such a deep understanding and the ability to call up as deep a reference pool as he does? And how can he imbue into each essay such power that one often has to put down the book to let the author's thoughts and comments sink in?
This is a book with real power; of thought, conviction and expression. It is also a book that deserves to be kept in one's library to provide a reference and be re-read so as to fully appreciate its quality.
This is a book with real power; of thought, conviction and expression. It is also a book that deserves to be kept in one's library to provide a reference and be re-read so as to fully appreciate its quality.
sarahc3319's review
5.0
I can't shake the feeling this may be the best book I read all year, even though it is only the 23rd day of 2017 as I write this. The essays contained within spoke to me so clearly-- to my love of literature, my fascination with photography (even when it's clear I don't understand/see it with the same critical eye), my concern for social justice and anger about oppression and discrimination. There were curious parallels between my real life and the subject matter of the essays I read each day; nothing earth-shattering, just intriguing coincidences like reading about James Baldwin on the bus ride home from the book group meeting in which we decided to read 'The Fire Next Time'; reading about Selma, AL the week I watched the movie with the same name; reading about the four official languages of Switzerland just an hour after randomly discussing the same topic at work; reading about Naipaul the day I chose to add 'A House for Mr. Biswas' to my library queue, after hearing President Obama was a fan of Naipaul's work. (I never did like 'A Bend in the River'...) I have been thinking a lot about the essay about Palestine-- it might be the most clear and concise discussion of the reprehensible sociopolitical situation there I've yet encountered. My highest recommendation for this collection.
jpfriday's review against another edition
4.0
“There are places where the ground [...] can suddenly plunge one through into the subterranean truth of things.” Although Teju Cole mainly writes about literature and photography, this book also touches on Polish filmmakers, Swiss tourism, American activism, Instagram feeds, and the nature of memory. “The world of things never ends,” he writes in one of his essays, and he always follows this endless, everyday stream towards seas more profound. This is a book I wish I owned, because it is so exciting to read his writing, and plunge.
nhusain14's review against another edition
5.0
I thought often while reading this book the specific distance Cole holds with the things he’s writing about. He writes about terrible things, like lynchings, but doesn’t dissolve into saying, out loud, how terrible the thing is. He is able to describe the thing and convey the terribleness. It seems this ability must come either through startling levels of detachment or a very grounded yet assured place of thinking; for Cole, it’s the latter. When he writes, for example, about watching Black men and boys die by the hands of police, he doesn’t describe sadness or discomfort, he describes the much more specific feeling of intrusion, “I recognized the political importance of the videos I had seen, but it had also felt like an intrusion when I watched them: intruding on the sorrow of those for whom those deaths were much more significant, but intruding, too, on my own personal but unarticulated sense of right and wrong.” Ultimately, the effectiveness of his writing is built through the ability to accurately translate experiences into the most specific words possible.
He describes some concepts I’d like to remember: “cold violence” in reference to the use of legal bureaucracy by Israeli authorities to keep Palestinians disenfranchised in the most brutal of ways, which reminded me of populations in the States who are entrapped in cold violence by law enforcement and the FBI. And the idea of “thinking constellationally” in an essay about the well-meaning but violently shallow idea of “making a difference.”
Cole critiques Nicholas Kristof and the “white savior industrial complex,” and explains what it is to think constellationally: “His good heart does not allow him to think constellationally. He does not connect the dots or see the patterns of power behind the isolated 'disasters.' All he sees is hungry mouths, and he, in his own advocacy-by-journalism way, is putting food in those mouths as fast as he can. All he sees is need, and he sees no need to reason out the need for the need.”
Like with other writers I admire, I was struck by the connections Cole makes between what he sees and experiences and (the seemingly endless memory of) what he’s read.
He describes some concepts I’d like to remember: “cold violence” in reference to the use of legal bureaucracy by Israeli authorities to keep Palestinians disenfranchised in the most brutal of ways, which reminded me of populations in the States who are entrapped in cold violence by law enforcement and the FBI. And the idea of “thinking constellationally” in an essay about the well-meaning but violently shallow idea of “making a difference.”
Cole critiques Nicholas Kristof and the “white savior industrial complex,” and explains what it is to think constellationally: “His good heart does not allow him to think constellationally. He does not connect the dots or see the patterns of power behind the isolated 'disasters.' All he sees is hungry mouths, and he, in his own advocacy-by-journalism way, is putting food in those mouths as fast as he can. All he sees is need, and he sees no need to reason out the need for the need.”
Like with other writers I admire, I was struck by the connections Cole makes between what he sees and experiences and (the seemingly endless memory of) what he’s read.
thoughtsonbooks's review against another edition
3.0
This book was a bit difficult for me to rate. As is often the case with essay collection not every essay clicked with me but some were really outstanding.
Especially the first part dragged for me. Here Teju Cole writes about a bit about fiction and mostly about poetry. And I like poetry - but this is one area where me not being a native speaker really is a problem. I enjoy German poetry an awful lot but for some reason English poetry doesn't quite work for me. I can understand intellectually that these essays were very well done and presumably super interesting for people more familiar with the subject matter.
This was also true for the second part, where Cole talks about his other passion - photography. While I really enjoyed reading essays by someone so clearly passionate about something, sometimes I wished the photographs were depicted alongside the essay discussing them. Because this again is not really an area I know a lot about.
The last part on the other hand I loved; here Cole talks about traveling in a truly unique way. I absolutely would have loved more of those essays.
I most enjoyed his essays when they were political in some sense. Overall, I enjoyed this book a lot and I certainly learned new things while reading it.
Especially the first part dragged for me. Here Teju Cole writes about a bit about fiction and mostly about poetry. And I like poetry - but this is one area where me not being a native speaker really is a problem. I enjoy German poetry an awful lot but for some reason English poetry doesn't quite work for me. I can understand intellectually that these essays were very well done and presumably super interesting for people more familiar with the subject matter.
This was also true for the second part, where Cole talks about his other passion - photography. While I really enjoyed reading essays by someone so clearly passionate about something, sometimes I wished the photographs were depicted alongside the essay discussing them. Because this again is not really an area I know a lot about.
The last part on the other hand I loved; here Cole talks about traveling in a truly unique way. I absolutely would have loved more of those essays.
I most enjoyed his essays when they were political in some sense. Overall, I enjoyed this book a lot and I certainly learned new things while reading it.
wtb_michael's review against another edition
4.0
A big collection of Cole's essays, spanning criticism, politics, photography and everything else that takes his fancy. This would be better read in dribs and drabs I think - I binged it all down because it's due back at the library, but a bit more space between some of the essays would have given me more time to process them. As it was, some of the essays on art especially kind of ran into each other. He's a wonderful writer though - clear and engaging but super smart. The essay on the disappointments of Obama and the idea of literature as a humanising force will stick with me.
yvlie's review against another edition
5.0
This assembly of essays stretching from photography, literature, politics to film studies and art criticism is totally worth reading. I enjoyed all of them, even - or maybe especially - those dealing with topics that I have no paericular knowledge about. Teju Cole's thoughts are clear-structured and cleverly arranged, guiding you but still leaving enough space for your own evaluations. His essays made me rethink some of my everyday practices and allowed me to discover some beautiful new things (I do adore Michael Haneke now - thanks for that!). More of that please!
sabai's review against another edition
4.0
I don't always agree with his politics, but Cole's writing in this collection is rather wonderful to read.