A review by matthewkeating
Tremor by Teju Cole

5.0

An excellent, somewhat mercurial novel brimming with compassion and dignity. Tremor follows Tunde, a writer and photographer who teaches at Harvard, and recounts his thoughts and observations across eight sections, mostly about art, music, the violence that underlies so much western art, and racism. (This is about as plotless as a novel can get, something I enjoy.) The most exciting part of the novel is the structural twists and turns it takes—nominally in third person, the novel switches perspectives to that of Tunde’s wife, Sadako, a few times; the first sections of the novel are also haunted by a friend of Tunde’s who recently passed away, referred to sometimes as “you,” as if the text is written as a letter. In the middle, the structure starts to fracture—one of the sections is the content of a talk Tunde gives at a museum as heard by the audience, and a virtuoso polyphonic section that follows that one, one that I don’t want to say too much about because I think it’s an incredible experience. The way subtle connections pile up in the background seems haunted by Sebald and has a bit of the Rachel Cusk of Outline in it, but Tremor is a thoroughly unique novel. One of my favorites this year. I haven’t read Cole before and am very eager to read his other novels.