A review by poetics
Known and Strange Things by Teju Cole

4.0

cole touches on a wide breadth of topics in this essay collection. from the personal to art, current cultural/socio-political events, traveling and photography; he really does have an essay for almost every topic you'd think a writer might write about. some essays were difficult for me only in that i had no reference point for what he was talking about (certain art or artists), but i still enjoyed his style of writing. cole writes in a way that is clear and easy to understand, while still leaving room for the reader to have even more questions, or the urge to seek out more information. he pulls you in to whatever is being discussed and you feel yourself becoming truly invested in the topic at hand. there were also plenty of bits that were profound in their subtly and straightforwardness. as cole said in his essay, "the white savior industrial complex", (and i'm paraphrasing) some things you need to speech about directly and plainly. call a spade, a spade as it were.

so, i will definitely be returning to this collection from time to time as there is something deeply comforting about some of his pieces, certainly the more personal ones.