Scan barcode
A review by booksillremember
Tremor by Teju Cole
informative
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.5
It’s an intellectual book with an intellectual main character, for an intellectual audience. There are glimpses of self-awareness regarding privilege and social inequality, but overall they feel tokenistic, same as the queer representation. It’s almost like the Harvard ‘social justice’ campus bubble isn’t the best space for leftist writing and discourse…
There’s very little ‘show, don’t tell’. We spend most of our time inside the main character’s head, and while his musings are informative, they are not as fascinating as he seems to think they are. The constant name-dropping feels like elitist signalling to an in-group - it’s not approachable/accessible to most people who aren’t college educated.
Maybe this book is incredibly self-ironic and it went over my head, but it felt pretty sincere to me (and I prefer sincerity anyway).
Positives: I thought the relationship between Tunde and Sadako was gentle, mature, and well written. Also Chapters 6 and 7 were interesting (short slice-of-life vignettes set in Lagos). I would read a whole book with those characters – and if you feel the same, I recommend God's Children are Little Broken Things by Arinze Ifeakandu.
There’s very little ‘show, don’t tell’. We spend most of our time inside the main character’s head, and while his musings are informative, they are not as fascinating as he seems to think they are. The constant name-dropping feels like elitist signalling to an in-group - it’s not approachable/accessible to most people who aren’t college educated.
Maybe this book is incredibly self-ironic and it went over my head, but it felt pretty sincere to me (and I prefer sincerity anyway).
Positives: I thought the relationship between Tunde and Sadako was gentle, mature, and well written. Also Chapters 6 and 7 were interesting (short slice-of-life vignettes set in Lagos). I would read a whole book with those characters – and if you feel the same, I recommend God's Children are Little Broken Things by Arinze Ifeakandu.