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Every Day Is for the Thief: Fiction Hardcover – Deckle Edge, March 25, 2014

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Teju Cole (Author)
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4.2 out of 5 stars 91 customer reviews
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Product Details

  • Hardcover: 176 pages
  • Publisher: Random House; First Edition edition (March 25, 2014)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 0812995783
  • ISBN-13: 978-0812995787
  • Product Dimensions: 5.9 x 0.8 x 8.5 inches
  • Shipping Weight: 12 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
  • Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (91 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #676,991 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Top Customer Reviews

3.0 out of 5 starsA Question of Style
By Gregory Baird VINE VOICE on May 9, 2014
Format: Hardcover Vine Customer Review of Free Product ( What's this? )
Teju Cole has a novelistic style unlike many other fiction writers out there today. I guess whether or not you enjoy his work comes down to how you respond to that style. Because here's the thing: nothing happens in terms of plot. That is true of both of Cole's novels so far: Open City and Every Day Is for the Thief. In Open City, I couldn't abide the meandering style and the sense that none of what was happening was going to lead to anything. EDIFTT works better, but ultimately falls victim to the same trap. There's an actual pretense to this book that was lacking in Open City. This one has a narrator returning to his native Nigeria following a long, self-imposed absence, which automatically provides the reader with a framework for everything to follow (Open City was simply about a Nigerian ex-pat taking long walks and pondering numerous things that don't tie together). The thing is, Cole steadfastly refuses to develop this premise any further. We get some details about the narrator as the pages progress, but he never becomes more than a cypher. The story, such as it is, instead takes the form of little vignettes as the narrator travels his former homeland and observes. The problem is that each vignette is essentially illustrating the same exact point: that Nigeria is riddled with corruption.

The basic progression is this: Nigeria is corrupt; let me illustrate that for you. Nigerians don't make enough money to survive without enforcing corruption; let me illustrate that for you. Children are also bred for corruption at a young age; let me illustrate that for you. Have I mentioned that corruption has infiltrated all levels of Nigerian society? Let me illustrate that for you (again). A small percentage of Nigerians try to live honestly, but their efforts get drowned out by the system.Read more ›
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5.0 out of 5 starsRecover the impossible?
By H. Schneider on June 22, 2014
Format: Kindle Edition Verified Purchase
Why visit Lagos? Maybe there are a million untold stories, but the writer finds it impossible to hear himself think. The noise. The exhaustion.
The author is a Nigerian medical doctor, training for shrinkdom in New York.
His narrator is seemingly the same man, but there is a trap. We are tricked into believing that this is a travel book. It is, but it is also fiction. Or is it? Hard to say.

Narrator travels to Nigeria for the first time since 15 years. We are not immediately told why he makes the trip. We assume curiosity mixed with nostalgia. In fact, we are never given one specific reason, we are left conjecturing.

The dominating theme in the first chapters is money and lubrication. We see petty corruption: by diplomats in the Nigerian Consulate in New York, by officials in Lagos airport, by cops and toll booth operators on Lagos streets....the border lines between asking for bribes, or for ransom money, or for tips, or 'simply' begging are hazy. And then the Nigerian specialty: advance fee fraud, the profession of the yahoo yahoos, a very special class of yuppis.

Another dominating theme is violence: armed robberies, muggings, lynchings, road rage, accidents, the permanent noise.... The book is surely not a candidate for Lagos tourism promotion awards.
And: lost relationships. Can they be recovered? Should they?

We are told in lean, efficient language, how the hero gradually adjusts his memories and perceptions to the new realities. One always needs time to see what is in front of us, rather than what is in our head. A broadening of the concept of optical illusions.
Reflections on writing are a part of the journey. Ondaatje, Vikram Seth, García Marquez are named as potential role models, but Cole is no imitator.Read more ›
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5.0 out of 5 starsA Native’s Long Awaited Return to his Nigerian Hometown
By John Kwok HALL OF FAME on March 7, 2014
Format: Hardcover Vine Customer Review of Free Product ( What's this? )
In plain, often unadorned, but still gracefully eloquent, prose, Teju Cole does for his Nigerian hometown, Lagos, Nigeria’s capital city, in his latest novel “Every Day Is for the Thief”, what he did for New York City in his memorable debut novel “Open City”. Using a literary style that could be mistakenly viewed as memoir, and in prose that may remind readers of a compelling, often intoxicating, blend of Ernest Hemingway, Frank McCourt and Paul Theroux, Cole takes us on an illuminating journey through Lagos, via the eyes of a young writer who is returning from the United States to his hometown for the first time in years. A young, carefully observant, writer who misses nothing due to his keen powers of observation and superlative skills as a photographer. (A noteworthy emerging photographer of “street” documentary fine art photography whose work has been exhibited in the United States and in India, Cole’s own photographs of Lagos are included in almost every chapter.) He confronts the “informal economy” of Lagos frequently during his sojourn, dealing with corrupt government officials, tollbooth clerks and police, as though they were necessary, almost indispensable, aspects of the city’s complex governmental landscape. He takes us to bazaars where teens are surfing the web, willingly committing e-mail fraud, as though it was a daily, almost routine, aspect of their lives. He shows us a city, Lagos, and a country, Nigeria, that is far more religiously and ethnically diverse than those of us in North America might be willing to admit.Read more ›
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Most Recent Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 starsMemories of Nigeria

An interesting narration of travel and what one encounters in Nigeria. Very apropos writing of different aspects of life in a country of survivors. Read more

Published 2 months ago by Liliane McFarlane
4.0 out of 5 starsArtistically Written Homecoming

Brutal but honest reflections proving you can't go home again. If a reader wonders what one of the next big world growth spurts might be, this could provide insight . Read more

Published 2 months ago by JRR
4.0 out of 5 starsWho is responsible

Simple story with deep philosophical ideas

Published 2 months ago by Shirley Mutimer
4.0 out of 5 starsThe Subject Matter Carries the Novel

Teju Cole’s Every Day is for the Thief is a novel, but it has almost no plot; large sections of the book are devoted to chronicling the various dysfunctions of Nigerian society in... Read more

Published 4 months ago by Eric Maroney
5.0 out of 5 starsWOW!!

i had a nice time reading this one. this is the kind of story that i want. i love it. great book!

Published 5 months ago by Alta Mary
5.0 out of 5 starsTeju Cole is a rising star

Poignantly written about a place I once called home. Brought back memories!

Published 6 months ago by Atim I. Appio-riley
5.0 out of 5 starsAn excellent read. A memoir of contemporary Nigeria

An excellent read. A memoir of contemporary Nigeria. Highly recommended!!!!

Published 10 months ago by Kenneth W. Goings
4.0 out of 5 starsAn honest assessment of life in his home country Nigeria ...

An honest assessment of life in his home country Nigeria. A quick read which will inform you how one much maneuver in order to survive the many obstacles in place to earn a... Read more

Published 10 months ago by BOOK LOVER
3.0 out of 5 starsInteresting

The author's descriptions of everyday life in Lagos and the corruption endured are vivid. I found it interesting but the book read a bit like a travel log.

Published 11 months ago by Karen Lindsley
5.0 out of 5 starsThis book is deceptively simplistic. There are very few ...

This book is deceptively simplistic. There are very few paragraphs in this book that can't be analyzed on various levels.

Published 12 months ago by Dwon

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