Rebecca's Reviews > Blind Spot

(3.75) Whether a short novel of Sebaldesque wanderings in the Big Apple (Open City), or a collection of essays on literature, art and travel (Known and Strange Things), Teju Cole’s works all share a dedication to seeing clearly. This book is composed of about 160 one- and two-page spreads in which images are matched with commentary. Each piece is headed with its location, with Lagos, Berlin, Brooklyn and various towns in Switzerland showing up frequently. The author’s philosophical approach elevates a few slightly undistinguished photographs. It is, at times, difficult to spot the relevance of certain photographs that cannot stand alone without captions. Others, though, are striking enough to require no clarifying prose, with tricks of scale or tricks of the light, reflections, shadows and layers providing visual interest. This serves as a prime example of memory taking on visual permanence, which is precisely the aim of this hybrid text — no mere collection of tourist snaps, but a poetic reflection on the confines of vision and knowledge.

See my full review on the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette website.