{"id":47972,"date":"2021-04-18T11:12:38","date_gmt":"2021-04-18T15:12:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/apa.si.edu\/bookdragon\/?p=47972"},"modified":"2021-04-18T13:13:34","modified_gmt":"2021-04-18T17:13:34","slug":"every-day-is-for-the-thief-by-teju-cole-in-booklist","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/apa.si.edu\/bookdragon\/every-day-is-for-the-thief-by-teju-cole-in-booklist\/","title":{"rendered":"Every Day Is for the Thief by Teju Cole [in Booklist]"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft size-medium wp-image-46930\" src=\"https:\/\/apa.si.edu\/bookdragon\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/10\/2020\/05\/Every-Day-Is-for-the-Thief-Teju-Cole-BookDragon-520x800.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"520\" height=\"800\" srcset=\"https:\/\/apa.si.edu\/bookdragon\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/10\/2020\/05\/Every-Day-Is-for-the-Thief-Teju-Cole-BookDragon-520x800.jpg 520w, https:\/\/apa.si.edu\/bookdragon\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/10\/2020\/05\/Every-Day-Is-for-the-Thief-Teju-Cole-BookDragon.jpg 657w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 520px) 100vw, 520px\" \/>\u201cI wake up late the morning I\u2019m meant to go to the consulate,\u201d Teju Cole\u2019s spare novel opens. As if in mid-confession, Peter Jay Fernandez\u2019s tone is immediately familiar. In mere seconds, he\u2019s drawing audiences into his confidence, sharing experiences, disclosing comments, and divulging secrets as Cole\u2019s unnamed first-person protagonist returns to Lagos after 13 years away.<\/p>\n<p>The \u2018thief\u2019 in Cole\u2019s title remains ubiquitous throughout, exposed in every disguise regardless of where the narrator goes, beginning in Manhattan\u2019s Nigerian consulate, where the clerk expects cumbersome money orders \u2013 never cash \u2013 to produce the necessary travel documents. Arriving in Lagos, Fernandez chummily escorts the protagonist as he visits relatives and friends, observing a \u201chome\u201d he barely recognizes. From his airport landing to his departing flight, corruption looms, demanding constant tips and bribes that make daily life possible. And still, he considers moving back: \u201cEach time I am sure &#8230; I have inadvertently wandered into a region of hell, something else emerges to give me hope. A reader, an orchestra, the friendship of some powerful swimmers against the tide.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Fernandez affectingly breathes new life to Cole\u2019s homage to art, memory, and tenuous connections, which was originally published in 2007.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Review<\/strong>: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.booklistonline.com\/Every-Day-Is-for-the-Thief-\/pid=9735422\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">&#8220;Media,&#8221; <em>Booklist Online<\/em>, March 26, 2021<\/a><\/p>\n<p><strong>Readers<\/strong>: Adult<\/p>\n<p><strong>Published<\/strong>: 2007, 2020<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>\u201cI wake up late the morning I\u2019m meant to go to the consulate,\u201d Teju Cole\u2019s spare novel opens. As if in mid-confession, Peter Jay Fernandez\u2019s tone is immediately familiar. In mere seconds, he\u2019s drawing audiences into his confidence, sharing experiences, disclosing comments, and divulging secrets&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":46930,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5,287,81,142,6,9546,6535],"tags":[6608,6668,7631,59,9633,10,68,51,25,302,9634,173],"class_list":["post-47972","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-adult-readers","category-african","category-audio","category-black-african-american","category-fiction","category-nigerian","category-repost","tag-bookdragon","tag-booklist","tag-booklist-online","tag-cultural-exploration","tag-every-day-is-for-the-thief","tag-family","tag-haves-vs-have-nots","tag-identity","tag-immigration","tag-peter-jay-fernandez","tag-teju-cole","tag-travel"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v19.14 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Every Day Is for the Thief by Teju Cole [in Booklist] - BookDragon<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/apa.si.edu\/bookdragon\/every-day-is-for-the-thief-by-teju-cole-in-booklist\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Every Day Is for the Thief by Teju Cole [in Booklist] - BookDragon\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"\u201cI wake up late the morning I\u2019m meant to go to the consulate,\u201d Teju Cole\u2019s spare novel opens. As if in mid-confession, Peter Jay Fernandez\u2019s tone is immediately familiar. 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