"Each neighborhood of the city appeared to be made of a different substance, each seemed to have a different air pressure, a different psychic weight: the bright lights and shuttered shops, the housing projects and luxury hotels, the fire escapes and city parks."
"But a book suggests conversation: one person is speaking to another, and audible sound is, or should be, natural to that exchange. So I read aloud with myself as the audience, and gave voice to another's words."
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Source: Teju Cole (2011). “Open City: A Novel”, p.10, Random House
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"I deeply respect American sentimentality, the way one respects a wounded hippo. You must keep an eye on it, for you know it is deadly."
"Writing as writing. Writing as rioting. Writing as righting. On the best days, all three."
"The White Savior Industrial Complex is not about justice. It is about having a big emotional experience that validates privilege."
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