Welcome Back to Lagos
An unnamed narrator returns to his native Nigeria to visit friends and family he has not seen in the years since leaving to study and live in New York. Hoping to better understand himself and find direction for his life, he travels around Lagos, looking up old acquaintances, meeting new people, and finding how both he and the city have changed in the intervening years. He discovers a land both familiar and strange, vibrant but suffering from pervasive corruption, and constantly hopeful of the future while forgetful concerning much of its own past. The journey through Lagos and its surroundings is a parallel journey into himself.
Every day is for the thief, but one day is for the owner.
-Yoruba proverb
The Yahoo Boys
Every Day Is for the Thief is a novel of exploration for the audience and, in many ways, for the narrator. Part of the reason he goes is to challenge himself, to see if the Nigeria he remembers is real or a construction of his imagination based on his hazy childhood memories. What is found is a country and a city, Lagos, that is teeming with life while also chaotic and wildly incongruent. It is an oil-rich nation, yet the power goes out almost every day. There is exponential prosperity, yet even educated people with solid jobs live hand-to-mouth. There are internet cafes, online accessibility, and maintained highways that all suggest there is growth and institutional stability, yet everyone is engaged in grifting, and there is little respect for governance at ant level. Early on, the narrator sees one of the “Yahoo Boys” at work; these are the young men who effectively run a worldwide cottage industry of internet email fraud and online scams.
We’re All on the Hustle
At a basic level, the audience will wonder why Every Day Is for the Thief is even a novel. It is thinly veiled autobiography for Teju Cole. The protagonist does not appear to resolve any sort of character arc over the course of the story. There is no plot to speak of, and the structure is episodic and lacking much of a major focus. Nonetheless, the book is not necessarily bad because of these elements, but readers should be aware the story is much more like an experimental travelogue than akin to most novels. In a strange way, it might have more in common with Gulliver’s Travels by Jonathan Swift than any novel from the latter half of the 20th century.
At the same time, the book resonates even with people who are not from and have never been to Nigeria because it taps into the sense that every place is strange in its own way. The book also allows the narrator and the audience to experience the whiplash of highs and lows when exploring and confronting various aspects of Lagos. In particular, a section toward the middle of the book with contrasting visits to the Nigerian National Museum and the Center for the Musical Society of Nigeria showcases the nearly schizophrenic national attitude toward its own identity. Those chapters alone make the book worth reading.
Guided Tours
Every Day Is for the Thief by Teju Cole is a unique, modern addition to Nigerian and African literature. It rides the line between various fiction and non-fiction forms while giving the audience a tour of early 21st century Lagos and the mindset of a young man from there while feeling like the place is more foreign than he could have ever imagined. The book is clear and concise, and most editions also feature photographs of Lagos taken by the author. Anyone interested in Nigeria and this exceptional perspective on the nation should read this book.
Source
Cole, Teju. Every Day Is for the Thief. Random House, 2015.
© 2024 Seth Tomko