Book review: Blind Spot, by Teju Cole

On the face of it, this latest book from the writer and photographer Teju Cole shouldn’t take long to read. Consisting of 158 photographs taken by Cole around the world, each one accompanied by a short essay, there can’t be more than 20,000 words in it. And yet, to read it – or, at least, to read it properly – requires a far greater investment of time and effort than a 300-page novel. That’s partly because Cole packs so many ideas into his mini-essays that unpacking them all often requires multiple readings. But it’s not that his writing is impenetrable the first time around; more that it sometimes only gives up its various layers later on.