PositiveThe AV Club...Sebald’s influence can still be felt in Open City’s narrator, Julius, a Nigerian psychiatrist performing his Harlem residency ... Where Sebald forced readers to construct a narrative out of nothing more than thematic tissue, Cole eventually undermines Julius’ reticence with a twist that breaks through his chilly facade: He’s given the expedient identity of an unreliable narrator ...that distanced voice is the book’s great achievement: much of the narrative simply records Julius’ thoughts on art exhibitions, museums, concerts, and reading material ... All the unbroken high-mindedness can be difficult to keep up with, but it’s worth it ... Unconvincing twist aside, Open City is lucidly detached in a manner that needs no apologies.
