Every Day Is for the Thief

The narrator returns to this quote from Tomas Tranströmer several times throughout the novel, and it represents what he’s searching for during his time in and around Lagos. The “moving spot of sun” is a place that fosters artistic, literary, and musical culture for the Nigerian people, creating community and a sense of national pride and identity. Most of the time in his searching, he finds that the places he explores fall short of this ideal: The bookstores and shops he visits have a dearth of sophisticated literature and music (or are fronts for piracy), and the MUSON Centre and National Museum are both adulterated experiences; the former demonstrates how economic status limits access to culture, and the latter’s connection to the corrupt government has exposed it to plunder by officials looking to gain status and stripped of Nigerian culture by rulers who can’t abide criticism.

For the narrator, finding a place that’s pure is a key to his feelings of hope for his homeland’s future, and everywhere he looks in Lagos, he runs up against experiences that are chaotic, compromised, or threatening. The immediacy of existence in Lagos prevents the kind of peace he’s looking for. When he finds it, finally, at a store called the Jazzhole, he’s reassured that at least a few people in Lagos strive toward artistic appreciation and community for its own sake.