very good read indeed...

"This strangest of islands, I thought, as I looked out to sea, this island that turned in on itself, and from which water had been banished. The shore was a carapace, permeable only at certain selected points. Where in this riverine city could one fully sense a riverbank? Everything was built up, in concrete and stone, and the millions who lived on the tiny interior had scant sense about what flowed around them. The water was a kind of embarrassing secret, the unloved daughter, neglected, while the parks were doted on, fussed over, overused."

found in Teju Cole "Open City", which I recommend

Read more http://www.newyorker.com/arts/critics/books/2011/02/28/110228crbo_books_wood#ixzz1XwahtuPx