Reviews

The Backstreets: A Novel from Xinjiang by Perhat Tursun

bizzerg's review

dark emotional mysterious slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

arturob's review

Liked the explainer on the context of the book more than the actual book

andrewspink's review

3.0

What a strange book! It is saturated with superstition, and magical significance is attached to all sorts of things like walking with the left or right foot over a line or various numbers. And the protagonist is obsessed with numbers, assigning all sorts of meanings to various apparently random numbers. He is also obsessed with smells.
There is no real plot to the book. For most of the time, the protagonist is wandering through the fog looking for a house to stay, but not being able to find the address. It is very reminiscent of Kafka's The Trial, with a similar dream-like state, and I was also reminded of Albert Camus' The Plague, although the reason for that that was harder to put my finger on. The atmosphere evoked, I suppose.
Some of the sentences were hard to make sense of. It is hard to know if that is the translation or in the originals. For instance, 'the handle of the bicycle'. Bikes don't have handles, they have handlebars.
Without the introduction, the whole book is also hard to make sense of. There we learn that the author belongs to the oppressed Uighur minority in Eastern China. Then a lot of the book becomes more understandable. But a lot remains a mystery. At least for me.

The copy of the book this is based on was kindly supplied by the publisher in return for an honest review on Netgalley.

nyertryingtoreadeverything's review against another edition

dark sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? N/A
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

tajwar_and_peace's review

dark emotional mysterious sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

A difficult but necessary read. There is so much incredible literature in the world outside of Europe and America. 

caelyncobb's review

dark emotional sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

pdxpiney's review

dark mysterious sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

codexmendoza's review against another edition

2.75

A largely circuitous novel with some interesting details of life and alienation in both Xinjiang and Beijing held back by an incredibly clunky translation. But I suppose the great pity is that there likely will not be another one from this author who has been missing for many years.

mitrajiyan's review

4.0

The Backstreets follows an unnamed Uyghur protagonist through the streets of Ürümchi in China’s Xinjiang Autonomous Region. It is a story of alienation, dissociation, and exclusion. The protagonist moves through the fog of the polluted city as if in a haze, leading a quiet and lonely life outside of mainstream society. The writing style is dense and long-winded, though I believe this is a conscious choice and it accurately conveys the monotony and isolation the protagonist experiences. Still, it made the book hard to get through.

I wouldn’t say that there is a plot in this stream of consciousness style novel. The protagonist’s main endeavor is finding a place to live, which proves difficult as he is discriminated against and assaulted constantly. The unreliability of memory and of the narrator himself add an interesting layer to the story, making the reading experience a foggy and challenging one. I found the descriptions of women as sexual objects in the protagonist’s fantasies pointless and creepy, as they did not add anything of significance but rather only made me grow distant from the protagonist. Still, I have wanted to read this book for a long time, especially because it is rare to find translations of Uyghur stories such as this one (this is the first of Tursun’s works to be translated into English). 

Translator Darren Byler provides a very useful introduction of Uyghur people in China and Tursun’s life specifically. Both the author and the anonymous co-translator disappeared in 2017 and 2018 respectively, with Tursun thought to have received a 16 year prison sentence, while the co-translator is believed to have been sent to a so-called reeducation camp. According to Byler, these camps regularly target Uyghurs who enjoy significant social influence. 

This is not going to be the most rewarding or satisfying book you’ll ever read, but it will show you something previously unexplored and expand your literary horizon. 

The Backstreets is out September 13. Thank you @netgalley and @columbiauniversitypress for the ARC.

seigfreiduy's review

slow-paced

3.0