The narrator futilely asks for directions, but bystanders assume he is there to rob or assault them. One woman sees him approach through her apartment door, screams and runs away. In the office, he is treated with outright contempt by co-workers and is expected to perform his model minority identity by donating much of his small salary to charitable causes. In an American context, Tursun's descriptions of systemic racism might be easy to relate to, in part, by some.
But worse than outright hostility is the indifference the city has for the narrator's existence. Loneliness and alienation are the themes that prevail throughout the book, and Tursun's inspiration from absurdist and existentialist writers like Albert Camus is apparent."I don't know anyone in this strange city, so it's impossible for me to be friends or enemies with anyone," he repeats throughout the novel.
Uyghur culture is steeped in poetry and literature, yet very little of it has made it into translation across China, much less the rest of the world. Part of the problem is China has