The publication of Perhat Tursun's The Backstreets, together with Darren Byler's illuminating introductions, is a landmark event in English-language world literature. Tursun's narration of the life of an Uyghur office worker in Ürümchi is unforgettable and quietly mindblowing. The style, mood, and scope are evocative of Camus (or maybe of an alternative Camus who wrote from an Algerian perspective), while still feeling utterly distinctive and unprecedented. A triumph.–Elif Batuman, author of The Idiot