Considering that running is often described as "boring," thematizing it is bold; the fact that Xu pulls it off is virtuosic ... Subtle, swift, and humorous.
People like Muyu and his friends may seem invisible in a sprawling, modern city like Beijing, but Xu and translators Tiang and Abrahamsen show that they have as much of a pulse on the city as the more well-to-do characters more typical in novels and memoirs.
Evocative if monotonous ... Xu doesn’t offer much perspective on the characters’ inner lives, and a dulling sameness eventually takes over the stories, though they offer a convincing assessment of the city’s inescapable drudgery and inequitable circumstances.
