OTHER WRITERS SAY

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“(Her novel) places on the page a time and type of living that no one else is recording and on which we shall look back with some awe . . .The loss and empty meaningless of existence in the book is remorseless. It  permeates everything and it left me sad, wishing that it was possible to fulfill the hopes and dreams in our lives, that somehow we would attain one day the standard we all expect of ourselves, that we would not eventually lose that which we did have, but knowing that disappointment and loss are the price we pay for the love and success we find along the way. For death (read loss) is, as Anthony Hopkins playing CS Lewis said in Shadowlands, part of the deal . . .  On a metaphorical whimsy, I would say that Gordie is actually just life itself, the core we are all seeking but which evades us always, what we want but don't quite know why.” Nigel Collett - historian & author of  The Butcher of Amristar & Firelight of a Different Color.

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“Xu Xi has done it again.  That Man in Our Lives is a metaphysical novel that unravels the real and imagined political and cultural identities of both  inhabitants and expatriates in Hong Kong after it aweighed its colonial anchor and returned to China in 1997.   With candor, wile and wit, the main character Gordie adopts the personae of the Monkey King who unties this knot of ever more complex intimate and public experiences.  This is a must read for anyone interested in understanding the merging and intractable financial and cultural intersections between China and the United States, and their everyday impact on their citizens.”  Alex Kuo - American Book Award winning writer & author of the novel shanghai.shanghai.shanghai

“There are so many things I love in this book about freedom and how hard it is to achieve when constant connection scrutinizes individuality and devalues anonymity. Gordie’s disappearance in this prismatic examination of his vanishing act is a real feat, that ironically underscores how lonely and meaningless it can be when we’re supposedly well connected to society. Gordie is ‘Gatsby times ten,’ as one of his friends says, but this whole story exudes contemporary updates on The Great Gatsby’s decadence, yearning, and expat experimentation. Its transgressive characters roam across cultures, genders & sexual preferences, generations, and geographical locations. If you want to read a story populated with characters who think that ‘gay and straight are silly labels,’ and who embrace the complexities and beauties of cross-cultural experience, as well as a story that is technically brilliant for its undulating points of view and diverse chronologies, then read Xu Xi now.” Trinie Dalton - author of the story collection Baby Geisha and MFA faculty at Vermont College of Fine Arts

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“That Man In Our Lives “brilliantly explores what is perhaps the most fundamental dynamic of our existence, the profound interaction of two forces, one social and one personal: our connectedness with each other and our yearning to find a self.  Beautifully refined in both intelligence and prose, this novel will not let a reader put it down.”    

Robert Olen Butler - Pulitzer Prize in Fiction

“That Man in Our Lives is a complex and compelling tale of the mysteries of love, friendship, and lives led between China and North America.  Xu Xi takes us deep into the two cultures in a mesmerizing polyphonic plot woven around the disappearance of her Gatsby-like central character Gordon Ashberry, a Sinophile scion of a wealthy Connecticut family. Written by a truly transnational writer at the height of her powers, That Man in Our Lives educates and delights the reader at the same time.”

Vesna Goldsworthy, Professor of Creative Writing at the University of East Anglia - author of the novel Gorsky

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“With That Man in Our Lives, Xu Xi deepens her explorations of absence, alternate realities, and the elusiveness of identity in our increasingly fragmented world. When Gordon Ashberry vanishes one night at Narita Airport, a global mystery ensues, one in which every avenue of inquiry teasingly leads to a cascade of connections, insights and fractured possibilities. With heart and wisdom, That Man in Our Lives is ultimately an intense examination of the very nature of storytelling.”  Adam Johnson - Pulitzer Prize in Fiction.

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