Apologies Forthcoming [Paperback]

Xujun Eberlein (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 30, 2008

Winner of Tartt Fiction Award, this gripping collection tracks the effects of China's Cultural Revolution from its beginning to the present.

Editorial Reviews

From the Publisher

A totally illuminating collection of stories centered around China's Cultural Revolution and its aftermath, which, as we learn, continues even today. Xujun Eberlein lived in China during that turmoil and now makes her home in America. This, her first story collection, is both disturbing and enthralling.

About the Author

Xujun Eberlein grew up in Chongqing, China, and moved to the United States in the summer of 1988. After receiving a Ph.D. from MIT in the spring of 1995, and winning an award for her dissertation, she joined a small but ambitious high tech company. On Thanksgiving 2003, she gave up tech for writing. She has since won many literary awards. Her stories and personal essays have been published in the United States, Canada, England, Kenya, and Hong Kong, in magazines such as AGNI, Walrus, PRISM International, StoryQuarterly, Stand and Kwani. Her debut story collection Apologies Forthcoming won the 2007 Tartt Fiction Award and will be published in May 2008. She hosts the literary and cultural blog Inside-out China.

Product Details

• Paperback: 141 pages
• Publisher: Livingston Press (AL); First Edition edition (May 30, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 160489007X
• ISBN-13: 978-1604890075
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6.4 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (17 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,105,561 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Xujun Eberlein grew up in Chongqing, China, and moved to the United States in the summer of 1988. After receiving a Ph.D. from MIT in the spring of 1995, and winning an award for her dissertation, she joined a small but ambitious high tech company. On Thanksgiving 2003, she gave up algorithms for writing. She has since won a bunch of literary awards. Her stories and personal essays have been published in the United States, Canada, England, Kenya, and Hong Kong, in magazines such as AGNI, Walrus, PRISM International, StoryQuarterly, Stand, and Kwani. Her debut story collection "Apologies Forthcoming" won the 2007 Tartt Fiction Award and was published in June 2008. She is the recipient of a 2008 artist fellowship in fiction/creative nonfiction from the Massachusetts Cultural Council.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Apologies Forthcoming, June 9, 2008

By 

Kirsten (San Francisco) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Apologies Forthcoming (Paperback)

In Aplogies Forthcoming, Xujun Eberlein describes a world where intelligent women have such limited choices that they consider suicide, children are sent from their homes to labor in far away fields, and men do not apologize for destroying each others property and dreams. Set during and after China's Cultural Revolution, this well written collection of eight stories tells tales of individual hardship: Sail, whose older sister dies serving in the Red Guard; Ou Homg, whose father is accused of being a "capitalist roader" and publicly humiliated; Wang Qiang, who tries and fails to bring his brother back to his home from the countryside; and others, whose stories are no less compelling. Despite hard times, the characters search for love and fulfillment, and each story presents not only a unique view into the character's world, but a very human portrait of the people inhabiting the pages.

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Truly Authentic Voice, June 2, 2008

By 

Clifford Garstang (Staunton, Virginia USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Apologies Forthcoming (Paperback)

This collection of short stories set against a backdrop of China's Cultural Revolution is remarkable primarily for its unstinting authenticity. The reader will understand from depictions of the places and events and from the rendering of the characters and their conflicted loyalties that this is a writer who knows what she's talking about. Whether most Americans will be able to connect to the tales is another question, but for a reader who is at all familiar with or interested in modern China, the book is deeply rewarding.

The stories in the book (my favorite is "Disciple of the Masses") reveal important features of life in China during a time of great upheaval that shattered many families. But even in turbulence, young people came of age, developed attachments, and learned that what they were taught was not always right. For the reader unfamiliar with China, these tales will still resonate because the narratives ring true.

While the setting and details are credible and precise, the language of the stories is occasionally, to my ear, somewhat awkward. Paradoxically, however, this awkwardness only adds to the writer's authority, because the rhythm and vocabulary serve to underscore the collection's Chineseness. And it is that Chineseness--the transport to a time and place that is so unfamiliar to most readers--that makes Apologies Forthcoming a special book.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Deftly showcasing the human condition with a particular flair for realism, August 8, 2008

By 

Midwest Book Review (Oregon, WI USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Apologies Forthcoming (Paperback)

Growing up in Chongquing, China, Xujun Eberlein came to America in the summer of 1988 to advance her education. Receiving a PhD from MIT in 1995, after graduation she became a computer algorithm developer until 2003 when she embarked upon a new career as a writer, for which she has since been awarded a number of literary honors for her stories and personal essays published in the United States, Canada, England, Kenya and Hong Kong. Xujun Eberlein currently hosts the literary and cultural blog 'Inside-out China'. Now eight of her stories have been collected and published by the Livingston Press as "Apologies Forthcoming". These erudite and compelling stories focus on the experiences of people during China's 'Cultural Revolution' which saw the intellectual class of a generation of Chinese under Mao subjected to humiliation and repression. Included in this outstanding anthology of realistic fiction are Snow Line; Pivot Point; Feathers; Men Don't apologize; Watch the Thrill; disciple of the Masses; The Randomness of Love; and Second Encounter. Documenting Xujun Eberlein as an exceptional talented author, "Apologies Forthcoming" is especially recommended to readers with an interest in superbly presented and engaging fiction deftly showcasing the human condition with a particular flair for realism in both character and dialogue.