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A review by ashworks
Crossing by Pajtim Statovci
4.0
This style of open, loosely structured, unreliable narrative was new to me. I don't think it was necessarily bad or poorly done, but it was so different for me. It's taking me reading other reviews and reflecting on the novel itself to piece certain things together, as it wasn't always clear the nature of the main character.
And that's not to say identity and clarity isn't the point--more just as someone who has struggled with my own identities, it almost feels cheap that the main character seems to "try on" and adopt new personas as he sees fit, especially with how the book ends. It is arguably more sociopathic than queer, and comparison to Talented Mr. Ripley feels apt.
However, it would be a disservice to recent Albanian history to ignore the trouble touched on for refugees, immigrants, and wartorn countries and how that's a set dressing for this character's trauma and rationalizations.
Even if the main character sprinkles his narrative with lies, the nature of this story's backdrop is tragic and educating. I'm in the US and was very young during these conflicts. We didn't get much exposure.
I might reread this in a couple months.
And that's not to say identity and clarity isn't the point--more just as someone who has struggled with my own identities, it almost feels cheap that the main character seems to "try on" and adopt new personas as he sees fit, especially with how the book ends. It is arguably more sociopathic than queer, and comparison to Talented Mr. Ripley feels apt.
However, it would be a disservice to recent Albanian history to ignore the trouble touched on for refugees, immigrants, and wartorn countries and how that's a set dressing for this character's trauma and rationalizations.
Even if the main character sprinkles his narrative with lies, the nature of this story's backdrop is tragic and educating. I'm in the US and was very young during these conflicts. We didn't get much exposure.
I might reread this in a couple months.