Crossing

Amid the conflict and desolation of post-Communist Albania, teenage boys Agim and Bujar share restless dreams of escape. After Bujar's father dies and Agim's family discover him dressed in his mother's clothes, the pair flee to the Albanian capital of Tirana, hungry for a chance to shape their own lives. From Tirana to Rome, from Madrid to New York, Crossing charts the refugee's struggle for another identity and another story in a world that seems to offer only dead ends. This is a shape-shifter of a novel, by turns playful and heartbreaking, and its characters' efforts to cross boundaries of nationality, gender and sexuality make for an urgent address to our times.

About the Author :
Pajtim Statovci (b. 1990) moved from Kosovo to Finland with his family when he was two years old, and he holds an MA in comparative literature from the University of Helsinki. Originally published in Finland in 2014 and also available from Pushkin Press, his first novel, My Cat Yugoslavia, won the prestigious Helsingin Sanomat Literature Prize. Crossing, his second novel, has also won awards in Finland. Both novels are being translated into more than a dozen languages.

Review :
A strikingly modern narrative where oppression is not just political but lived in the body Reading Pajtim Statovci's fiction is like entering a lucid dream: life and death intertwines in an intimate dance; the nostalgia for the past is akin to the nostalgia for the future. Crossing is a novel that dazzles and mesmerizes, and the reader, upon finishing, may have the extraordinary sensation that his or her own dreams have been scattered along the journey, beckoning for rereading Crossing will devour you; this is some fierce, dazzling, and heartbreaking shit Anyone who has ever known what it's like to leave home in pursuit of happiness and belonging will most likely love this tender, beautiful novel as much as I did Everything, and I mean everything, is threatened with devastation and loss, but Pajtim Statovci's prose, the quality of his seeing and remembering, promises to save an invaluable part for all of us A beautifully tragic and contemporary story, told without concessions. It resonates somehow with any of us who is fighting the double battle of exile and sexual identity. I found it very sincere in its raw, brutal end, where his destiny seems to return to the starting point, home, with a heavy load of life guilt and sorrow, he will remain an exile one way or the other Stunning... The brutal beauty of Crossing comes from its almost cellular understanding of belonging and exclusion, love and cruelty. It is a powerful phoenix of a book that rises from the ashes of the previous century Statovci's prose is slyly artful The brutal beauty of Crossing comes from its almost cellular understanding of belonging and exclusion, love and cruelty. It is a powerful phoenix of a book that rises from the ashes of the previous century. It speaks to the sins of the fathers, which the children must transcend by crossing to the other side - or perish Crossing is full of insights and thought-provoking reflection Profoundly unsettling but beautifully written and translated... just read it, ok? You'll feel better for having done so Mesmerising... beautiful, haunting and brilliant Statovci's prose is mesmerising ... sad and searching ... Statovci uses no magic-realist elements here, and with its stark language, unanswered questions, and unrelenting heartbreak, this may be the more poignant of his powerful novels Crossing arrives at a moment when many of us have grown suspicious of monolithic categories -- gay, straight, Finnish, Albanian, man, woman -- and have begun to recognize how inadequate such labels are to encompass the reality of individual lives. The novel memorably portrays the pain those labels can cause; it also suggests that we may not be able to live without them. Statovci interweaves traditional folklore and myth into what is a deeply modern story, which criss-crosses countries and cultures, from Albania and Rome to New York The writing itself is so gorgeous that it's easy to follow Statovci down uncertain paths Raw and lyrical... Crossing finds a genuinely touching way to emphasise the urgency of opening up the questions we so often force closed Immerses readers in contemporary issues of nationalism, borders, identity and shame... Beguiling... A centrifugal story told with great sensitivity and empathy, highlighting Statovci's development as a leading voice in modern European literature Mesmerising... beautiful, haunting and brilliant - Widely praised, very good passages... an extraordinary achievement Statovci's literary gifts are prodigious. Fearless, delicate, beautiful, sad, haunting, and wonderful. A brilliant novel that mesmerizes with both its humanity and its utter uniqueness. A novel you'll be thinking about long after you've turned the last page An elegant, allegorical portrait of lives lived at the margin, minorities within minorities in a new land... [My Cat Yugoslavia] is a fine debut, layered with meaning and shades of sorrow A strange, haunting, and utterly original exploration of displacement and desire... a marvel, a remarkable achievement, and a world apart from anything you are likely to read this year This beautiful debut is about a great many things... Pajtim Statovci is a writer of brilliant originality and power, and his debut novel conveys as few books can what life feels like now