Crossings by Alex Landragin was an amazing book! I loved the complex plot and the characters, one of my favorites.

Crossings is an inventive, body-hopping story crossing generations and centuries.

It's unique selling point is that it can be read in two different sequences. You can either read it in page order - first with a novella supposedly by Baudelaire; then a story of trying to acquire the novella at auction; and finally a series of body swapping tales starting with the French colonisation of Pacific islands and ending in Nazi occupied France with each character handing on the baton to the next. By the end, it is clear that the stories inter-relate and the final section is a chronology into which the other narratives can be chopped and slotted in time sequence. The text offers a route map to read it in this way - The Baroness Sequence - and there's a pretty big hint that this is the more adventurous route.

Hmmm.

I read this in page order and expected to re-read it afterwards in The Baroness Sequence in the expectation of discovering a new, different story. In the event, I decided not to bother. The alternative reading seems quite obvious and by presenting things in strictly chronological order it would lose the subtlety of the three narratives panning gradually outwards, showing the previous section in a new light.

It's difficult to say much about the story without spoilers - particularly given the two sequences in which this can be read. But I think its strength is in the period detail. Particularly the Baudelaire sections and the wartime Paris sections feel authentic. The final section, the Tales of the Albatross don't have quite the same richness and depth. But the story itself feels a little jumbled (not least because there seemed to be two competing explanations for the bodies piling up over the years with their eyes removed) and given the hopping between bodies it did get confusing about who was who. Moreover, the need for the narrative to be readable in two sequences felt like a bit of an - er - albatross at times. It meant that each section had to be linear within itself. While some sections might serve as a backstory, it basically meant that the entire section had to be backstory without much opportunity t0 go back and forth between memories and the present day. It also meant, I felt, that some ideas were not allowed to be fully introduced when they first occurred, presumably because doing so would have mucked up the other sequence. But mostly this was a price that was bearable for a text that was intended to be quirky.

One oddity, and I don't know that this would make much sense in either reading, was the mention of s Schengen passport in the context of evacuating from France in World War II.

Crossings is an interesting and enjoyable novel; my recommendation would be to read in page order; and enjoy it for what it is without expecting anything quite as perfect as Cloud Atlas, to which Crossings owes an obvious debt.

Thank you Net Galley and St. Martin’s Press for a copy of this book. This is no way affects my opinion or my review.

First, I love the cover! Wow, so lovely, and the inside matter on the physical copy is perfect for the book.

The book itself is so very intriguing. It has a unique way of being read either as a sort of 3 series of short stories or if you choose to read the Baroness sequence a different sort of story.

I find this a very difficult book to review without spoilers but I’ll give it a try. Is this a love story? A monster story or a murder mystery? Yes, it is. It’s anthropology, it’s spiritualism and it’s a fantasy. These characters will stick with you. Reading this during the COVID pandemic with some sleepless nights, I found myself waking up and trying to figure out was going on with this book. There was a lot to think about. Not good for trying to get back to sleep! The book was so absorbing that when I wasn’t reading it I was thinking about it. I even lost track during meetings when my mind would drift to the book. That doesn’t happen to me!

You follow the two main characters as they live through several lifetimes and as they change and grow through their experiences you can’t help feeling the need to Google the places mentioned in the book. I often wondered if there couldn’t be more people in the books world who are doing the same thing, considering the culture they came from, and the cultures this one split off from. The author does touch on this.

I think the greatest weakness is that several times times the idea of staring into someone’s eyes is mentioned as something that people are uncomfortable doing. And yet, we know that lovers do this, and even in day to day interactions, it is considered rude not to make eye contact, at least in the West.

I first started reading this on a kindle and the end of the chapter marker didn’t take me to the next part. Then when I tried to match it up with what's in the reader's section it doesn't always match the chapters in the table of contents. The links were circular, and then not all the listed chapters existed in the table of contents. Out of frustration I reached out to the author on his web site and he connected me to his editor. They hadn't known about this problem so they started working on it and in the mean time sent me a physical copy. 😃. What fabulous service.

Lastly, this book is begging to be a miniseries on Netflix or Amazon Prime. Hint, hint.

I can imagine people either loving this book, or hating it. I recommend reading it as the Baroness recommends, but be prepared to have some bits of confusion either way. Fascinating.

I was drawn to this book from the 5 star reviews and the intriguing synopsis.
I thoroughly LOVED the first two sections of the book.
Then the third section hit.......it was a struggle to get through that third section. Too many crossings, too much descriptions of cities that had little consequences (Paris), and it was a slog to finish.

After finishing the book, I wondered why the third section was even needed? It added nothing to the first two sections and was quite tedious.

Further, I thought that after finishing the book we would have learned more about the original book repair guy who began the story,,,but no more mention of him.

OVerall, I have to say that I was REALLY disappointed in the story and the third section. Also, what was the point of the book? Was it unrequited love? Unrequited sense of duty to a past culture?

I just don't get this book.

I loved this book for how fun and inventive it was. Really creative.

But I had a hard time getting over how colonialism and racism is sort of relegated to the background as plot points, and how aboriginal and marginalized women are never rendered very three-dimensionally even though they're supposedly inhabited by a consciousness that should be aware of their history, feelings, and experiences. The treatment of these topics felt superficial, if well-intentioned.

So I enjoyed the mystery and creativity of the book, but had a hard time with how thin the marginalized characters were.

The concept of this novel reeled me in. It sounded so interesting and unlike any book that I've read before. I attempted reading this book both ways - straight through and jumping around... I just could not fall in love with it. I couldn't connect with the characters, the storyline was confusing to me and I was excited about putting the book down. I know I'm probably in the minority here, but I just couldn't make myself finish it. Thank you so much to NetGalley for giving me the oppurtunity to read this one.

This was a mind-grippingly written tale with an astounding premise. I give this 4/5 stars. Also, my e-book addition did not always track to the next segment correctly and it exasperated me for sure.

I read the book twice- first the Baroness sequence and then, the conventional way- with a day gap between the readings. I think most of the readers would have tried the BS first too. I didn't know what to expect while reading the BS but I loved it for sure; it would've been too annoying and irate if not for Landragin's brilliant writing, so kudos for that to him. I can imagine loads and loads of planning going into setting the alternate sequence alone. The bookbinder advises that there are ‘at least seven’ ways to interpret the text; my imagination immediately went into overdrive upon reading this line.

The opening sentence- I didn’t write this book. I stole it. - sets the tone for the rest of the book: beguiling, epic and complex. The Baroness Sequence is confusing and hard to follow at times but I found it more enjoyable than the Conventional way. Yes, the flow of the tale in the BS was rather abrupt but still, the undercurrent of expectations and thrill never vanished. On the other hand, by the time, I had reached the third part of the CW, I still wanted to know what happened next but the level of anticipation was lesser as compared to that of BS. It was because the last part paled in comparison to the preceding two parts:a bit boring, if one says so.

[I don't wanna give away the plot, so I'm keeping it rathervague]

This was an intoxicating adventure that showcased both the highs and lows of an all-consuming and rule-breaking love story. It took the adage- “the eyes are the windows to the soul” to a whole another level. The characters were well fleshed out and the plot was neatly written and rather nicely executed. The story's charm is further enhanced when one realizes that tale here is told rather than shown and is reminiscent of traditional oral storytelling. I appreciated the way historical personalities and events were woven in throughout the narrative.

The ending left me mighty unsatisfied. I wanted more... Also, let me say, I preferred the ending of the Baroness sequence more than that of the conventional one.

WOW. This book blew me away. I could not put it down. I read it in the Baroness Sequence and loved the adventure of hopping around in the timeline. I have never read a more inventive book!

I found it a bit hard to navigate through this book. After figuring out you could decide which way you want to read it, I did choose the conventional version. I did find it quite hard to keep track of all the characters. It is an intriguing story but, also, a confusing story.
Many thanks to NetGalley, the publisher and author for the opportunity to read and review this book.

Thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for the advanced copy. I throughly enjoyed this book. At the very beginning, it offers a choice to readers. Read the stories in the traditional way, one after the other, or follow the Baroness Sequence and flip between the three stories. I chose to follow the Baroness sequence, and fell in love with the multi-generational love story that spanned continents. Moving between viewpoints and characters throughout time was a fantastic way to appreciate Alex Landragin's writing. Encompassing historical fiction, romance, intrigue, wanderlust, a just a hit of fantasy. I look forward to the release of this book and the chance to go back and discover the other stories hidden within its chapters.

I wasn’t able to finish this book although based on the description and the reviews, I thought I was a good fit for it. CROSSINGS is a tale about fated yet star-crossed lovers separated across time while attempting to re-connect and fulfill their destiny. Author Alex Landragin wrote the novel as a puzzle, offering two ways to read the book, either as three loosely connected novellas, or as a scavenger-hunt-like tale that is one supposedly-cohesive story of the star-crossed lovers. While the cohesive tale seemed the better bet for me, it was nearly impossible to complete on a kindle-like device. Perhaps that is my fault for attempting; I just got endlessly lost despite my best efforts. I found the tone of the tale to be more goofy than atmospheric and the more I tried to read my way out of that impression, the more it struck me as cartoonish rather than fantastic. Eventually, I gave up. I don’t know how much of the book I read because I can’t tell based on the skipping around nature of the story. Great idea; weird execution. I received my copy from the publisher through NetGalley.

Wow! What to say, this book was amazing. This is a book written in three parts which can be read in the traditional format, cover to cover, or in a more non-traditional way, jumping from place to place. One is three separate 'books' and the other is one fluid story. I chose the fluid story of two young lovers who are tragically separated and the journey to find each other over time, and distance. One remembers everything and one remembers nothing of their previous life and the events that separated them. This book has historical fiction, science-fiction a bit of romance, and intrigue thrown in for good measure. There are quite a few characters and seems to be written from differing points of view, but I wouldn't call it an unreliable source or narrator. I did find the author left a few things hanging at the end, but it only added to the intrigue. Overall I loved this book and gave it a solid 5 stars!!!

First time I’ve read a book since childhood that made it seem like choose your own adventure. I enjoyed that aspect of this book. It has twist and turns one isn’t expecting which makes it exciting to see what’s next. The imagination of the author is very creative and different. I think I will reread this book again and read it straight through instead of going from the prompts. I did read this as a ebook so there are places where it says “go here”. The author does give you the options at the beginning of the book. I look forward in read some more from the author.
I recommend this book for fantasy reads.

Oh wow.... wow... wow. I am speechless. What a novel!!!! It’s amazing, dazzling and mesmeric and hypnotic. It’s just fantastic. I love how you travel through the lives and times of the people till well that’s saying way too much. There’s nothing to edit it’s perfect well what I read and usually I see a few errors but there was nothing I could see in this proof. Possibly the story captivated me but I am sure there were no errors. I am definitely going to acquire this book when it comes out.

I was first intrigued by the description of the crossings. A book that could be read traditionally from chapter 1 to the end,; or a book that could be read in a precise manner with the chapters alternating in a seemingly random sequence through the instruction of the author. I chose the random sequence thinking this would enhance the intrigue.

The “Crossings” is an adventure tale about people with the ability to exchange themselves with the body of another person. It was fascinating in the beginning but I proceeded to get very confused the more I read. The characters seemed arbitrary and their selections with the stories and the timelines that they lived in, seemed to have no cohesiveness. The writing itself did not detract from the story, however, . I found myself wishing that there was more of a transition between the individuals and the bodies that they inhabited. with a plot that I could follow. Although in the end the author brings all the subplots together I am wondering if the form of the novel justified the way in which it was written. Perhaps reading this novel in the traditional way from beginning to end would have helped.

Crossings by Alex Landragin is a uniquely-structured and wonderful book(s). As is explained in the Preface written by a Parisian bookbinder, it either consists of three novellas or a single novel, depending on the order in which the chapters are read.

It is learned early on that a crossing refers to an exchange of souls. As a result, the novel’s characters remain and change across decades and continents. Even so, it is far from fantasy or science fiction. Even readers who most enjoy historical fiction will find it quite great: There are characters such as Charles Baudelaire and Coco Chanel who are not just thrown in as peripheral characters to make a Paris commentary seem real. In fact, Baudelaire is central to much of the novel.

All-in-all, a really creative and spectacular debut novel!

Such an interesting concept for a book, but it failed in execution, I wasn't able to finish it - so confusing!

What a cool book! Admittedly, being the rule follower I am, I have only read this book in the traditional way- from beginning to end. This book is made up of 3 stories that can be read straight through, but it can also be read in an alternate order. I am not a person who usually rereads books, but I can see how this book might be interpreted very differently in a different order. I'm definitely planning on going back and reading it in the other order.

This was a really intriguing literary thriller with a touch of the metaphysical thrown in for good measure!
And if that’s not enough, you can choose one of two ways to actually read the book. You can start on page one and move forward per usual or you can choose the “Baroness” version which, contrary to another review I read, was quite simple on my Kindle.
In either case, you will quickly be entranced by this story (or 3 stories depending on how you read it) that revolves around two lovers and the seven different lives that they inhabit over the century plus that this story encompasses.
You’ll sail oceans, be caught up in World Wars and encounter characters as varied as Charles Baudelaire and Coco Chanel.
Hopefully you’re more intrigued than confused right now.
Just trust me- it’s a great story, masterfully told. And being a debut novel, I can’t wait to see what is to come from this author!