Boulder

Insular, reserved "Boulder", an unnamed protagonist who is known to us by her nickname only, falls in love with Samsa, and settles into the humdrum rhythm of domesticity in Iceland. Eventually, Samsa raises the possibility of parenthood, and Boulder reluctantly agrees, straining herself and the relationship as a result.At 105 pages, it is a crisp read that wastes no time getting to the point. In fact, Boulder, the character, has a relentless sense of insight and self-awareness that makes it tough to read the whole thing at one go. On one hand, her incisiveness is a welcome change, but it is also too detached from everyone around her. She mentions babies as "drawn to me the same way cats zero in on people who are allergic to them". She describes her girlfriend's professional accomplishment as "moving up...like a goat braving the Dolomites' slatelike ridges, climbing straight up to the highest peak". It's funny and biting but I wouldn't want to be on the receiving end of such critical barbs. In fact, the book is entirely her inner voice which leaves little room to think of other people in any way but the crisp but emotionally distant analogy she reduces them to.I'm reviewing it a good 3 weeks or so after having read it. My immediate response back then was of admiration for the book and the character, both. Now, the former remains but the latter has dampened. I realize that as a reader, I was privy to her thoughts on work, relationships, domesticity, and maternity, but no one except a drinking buddy was aware of it within the book. It is not clear if she ever vocalized her inner monologue to her partner, with whom she spent over a decade before introducing a child to the dynamic. In fact, I went away feeling sympathetic towards her girlfriend, who I feel, was reduced to a caricature because she nursed maternal instincts, something Boulder didn't seem to think she herself had.As a book, this was brilliant. But I leave Boulder feeling that her nickname had less to do with a sense of stability and more with how she came across - cold and unmoving.

𝓑𝓸𝓾𝓵𝓭𝓮𝓻 𝓫𝔂 𝓔𝓿𝓪 𝓑𝓪𝓵𝓽𝓪𝓼𝓪𝓻 𝓽𝓻𝓪𝓷𝓼. 𝓫𝔂 𝓙𝓾𝓵𝓲𝓪 𝓢𝓪𝓷𝓬𝓱𝓮𝔃रस निष्पत्ति - अद्भुत😱(in readers)भाव निर्मिति - रति 🥰(in characters)An ordinary looking protagonist, living in laid back settings. Faces that would get lost in the crowd, maybe you won't look at them twiceBut give them to Eva Baltasar & she would etch out the most unforgettable character sketches & most discomforting storylines out of themAn unnamed protagonist, wittily named Boulder by her queer partner is caught in yrs of mayhem of love, passion, commitment (rather unwanted ones), Motherhood (again unwanted), identity lossShe would question her partners choice of being a mother & rules of being one, yet would settle for playing a role of mother herself. She lays down the toxicity of intense love & commitmentsStrong portrayal of unconventional POV's forms the strength of author's plotShe would wrap you in layers of dark humour, intense eroticism, passionate cravings & would turn banal pages into most interestingShe would flirt with you by playing around with your emotions. She would showcase intense dichotomy of emotions & would keep you at the edge just like her charactersShe is 1 author who makes me dream sitting next to her chair, while she scripts her characters, that nod of her head when she would feel the way her woman feels, the intense emotions that would translate to that scribble of her penThere is this insatiable hunger in her writing which magically transmits itself to her readersI am not exaggerating, but trust me, the more you drink her, the more empty you would feel from inside & hence would want moreWhile both the protagonist of this triptych series (can't wait to read the unreleased 3rd one in the series) suffer from lack of communication, it's author's powerfully communicated prose that would make you go back to these books again & againIf a book can make you feel all that I have mentioned, it's translation is bound to be masterstroke

The title says it all. A phenomenal accomplishment. To the more casual/commercial reader, I'd still recommend this as a propulsive read, although warning, you may suffer emotional damage during the reading of this book. A brilliant portrait of a relationship.

I find writing a review of a book that I have not read in its original language always challenging as I know I am also reviewing the translation and how well it has captured not just the linguistic style but also the spirit of the author - and all this without any reference for comparison. This is ever so true with this book as Eva Baltasar is I understand a poet with considerable volume of work, and to the translator's credit, this is evident in this novel.The eponymous character is a vivid and wonderful creation. I do not think that it matters if the reader agrees with her choices in life and I would imagine that most people can relate with different aspects of her feelings. In contrast, I thought that her partner was very sketchily drawn and, perhaps in an attempt to highlight the difference with Boulder, she often sounded like a caricature middle-class "mother-earth" type. I do wonder if this was meant to portray Boulder's frustration as the story is unfolding through her eyes but by condensing to a few pages their decade relationship and concentrating only at the start and the end, made Boulder less believable as well.

We read boulder for our book club and all loved it. Touching, insightful, sad and tender