'Boulder' by Eva Baltasar
'Boulder' by Eva Baltasar
'She holds my hand and I light three cigarettes with my mind.'—Review #214
I read most of Eva Baltasar’s ‘Boulder’ in one go at Yard Bar, a Brooklyn beer garden. It was a gorgeous and not-humid afternoon a few weekends ago. The place wasn’t too crowded, and I had a comfy spot in the shade. With a cold beer and a book, it was bliss. A woman sitting next to me leaned over to get my attention. She had a paper shopping bag from the nearby Books Are Magic and wanted to show me books she had just bought. She thought I, as a guy reading alone in public, might have good feedback on them. I was like:
She made a solid choice picking up ‘My Brilliant Friend’ by Elena Ferrante, I said, adding that I had heard good things about (but hadn’t yet read) the books by Audre Lorde, bell hooks and Selma Blair she also pulled from the bag. (Shout out to Books Are Magic for stocking full-on shopping bags for books.) I also had been to a book store earlier that day, Freebird Books, but I did not show her the copies of ‘Middlemarch’ by George Eliot and ‘The Black Prince’ by Iris Murdoch that I had bought. I was eager to get back to ‘Boulder,’ which was shortlisted for the 2023 International Booker Prize.
Here’s the cover:
A cook on a freighter plying the coast of Chile meets and falls in love with Samsa, a Scandinavian woman who, in a port of call, does non-nautical work I didn’t catch. Samsa gives her new girlfriend a new name, ‘Boulder,’ because she doesn’t like Boulder’s real name and because she reminds her of large and isolated rocks in Patagonia. When Samsa gets a new job in Iceland, Boulder has to make a choice: stay in the semi-solitude of the ship’s galley, or go to Reykjavík for a more-conventional life. She gives up her seafaring ways, and the two women relocate. Once there, Boulder opens a food truck serving empanadas and coffee. Life goes on for several years, becoming increasingly tedious and predictable, until one day Samsa decides she wants to have a baby. Boulder is like:
Samsa’s declaration is alarming for several reasons. Boulder doesn’t like children and prefers to hit the local pub with her pal Ragnar to drink Brennivín and rip cigarettes. She’s worried that the health-care system in Iceland is too good, and that the insemination treatments will result in multiple rug rats. And, as both women are pushing 40, she worries Samsa could be in for a difficult pregnancy. Even so, Boulder goes along with Samsa, feeling she can’t say no to a partner who’s already made up her mind. Boulder wonders how a baby will change their relationship. Will she reconsider her feelings about children and parenting? Will it bring her and Samsa closer together? Or will it destroy them? With drama inevitable, I was excited to find out, like:
What ensues is dramatic, for sure, and also chilling. I won’t spoil it here, but I was fascinated by how ‘Boulder’ explores the power dynamics in a couple’s relationship, both before and after a baby. And I liked how it took a dark turn once Samsa got involved with aggressive and bizarre yuppie-mom groups. I never would have thought a sinister side of motherhood could be revealed through something like:
Years from now, someone will buy my copy of ‘Boulder’ from a second-hand bookstore, and when they turn to page 55 they’ll see where I wrote ‘I love Boulder’ in the margin. I scribbled that while chuckling about her relief and silent thanks to God when Samsa learns she’s having only one child. Maybe it was the beer at Yard Bar, but I found the character to be as charming as she is messy and complicated. She’s a hard drinker and smoker with a wandering eye and plenty of insecurities, but she’s also tender and compassionate. She’s grouchy about children, but they’re drawn to her nonetheless, and she proves to be gentle and attentive to them. She’s had an unusual career path. When I conjured her in my mind, I kept thinking about W.C. Fields, a pirate and Gina Gershon’s character in ‘Bound.’ Here’s the only non-racy GIF from ‘Bound’ I could find:
Baltasar’s writing is sharp and punchy, as you’ll see below, and I flew through the novel’s 105 pages. If you’re like me and having a short-book summer, or if you’re looking for something good to read during Women in Translation month, check out ‘Boulder.’ I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.
How it begins:
Quellón. Chiloé. A night years ago. Sometime after ten. No sky, no vegetation, no ocean. Only the wind, the hand that grabs at everything. There must be a dozen of us. A dozen souls. In a place like this, at a time like now, you can call a person a soul. The wharf is small and sloped. The island surrenders to the water in concrete blocks with a number of cleats bolted to them in a row. They look like the deformed heads of the colossal nails that pin the dock to the seabed. That’s all. I’m amazed at the islanders’ stillness. They sit scattered under the rain beside large objects the size of trunks. Swaddled in windproof plastic, they eat in silence with thermoses locked between their thighs. They wait. The rain pounds down as though cursing at them, runs along their hunched backs and forms rivulets that flow into the sea, the enormous mouth that never tires of swallowing, receiving. The cold feels peculiar. It’s possible I’ve drunk some of it myself, since I can feel it thrashing and bucking under my skin, and also deeper inside, in the arches between each organ. Impenetrable islanders. I’ve been here for three months, working as a cook at a couple of summer camps for teenagers. In the evenings I would cycle to town and drink aguardiente at the hostel bar. There were barely any women. It was a workers’ ritual. Stained teeth bared in greeting. The jet-black eyes of every family tree that’s managed to grow on this salty rock speak to me from their tables. They speak to me for all of the dead.
My rating:
‘Boulder’ by Eva Baltasar was published by Club Editor in 2020. Translated from the Catalan1 by Julia Sanches and published by And Other Stories in 2022. 105 pages. $16.69 at Bookshop.org.
What’s next?
Before you go:
ICYMI: Review #213
Read this: This interview with Eva Baltasar by the Booker Prizes is fascinating. She describes how she wrote three versions of the novel and how, after she got the character right on the third try, she deleted the other two. I’ve never heard of anything like that before.
Read this, too: For more Women in Translation month recommendations, check out our page of translated fiction and nonfiction by women.
Watch this: ‘Ocean’s 11’ is one of my favorite movies to rewatch. It’s great on a plane or on the couch when there’s nothing on TV and you’re in a reading slump. Julie at Book Dreams posted this terrific video about the brilliance of Stephen Soderbergh’s film editing:
Thanks for the shout out: Thanks to Latent Book Club for mentioning us in their latest newsletter. We hope you enjoy ‘The Sea, the Sea’ by Iris Murdoch!
If you enjoyed this review:
Thanks for reading, and thanks especially to Donna for editing this newsletter!
Until next time,
MPV
Newsletters you ♥️ the most
CORRECTION: An earlier version of this newsletter incorrectly stated that ‘Boulder’ was translated from Spanish. A reader pointed out, and the publisher’s website confirms, that the novel was originally written in Catalan.
Excellent review! And now I am going to look for a copy! Have a great week!!
I also read this recently and was not a fan! Seemed too whiney to me, which I normally don’t mind, but I guess the lack of communication with their relationship bothered me this time around. There was some beautiful writing though.