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thewordsdevourer's review against another edition
dark
funny
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
permafrost is a book abt death, sex and the drudgery of everyday life, told thru the pov of a lesbian narrator drifting from one place to another, from the arms of a lover to the next. the narrative voice is darkly dry, occasionally funny and bemusingly relatable. as a story, however, it's too stagnant for my taste: multiple chapters and events are so similar that they blur into each other, w/ the story simply droning on and on w/o reprieve, and eventually taking me a week to finish despite being a very slim volume.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Mental illness, Suicidal thoughts, and Sexual content
Moderate: Suicide attempt, Medical content, and Death
Minor: Lesbophobia
veelaughtland's review
challenging
dark
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Suicide attempt, Sexual content, and Suicidal thoughts
Moderate: Self harm, Medical trauma, Death of parent, and Medical content
Minor: Suicide and Pregnancy
miasmxle's review
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, Suicide, and Self harm
Moderate: Sexual content, Death, and Death of parent
Minor: Medical content
firstiteration's review
challenging
dark
emotional
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Permafrost reads like poetry. The shapes of the protagonist’s relationships and life reveal themselves slowly, and reading is like watching a watercolour painting as it is gradually created. This really is the kind of book where details and images eventually come together to form a whole, especially since the ending was not what I expected when I began my read, but it felt right.
I know not a word of Catalan, so I’m grateful to Julia Sanches for translating this book. I can’t speak to the quality of translation itself, but the translator’s note makes it clear that Sanches worked with a great deal of care and attention to detail. In English, Permafrost is an excellent read.
As a lesbian, Permafrost is one of those books that feels real. I think many of us lesbians feel tense when lesbian sexuality is depicted in fiction because for so long, we’ve been portrayed by non-lesbians in a variety of ways that are exploitative or insulting, especially when it comes to sex. The sexuality in Permafrost is raw and honest. I think that’s incredibly valuable, both because as a lesbian I really enjoy reading it and because it’s good that this kind of portrayal of lesbian sexuality by a lesbian exists. It's not the only one, I know, but it's still rare enough that it's notable to me.
But it goes beyond the sex part of being a lesbian. The protagonist’s feeling of being mismatched with the life that is expected of her and especially the lives of her family members is explored well throughout the book. I really enjoy how Eva Baltasar portrays life, and next I’m going to see if any of her poems have been translated to English.
If you liked Permafrost, I suggest Qiu Miaojin’s Last Words from Montmartre or Virtuoso by Yelena Moskovich.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Medical content, Mental illness, Self harm, Suicide, Suicide attempt, and Sexual content
Minor: Homophobia
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