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A review by atoft
Boulder by Eva Baltasar
emotional
reflective
sad
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
I'm not sure whether I like this book or not. Certainly I found myself with a lot of reservations about the unnamed protagonist, who acquires the moniker of Boulder from her partner Samsa. Starting the story isolated, as a lone cook on a cargo freighter, she finds connection with Samsa. From the start however, she struggles to reconcile Samsa's desire to settle down with her own fierce independence. This contrast in goals and worldviews is interesting and valid, but what's frustrating about Boulder is her tendency to objectify others at the expense of empathising with them. It's great to be physically attracted to someone, but a long term relationship needs to be built on more than that alone. We see this as Boulder and Samsa drift apart. Boulder's commitment to help raise a child seems ill-advised given her own disinterest, and is ultimately not enough to keep their relationship intact . At the same time, Samsa seems unable or unwilling to acknowledge that her needs and Boulder's clearly do not align.
The book's prose is heavy with metaphor and evocative imagery. It's often beautiful, although occasionally the metaphor becomes a little overplayed and meandering, perhaps a consequence of the translation. On the whole though, the book works hard at evoking Boulder's emotional states through visuals and analogy, and its concise form makes this not too overwhelming.
Due to the book being written entirely from Boulder's POV, I feel that we often struggle to get insights into other characters, mainly Samsa. In the first half of the book, it takes a long time to learn any details about her at all, beyond her physical attractiveness. It's hard to get a grasp on her personality through Boulder's often conflicted sketches of her. Of course it can be argued that this is a strength of the book as a character study of Boulder, but it does make the world of the novel feel very isolated.
On the whole I found Boulder to be an interesting work. I found value in the prose, imagery, and sense of place. I think I need more time to understand what message to take away from it, and what to make of its flawed characters.
The book's prose is heavy with metaphor and evocative imagery. It's often beautiful, although occasionally the metaphor becomes a little overplayed and meandering, perhaps a consequence of the translation. On the whole though, the book works hard at evoking Boulder's emotional states through visuals and analogy, and its concise form makes this not too overwhelming.
Due to the book being written entirely from Boulder's POV, I feel that we often struggle to get insights into other characters, mainly Samsa. In the first half of the book, it takes a long time to learn any details about her at all, beyond her physical attractiveness. It's hard to get a grasp on her personality through Boulder's often conflicted sketches of her. Of course it can be argued that this is a strength of the book as a character study of Boulder, but it does make the world of the novel feel very isolated.
On the whole I found Boulder to be an interesting work. I found value in the prose, imagery, and sense of place. I think I need more time to understand what message to take away from it, and what to make of its flawed characters.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual content and Pregnancy