Boulder: Shortlisted for the 2023 International Booker Prize

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The metamorphosis of Samsa ( Franz Kafka, ya know?) from lover to mother evokes complicated feelings in our narrator, and this is what sets this text apart: Baltasar masterfully shows how Boulder oscillates between self-sufficiency and the desire for intimacy and connection, and how the lovers grow apart prompted by the primal experience of motherhood. Feeling cut off from Samsa and Tinna, the child, Boulder doesn't feel free and unattached, but lonely and exiled. The lyrical language expertly depicts the emotions felt by the complex narrator, who is not written to be sympathetic (generally an idiotic category in fiction), but to be authentic.

International Booker prize reveals ‘very cool and very sexy

Amid sexual trysts and growing tensions, Boulder searches for the mysterious sweet spot between her wants: freedom and connection. Baltasar has an innate talent for stretching the complexities of queer lives and predicaments into undulating adventure and tension.’ Boulder segueix tot el procés de la maternitat amb una barreja d'horror i fascinació, sentint que és una amenaça a la seva posició. El llenguatge amb que ho descriu és dur, físic, sense concessions, gairebé com si no parlés de persones:This slim, visceral novel power gains power from its subversive blurring of maternal intuition and its queering of parenthood.’ Time doesn’t live outside us; it comes into being as we do. To be able to hold time in our hands— now that’s a human mission.”

Eva Baltasar: ‘Boulder’, candidata al Premi Booker Eva Baltasar: ‘Boulder’, candidata al Premi Booker

I came to Permafrost because it was recommended by everyone. And now I have devoured it, I also recommend it to you.’ Marc ReigChildren: “I find them annoying. They’re unpredictable variables that come crashing into my coastal shelf with the gale force of their natural madness” (22). Reading Eva Baltasar's Permafrost is like having a rug continuously pulled out from under you until finally the rug disappears. How can a novel that orbits suicide be so surprising, so intensely liberating and funny, and at the same time, so full of grief? That is its genius. Catherine Lacey This is a tender, unflinchingly honest examination of a woman’s desires as she grapples with the challenges and obligations of partnership and motherhood, juxtaposed against her longing for personal freedom. It’s clear that Baltasar is first and foremost a poet – every sentence is fluid and beautifully crafted (and impressively translated by Julia Sanches), to create a gorgeously sensuous and evocative reading experience.’ Nichole Gadras, Mr Bs Life develops without overwhelming me, it squeezes into every minute, it implodes; I hold it in my hands. I can give anything up, because nothing is essential when you refuse to imprison life in a narrative.” La protagonista de Boulderse gana la vida como cocinera en un viejo barco mercante. Es la situación perfecta: soledad, una cabina, el océano, algún puerto en el que conocer mujeres y horas para encarar el vacío, para sentir la fuerza de la provisionalidad. Hasta que un día una de ellas consigue que abandone el mar, acceda a vivir entre cuatro paredes y se implique en la gestación asistida y en la educación de un hijo. ¿Qué ha hecho la maternidad con la mujer que en su día conoció en un bar de la Patagonia? ¿Qué hará ella, animal enjaulado en una casa unifamiliar de Reikiavik?