Being told by your new lover that she doesn’t like your name and that she is going to call you Boulder instead might be considered an inauspicious start to a relationship, even if the name is fitting (the narrator defines herself as ‘like a large, solitary rock’). Prior to meeting Samsa, Boulder is a free spirit. She works as a cook on freighters, is answerable to no-one and lives in the moment. But Samsa and Boulder fall in love, and Boulder starts to make compromises, including giving up her job to settle in Reykjavik. Time passes, and Samsa announces that she wants a baby – a desire Boulder refers to as a sickness, but which for the sake of their relationship she begrudgingly supports. Thus begins a subtle power shift as the last vestiges of Boulder’s independence and identity start to disappear.
In barely 100 pages, Catalan author and acclaimed poet Eva Baltasar has crafted a gem of a novella: sharp-edged, uncompromising and utterly compelling. The first-person narration smoulders with an intensity that hints at the internal struggle Boulder faces just to keep on playing a part that is alien to her while also maintaining a sense of who she is and what she really wants. Some may consider her selfish, but her honesty and self-awareness are refreshing.
