I read this a few weeks and more than a few books ago, and it’s one I still find myself returning to. Turning phrases over, thinking about the characters, dreaming of the sad, carnal, lonely world that the author created. It is wonderfully bleak, but joyous in its way. Everyone seems to wreak enormous damage on one another, using one another to get what they need. But there is peace here, and beauty too. People finding a place in the world, a way to exist that gives them what they need. The writing is pared back to a razors edge, but it wields terrible truth; it’s a slim book with a long, dark shadow.

Content with her nomadic, no-ties lifestyle, things begin to change for Boulder when she and Samsa become lovers. When Samsa receives a job offer which would separate them, Boulder agrees a move to Reykjavik, but when Samsa later announces she wants a child their relationship becomes increasingly strained... It is over three months since I read ‘Boulder’ but it remains startlingly fresh in my memory; this is certainly a story that stays with you. Brilliantly written/translated, it is both tender and stark in its portrayal of how Boulder balances her innate desire for personal freedom with her sense of responsibility to a family-life she neither expected nor desired to have. Complex, gritty, and searching, it also manages to be unexpectedly uplifting as Boulder finds a way forward.

Fantastic. Excellent writing, the metaphors and similes were unique and contextually reflective of the novel. I loved the analogy of the boat, how the character does not act differently on shore compared to off it. Really interesting perceptions, there was a small character arc at the end when the lead learns a new kind of longing. Always recommend Eva Baltasar!

I absolutely devoured this!! Both Baltasar and Sanches deserve immense credit for creating the singular voice that guides us through this novel and the refreshing ways that it explores themes of motherhood, independence, intimacy, and personal sacrifice. I found this book so exciting and now cannot wait to get to everything Baltasar has written and will go on to write.

Boulder is a tale of queer life and the other side of motherhood. Eva Baltasar has a haunting way of depicting love, work, travel and motherhood. As you see life through the eyes of Boulder, you feel a sadness and desire. A desire to find passion and to forever find something new, though a sadness in settling and experiencing something that society views as a want for all women. I am Samsa in reading this, for myself motherhood is dream and reading the rejection Boulder has for it did leave me with a heavy heart. For many this book will open us up to the discussion of motherhood from both sides, allowing those to feel a connection and reduction in pressure from society. A vital piece of literature in my eyes, despite the sadness it made me feel.