A review by james1star
Permafrost by Eva Baltasar

challenging emotional funny reflective tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

Despite finishing this book a couple hours ago I’m still finding it quite difficult to summarise my thoughts. I definitely took a lot from it, underlining plenty lines and quotes and did overall enjoy it… I think. It’s hard to summarise the ‘plot’ as it’s rather disjointed with some linearity but there are fluctuations too. In permafrost we follow the first person POV from an unnamed protagonist who I believe is around her 30s (might and probably am wrong), she’s a ‘no bullshit lesbian’ (taken from the blurb) who sprawls her razor-sharp thoughts on modern life. She speaks of travels across Europe, short lived love affairs with many women, her family and the controlling nature of her mother in particular, childhood and growing up knowing she’s gay with thoughts that make her feel happy but there’s still this part in the back of her mind that she’ll grow into liking boys, not girls - I sort of went off here and it’s very in keeping with the book with many tangents that are fun to explore and really ground the reader in our narrator’s life -, living as a person I guess with the multitudes of familial and societal expectations, and more. A major topic is her thoughts of suicide, battles with mental illness and suicide attempts which are insightful, making you think but personally there was an unnerving feeling too where humour at such a tragic moment may seem a little crass… but then again, it is something people in such situations take too somethings so I can see her reasonings. In Julia Sanches’s translator’s afterword she perfectly sums up a though I had: “Eva Baltasar takes up issues that are often treated with kid gloves - a child's understanding of sex, death by suicide, illness - and addresses them with the same transparency due to anything else.” And I do think it’s this I liked the most. Sentences vary in length and there is no real convoluted prose but it is still lyrical and poetic at times, Baltasar being a poet certainly being the cause. The prose is very witty and crisp too which I feels breaks down the barrier for the reader to understanding our narrator and some of the other characters too - it reads a little memoir-esque. I am intrigued to read more by the author as have her second novel Boulder already and would like to complete the triptych this is part of. It’s not a new favourite but was enjoyable in the sense I understood and got a lot from it, maybe with another read I might increase my rating.
Expand filter menu Content Warnings