Author: Eva Baltasar
Translator: Julia Sanches
Publisher: And Other Stories
Paperback
One of our books of the year 2024!
Oliver says: The third installment in Eva Baltasar’s triptych, each (independent) novel following the life of a compellingly stoic queer woman, Mammoth is by far the most unhinged (but just as good!) The protagonist is a young woman disenchanted with everyday existence but determined to become a mother. She decides to take matters into her own hands by having as much unprotected sex with random men as she can. Her quest takes her to an isolated farmhouse, where her life, rather than calming down, becomes increasingly raw and desperate. Brilliantly translated from the Catalan by Julia Sanches, Baltasar’s prose is unique in its power to absorb into the hyper-intense psyche of her heroines. Although seemingly detached from life and people, all three protagonists experience true passion, rendered visceral on every page. The publisher describes this slim book as a “small bomb of a novel,” and I can’t express it better myself.