The maritime fable of Montse Barderi

There are authors with their own unique stamp, and others without. Montse Barderi's (Sabadell, 1969) is the philosophical tone, that reflective way of conveying the stories that characterizes her novels, whatever they talk about. The sea, which shines and laughs–a title taken from a verse by Maragall– goes further and flirts with the fable, which is the simplest form of philosophy. In this case, the author doesn't seem driven by any didactic purpose—which would be narratively counterproductive—but by the mere desire to investigate the human condition, which is no small feat.

Here, the investigation carried out revolves around romantic relationships, and the protagonist is Daniela, a Latin American girl with indigenous physical characteristics. Along her life path, the girl chooses to soften her features and align her beauty with that of the Caucasian ideal, which is still draconically imposed today by its absurd law, contrary to the multiculturalism in which we live. Now a plastic surgeon, she undergoes a cosmetic change that erases all traces of what she once was.

The sea grieves over this transformation, that shining, laughing sea, the one that gazed at her lovingly, in fact, with an intense infatuation, ever since she was a little girl going to the beach with her parents. "Daniela heard me from the first moment; I would shout, 'Bump into me,' she would reply, 'I'll be right back,' and she would pass through me, her body shooting like an arrow. How come no one noticed? She was constantly jumping against the hum of the waves, and I never once squeezed her."

However, the sea would have liked it if little Daniela had heard it when she would frequent it on Sundays, unaware that it adored her. It would be later, after an intense love life, that the sea would declare its love to her. He would have to wait patiently for her to return to his shore to use the sea as a refuge for his emotions: "I would have her in front of me, but very far away; she would come to listen to herself in front of the blue; I would be only a color, a light, a silence." Until one day the sea spoke to him and told him how he felt about her.

A maritime love

At the beginning of the novel, it takes us a few pages to accept the anthropomorphization of that vast mass of salt water that covers such a high percentage of the Earth's surface. But we soon sign the pact the author proposes and accept this maritime love for the protagonist, whom we accompany throughout her romantic relationships, beginning with her first love, followed by the prestigious married and narcissistic surgeon, and a final relationship she hadn't expected. "She was completely mesmerized by the dark, brilliant blue of his eyes, like sapphire." Three love stories that determine the surgeon's subsequent decision regarding shared loves.

A The sea, which shines and laughsThe prose glides and envelops us with Barderi's characteristic reflective tone, although occasionally some plot choices may jar a little—such as the maritime competitions with which the sea demonstrates to Daniela that it is not just a voice echoing in her head. But a fable is a mechanism that requires the trust of those who read or listen to it, and this is a fable that invites us to glimpse, from our vantage point as readers, the sentimental and vital trajectory of a woman, an example of the lives of so many women who have trusted, and continue to trust, too much in the love of others to fulfill their expectations.