Reviews

Lo Que Te Pertenece/ What Belongs to You by Garth Greenwell

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tolkiengay's review against another edition

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challenging dark reflective sad slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.5

The writing was good, but the story lacked drive for me. Wouldn’t read again.

Content Warnings

matthewgeraghty's review against another edition

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emotional reflective sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.75

tomleetang's review against another edition

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3.0

A sad little book about self-loathing and the transactional nature of relationships. Not as easy to dismiss as the plot would suggest - gay American expat has series of seedy encounters with Bulgarian hustler while recalling his mummy and daddy issues - but didn't feel as revelatory as the numerous review quotes coating the cover made it sound.

Impressive treading of the line between the prurient and the introspective though. I feel like I need to coin a new term like scaroused for how it made me feel - repelaroused? Arougusted?

janeeyre's review against another edition

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4.0

what belongs to you is like a more interesting, better-written [b:Leaving the Atocha Station|11100788|Leaving the Atocha Station|Ben Lerner|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1358349946l/11100788._SY75_.jpg|16022898]...(side note: i would love to read something comparing the two books. greenwell's novel, with its nameless protagonist whose past we only see in glimpses, has far less ego than lerner's, and his problems are far more real.)
it takes a talented writer to create a character who the reader feels compelled to love AND hate just as much as the protagonist does (and in only 190 pages!), but greenwell has done that here in mitko. what belongs to you is rather plotless, understated and full of digressions, but its near-woolfian rhythm and fluidity had me captivated from start to finish.
i think the idea at the heart of greenwell's novel is care. he builds on what george eliot wrote in middlemarch, one of my favorite passages of all time—"if we had a keen vision and feeling of all ordinary human life, it would be like hearing the grass grow and the squirrel’s heart beat, and we should die of that roar which lies on the other side of silence. as it is, the quickest of us walk about well wadded with stupidity." why do we care for certain people and things more than others? why do we continue to care when it's hard, and when must we choose to stop caring? what do we have to ignore or forget in order to keep living? giving this one a strong 4 stars as i'm not sure if i'll be thinking about it for years to come, but this novel is certainly an achievement in my eyes.