Scan barcode
A review by myshkacat
What Belongs to You by Garth Greenwell
challenging
dark
emotional
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
1.5
I loved the ending… that is, I loved that it ended. The only word I can think of to describe this book is “excruciating”. It was a root canal disguised as a novel. It’s been a long time since I’ve almost been brought to tears by the end of a book, not by emotional connection to the story/characters, but by sheer relief that it’s finally over.
It makes a lot of sense that this was originally supposed to be a novella, since it definitely reads as a (boring) story chopped up into a few parts that were then spread out and filled in the gaps with seemingly endless drudgery of long winded, half-baked thoughts and memories that reached no conclusion and held no relevance to the stimulus that had evoked them.
If you’re interested in following an insufferably introspective yet somehow still shallow and insubstantial main character as he describes to you— in a death-by-a-thousand-run-on-sentences style of narration— the fly on the window of the bus, then look no further.
I recommend What Belongs to You to anyone who wants a book that will force them to ask themselves difficult questions, for example “how is it possible that a book under 200 pages feels like it’s taking me a decade to get through?” and “was the adderall I took this morning a placebo?”
I did not enjoy this book.
It makes a lot of sense that this was originally supposed to be a novella, since it definitely reads as a (boring) story chopped up into a few parts that were then spread out and filled in the gaps with seemingly endless drudgery of long winded, half-baked thoughts and memories that reached no conclusion and held no relevance to the stimulus that had evoked them.
If you’re interested in following an insufferably introspective yet somehow still shallow and insubstantial main character as he describes to you— in a death-by-a-thousand-run-on-sentences style of narration— the fly on the window of the bus, then look no further.
I recommend What Belongs to You to anyone who wants a book that will force them to ask themselves difficult questions, for example “how is it possible that a book under 200 pages feels like it’s taking me a decade to get through?” and “was the adderall I took this morning a placebo?”
I did not enjoy this book.