"Love isn't just a matter of looking at someone, I think now, but also of looking with them, of facing what they face"
The first part of the novel, Mitko, really defines Greenwell as a storyteller and is in fact an extended version of a previously published novella. The story begins with the narrator entering a renowned cruising spot at Sofia's National Palace of Culture where he meets Mitko, a 23 year old sex worker, and in doing so single handedly resets the narrative on gay Bulgaria with a new dignity.
The relationship with Mitko is initially based purely on a transactional basis, Mitko is drawn to sex work as a means to a iPhone and Nike style end, but this soon develops into a symbiosis that exposes both characters to a truth they struggle to accept. Mitko exudes a feral and animalistic sexuality; an enigma that is confounded with that of Bulgaria and Europe itself for the young teacher from Kentucky.
The second part of the novel, A Grave, is a flash back to the narrators time as a teenager in Kentucky and includes a betrayal (of sorts) which instantly captures the confusion and excitement of growing up in a intolerant and narrow-minded world. This is an interesting coming of age section which sits between Mitko and the final part Pox which both take place in Bulgaria.
Greenwell's simple storytelling style is free of overly elaborate prose or clever narrative structures. This is straight forward, truthful, explicit and painfully intimate though at the same time more accessible than work by other writers such as Christos Tsiolkas. Having been published within months of Hanya Yanigahara's A Little Life, there is certainly a trend in contemporary gay fiction which is becoming less marginalised each year. What Belongs to You is a novel that is nothing but purely honest.
I read this novel on kindle in April 2016 mostly on the Jubilee line
What Belongs to You by Garth Greenwell, published by Picador, 209 pages
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