What Belongs to You

[snotface]

'What Belongs to You' is a first novel (short at about 200 pages) by the American Garth Greenwell. It came out in 2016 to much critical acclaim and was shortlisted for several literary prizes. Set mainly in Sofia in Bulgaria, it centres on the relationship between an American teacher of English at a prestigious school and the male prostitute Mitko whom he first meets at the novel's start in a urinal. The latter emerges as a memorable, complex, doomed character. The highs and lows of the relationship are described with honesty, insight and sensitivity as Mitko gradually changes from being an object of great desire and fascination to one of irritation and, finally, pity. The teacher/narrator makes no claim to ready answers to the moral dilemmas he faces. The writing is unadorned and assured (with lots of long sentences and some very long paragraphs). I think many on this board will be able to identify closely with much that happens in this novel (do the dynamics of sex worker/customer relationships really vary all that much from one country to another?). It certainly drew me in and held my attention. An enjoyable, sombre, poignant read.

[Brad the Impala]

I can recommend this book also. I enjoyed it so much I watched out for Greenwell's second book Cleanness which came out last year. It seems a natural progression from the first novel as it too follows an expat gay teacher in Sofia looking back on his experiences there before his impending departure from Bulgaria. There are a number of connected stories that spin off from his affair with a local guy. I found it very involving and fully entered the expat world described. There are also some well described sex scenes.

Thinking about it prompts me to think of Box Hill, a very slim novel written by Adam Mars-Jones, set in the UK and describing an obsessive relationship with a gay biker.