Harbor

by Garth Greenwell

Garth Greenwell reads his story from the September 16, 2019, issue of The New Yorker. Greenwell's first novel, "What Belongs to You," was published in 2016, and won the British Book Award for Debut of the Year. A new book of fiction, "Cleanness," will be published in January.

Genres: Short Stories, Fiction

5 pages, Unknown Binding

Published September 16, 2019

About the author

Garth Greenwell is the author, most recently, of Small Rain, which won the 2025 PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction. His first novel, What Belongs to You, won the British Book Award for Debut of the Year, was longlisted for the National Book Award, and was a finalist for six other awards, including the PEN/Faulkner Award, the James Tait Black Memorial Prize, and the Los Angeles Times Book Prize. His second book of fiction, Cleanness, was a New York Times Notable Book. He is also the co-editor, with R.O. Kwon, of the bestselling anthology KINK: Stories. His short fiction has appeared in The New Yorker, The Paris Review, A Public Space, and VICE, and he has written criticism for The New Yorker, The Yale Review, and Harper’s, among others. His honors include a Guggenheim Fellowship and the Harold D Vursell Memorial Award for prose style from the American Academy of Arts and Letters. He lives in Iowa City and New York, where he is a Distinguished Writer in Residence at NYU.

Reviews

[Thompson McDaniel]

Americans in Sozopol, Bulgaria looking for love in all the wrong places - the author and i have that in common. If it wasn’t for that i might only give it 3 stars. Reads better 2nd time around.

[Sara]

Garth has nice well writing esp about bulgaria and city and fealing.but that not enugh to me to be exited and make his story fab.somthing missing .

[Owais]

Trying to find love in all the wrong places, the nostalgia and the longing, there is a tenderness is his writing despite the gay love life tropes of looking for love, desire and not knowing what they want - good at describing atmospherics though he delves into it a tad bit longer than needed - the sense of loss after a breakup (where we are thrown in the story) needed that attention. writing it in first person gives a more autobiographical and personal tone and makes for a good read

[Konstantin R.]

[rating = A-]
There is a gentleness to this story (about an unknown narrator (a writer himself) looking for love, for stability, for uneasy and excitement) that I rather enjoyed. Set in Bulgaria on a writer's retreat, we follow the thoughts of the narrator as he wonders about his relationship with R. and where he will go next. The story is well-written, though the ending metaphor perhaps is a bit overblown. The ending is where a priest strips and goes for a swim, the author relaying the idea that going out is easier than coming back in. Of course Greenwell has carefully set this action up, with minute details, avoided glances, ideas of shame, ideas of change and so forth. I look forward to reading his novel.