I listened to the audio version of this book narrated by the author. His voice was rather soothing, which probably helped in listening about some hard subjects in the story.

This is a totally different story than any I have ever read. The author suffers a medical emergency (not Covid) during the pandemic. As a disabled healthcare worker, it was very interesting for me to listen to the patient's point of view. Everything said (medical terms) was like a foreign language to him, even before all the pain meds. He was very isolated and alone and totally dependent on the healthcare workers. Everything about the experience was strange and upsetting to him.

The medical happenings were interwoven with his musings on music and poetry. I'll never look at a simple sparrow the same after listening to his words about it. He is a poet and I would have to say that even though this isn't a poem, the whole book is poetic. There is such a beautiful flow to his work. His love for his partner also adds to the sweetness of the book. I loved it!

Thanks to Macmillan Audio and NetGalley for the audiobook. All thoughts are my own.

A man experiences a sudden medical emergency early in the pandemic and finds himself in the ICU, grappling with the uncertainty of his illness and facing his own mortality. This is a beautiful meditation on life and death with a realistic backdrop of Covid and all that entailed to deepen his isolation. I fully expect a Greenwell novel to be contemplative and affecting and this one does not disappoint. I thought it was wonderful.

Small Rain is a lovely book. Small, personal details like the first taste of coffee after going without are relayed with such warmth and precision they become universal. I might not be much of a coffee drinker myself, but I feel as if I understand the pleasure of the first cup after a long absence simply by reading - a secondhand experience of relief and pleasure. If the point of literature is to build empathy, to feel connected to people unlike ourselves, this book is a runaway success. The characters became my best friends in the whole world for the time I spent listening to the audiobook. I was completely invested in each person, interaction, memory. Thank you to the author, publisher, and NetGalley for the audio ARC.

My experience with Small Rain was definitely enhanced by Garth Greenwell's narration. He captured the emotional weight of the words perfectly, never overperforming but still filling each word with compassion. Listening was like having coffee with that friend who way overshares yet you don't stop them because somehow they make a stay in the hospital into an epic story and you find yourself hanging on every word. I was already a fan of Greenwell and Small Rain just cements his place in my heart and the literary world.

Wow. Just WOW.

Garth Greenwell I am a bit disappointed in myself that I didn’t know about your stories until now. I can’t wait to dive into more and really, really recommend this poignant, vulnerable, and raw story.

There have been many times in my life where I start to go down the rabbit hole of medical worry. What if my heart stops while I am sleeping, what if I really hurt myself during this fun hike or, what if the love of my life gets hurt or sick? Greenwell shares his experience with what is most people’s nightmare- a life threatening illness that traps him in the hospital. I was riveted.

This story felt less like fiction and more like real life. Greenwell explores the joys of living and the fears of dying. The worries we all have but are sometimes too afraid to speak out loud. The complexities of relationships, and regrets, the meaning we find in art and memory.

This is another character driven story with not a whole lot of plot but a whole lot of emotions that will make you think, reflect, and be thankful.

Thank you so much @macmillian.audio and @fsgbooks for the early listening copy.

This one came out Tuesday!

4.5 stars

3.5 stars rounded up. While this is not my typical style or normal book I’d read, I enjoyed this on audio. Narrated by the author, it read like a memoir and felt very real. I cared for this MC so that also kept me going. Through the majority of the book, the MC was hospitalized with an aortic tear which occurred during the early days of the pandemic. The book shows how the MC had to navigate the healthcare system and doing much of it without his family. I enjoyed the trusting relationship he formed with one of his nurses and one of his doctors.

Overall a good literary fiction that makes you feel like you’re reading a memoir.

Many thanks to Macmillan Audio for this copy. This book is available this Tuesday!

Greenwell’s latest autobiographical fiction shares the poetic prose of its predecessors, but leans into the fragility of life and particularities of the human body and it’s impermanence. COVID and climate change complicates things and elucidates the delicate nature of health and daily life, but more than that, Small Rain, is an exquisite rendering of two people in a loving and enduring relationship, twisted together in bed, the narrator notes, “happiness did leave a mark.”

Thanks to NetGalley and the author for granting me a copy of this book in exchange for an honest rating.

What a seriously lovely book Small Rain by @ggreenwell is. Sometimes I'm not so sure about reading books that take place during the pandemic because it feels #toosoon, but Greenwell paints the picture of our main character beautifully, reflecting on the loneliness of being in the hospital during the pandemic but also the connection that can develop between healthcare providers and patient.

I think the biggest gift of this audiobook is that it's narrated by Greenwell himself. While I wouldn't expect an author to narrate (and frankly some may not be good narrators), this narration is so tender and loving, it brings the listener to exactly where our character is, and helps create all of the feelings along the way.

I listened to this audiobook and was pleasantly surprised. This was intense and personal. This was as if I were in the front seat of a very detailed and a whirlwind of an experience. You learn about the medical crisis alongside the author/narrator and you learn the ins and outs of the medical care during COVID.

To be honest, I was hesitant to listen about COVID. Even after 4 years, I still didn't want to listen about it. There was even a slight annoyance that the book started with that. But then my approach quickly turned, that was how great this was written, because I started to care about the author's experience and what he had to go through. His crisis was on the same level playing field of seriousness, and what he had to endure was deeply personal and he was open and honest about the whole process. There was a deep care that ignited as a listener and and there were often times you'd pull away from the present dilemma at the moment and learn about the author's life. That was nice to listen to.

I'd recommend this if you enjoy memoirs, but also enjoy reading how it feels to be tested emotionally. But the best part is helping you remember to enjoy the people in your life and appreciate just being able to be present for each other. Thank you to NetGalley and MacMillan Audio for a copy of this audiobook. All opinions are my own.

4,5

Garth Greenwell had his share of misfortune in 2020. 'Small Rain' is an autobiographical account of a period he spent on the intensive care of a hospital in Iowa City, with a life-threatening condition. It wasn't COVID, but it was 2020 and the pandemic was still at its height.

Greenwell speaks about the care he received, the pain, fear and uncertainty he felt, but there are thoughtful digressions too, on American healthcare, on a divided society, on poetry and teaching poetry in an age of social media, on human contact. It is a Covid-novel too in a sense and it was good te be reminded of the care workers.

Auto-fiction is a genre I usually enjoy, and I appreciate Greenwell's clear prose and his openness (as in previous works) very much.

I recommend the audiobook read by the author who has a very sympathetic voice.

• love love LOVE this book!!! wow!
• a queer poet reflects on his life when he is brought to the ICU with a mysterious illness
• a lot of ruminating on the american healthcare system with greenwell’s customary stunning prose
• a careful, beautiful look at humanity, art, love, a the ‘american dream’
• i honestly think i will read anything by this author, he can do no wrong

Small Rain by Garth Greenwell. Publishing September 3rd, 2024 by Farrar, Straus and Giroux. A man has immense pain in his stomach and chest and eventually after much deliberation; he goes to the ER, ends up in ICU with a serious medical crisis. I had the pleasure of listening to the audio version of this novel. The audio book is narrated by author, and I feel like it added so much authenticity to the story. As the man sits in the hospital, undergoing tests and procedures he ponders life, love, relationships, family, humanity, and queerness. The writing (audio) shows vulnerability and a shared empathy as we go with the days in the hospital with the man. I was very thankful for Netgalley, and MacMillan Audio for the chance to listen to this audiobook. Thanks to Garth Greenwell for writing such a great book.

The storytelling of the book was will written and able to transport you into the world trying to be created. However I didn't really get gripped into the story. I didn't find myself wanting to learn more of the characters story. I don't think it was a bad story just not a story for me

this is my first garth greenwell! i started crying, like, 10% in. you go, garth greenwell.

here we have a book about the american healthcare system and why it's bad, bad, bad. a writer has been in enormous pain for days. DAYS. (this is when i realized this was going to screw with my brain because as an american citizen, i too have avoided seeking medical care for fear of things like cost, lost wages from missing work, the dumbass "buck up" attitude that boomers have instilled in me over the years.) a note: this also took place early in the covid era, pre-shot. as a person that had to navigate two major health care crises with both of my parents almost dying in mid-2020 this hit me pretty freaking hard.

through a very personal story we go through a young writer learning of his unusual medical condition (an aortic tear) and the critical care that he receives in the hospital after. we see underworked nurses and doctors, we see expensive and unnecessary medical tests, we see a lack of information being explained to him as a patient, and we see a lack of humanity in a careworker that left his symptoms to worsen out of spite because he questioned something about his care.

every single one of these things i experienced in 2020 with my mom in hospitalized for pneumonia which made this a massively visceral experience for me - the uncertainty, the frustration, the fear of a virus know one knows about, the politicization of it by relatives who endangered older people via their insistence not to do one thing to protect others because of their own arrogance. what a great book about the critical issues breaking down our failure as a country to provide for people. what a thoughtful piece on why our country will continue to fail at large-scale issues with no plans for care and our political divisiveness rendering america unable to make positive choices for the good of all instead of the wallets of a few.