The casual grandeur of Garth Greenwell's prose, unfurling in page-long paragraphs and elegantly garrulous sentences, tempts the vulnerable reader into danger zones. The range in these stories is part of their triumph and part of what makes their existential sorrow so profound. The overall effect is even more impressive than. Dwight Garner, The New York Times Book Review Greenwell has an uncanny gift, one that comes along rarely.' You pick his novels up with asbestos mitts, and set them down upon trivets to protect your table from heat damage. writing about sex is altogether scorching.

In exacting, elegant prose, he transcribes the strange dialects of desire, cementing his stature as one of our most vital living writers. Each echo reveals startling insights about what it means to seek connection: with those we love, with the places we inhabit, and with our own fugitive selves.Ĭleanness revisits and expands the world of Garth Greenwell's beloved debut, What Belongs to You, declared 'an instant classic' by The New York Times Book Review.

A queer student's confession recalls his own first love, a stranger's seduction devolves into paternal sadism, and a romance with another foreigner opens, and heals, old wounds. As he prepares to leave the place he's come to call home, he grapples with the intimate encounters that have marked his years abroad, each bearing uncanny reminders of his past. In this atmosphere of disquiet, an American teacher navigates a life transformed by the discovery and loss of love. Soviet buildings crumble, wind scatters sand from the far south, and political protesters flood the streets with song. Sofia, Bulgaria, a landlocked city in southern Europe, stirs with hope and impending upheaval. In the highly anticipated follow-up to his beloved debut, What Belongs to You, Garth Greenwell deepens his exploration of foreignness, obligation, and desire Named a Best Book of the Year by over 30 Publications, including The New Yorker, TIME, The Washington Post, Entertainment Weekly, NPR, and the BBC Longlisted for the Joyce Carol Oates PrizeĪ New York Times Critics Top Ten Book of the Year

Cleanness by Garth Greenwell