Welcome to Litsy!

This is my least favorite of Greenwell‘s novels so far, but it‘s still a worthy book. A character study of an American teaching in Bulgaria, it meditates on the loss of home when you‘re part of an unaccepted group. There‘s graphic sex, which I don‘t like, but here I feel it does inform the character, so in that sense it works.

Call me a prude but second chapter in was content that I just couldn‘t get through. R@p€ and SA are just not things I enjoy reading about and this was pretty graphic. I get that‘s a me thing and for others it might be no issue, but for myself and my own MH I‘m best to out this down and try something different.

Some reading and an afternoon snack. I have to admit this book is way way more erotic then I normally pick up.

Starting on this for my around the world challenge…
Country: Bulgaria

Stunning prose, Greenwell is certainly a poet. I enjoyed the setting and protagonist. I appreciate the writing but some of the plot was too much for me.

🌟🌟🌟

A worthy follow-up to his last book, What Belongs to You. A nameless narrator, an American teaching English in Bulgaria, dates various men, falls in love, and then is alone again. It‘s a series of linked vignettes more than a linear novel, but it works. I most loved the one where he in in Italy with his boyfriend, and the one where he goes out drinking with two former students. Really beautiful writing all around.

An American teacher navigates love, sex & a wild night out in Sofia. This was excellent. The stories link up & work as a ‘song cycle‘ (Greenwell‘s description). I love his prose & ability to bring rhythm & suspense into each sentence. He controls the tension masterfully so the writing propels you forward. He illuminates the everyday experiences of living as a gay man in Sofia with crystal clear writing, compassion & restraint. Recommended.

This is is a melancholic book about an American man who lives in #Bulgaria. The book consists of 3 parts of which the middle is about the time with his lover R. In the 1st and the 3rd part he lives without R but all he does and thinks seems related to R in a way. Even the most rough and explicit sex scenes feel like atonement, blaming, or sadness. Very well done.

#SummerFun #LGBTQbook #ReadingEurope2020 🇧🇬 #LitsyBitsy #RainbowColors

Literature with a capital L with plenty of explicit and violent gay sex. What's not to like?!

A novel comprised of chapters that could be read as short stories, all set in Sofia, Bulgaria around an American professor who is about to leave after years abroad and is reflecting on what these years have given him. A queer student's confessions, sexual encounters, and activism against the extreme homophobia that haunts the country are all characters in this brilliant text about the challenges of defining the self and how we inhabit ourselves.

My #ReadingEurope2020 #Bulgaria pick was quite gorgeous if at times uncomfortable & slightly more erotic than I‘m used to. An American who‘s gay, living & teaching in Bulgaria, shares memories that occurred as he traverses daily life.
Interconnected stories that capture pain, hope, shame, loneliness, longing and desire. Dark & disturbing but often beautiful. It‘s narrated by the author which lends another level to the gritty text. 👇🏼

Enjoying this book way more than I expected. It‘s beautiful in an uncomfortable way and as a bonus.... it has a #Portugal reference 😁#ReadingEurope2020 #Bulgaria

WOW😳 This is a little dark and unsettling #ReadingEurope2020 #Bulgaria 🎧#Scribd

Listened to Garth Greenwell talk about his book Cleanness, on Books and Authors by BBC Radio 4.

"As an artist I am drawn to extremes. I am drawn to writing ecstasy or writing despair, but you know, i wanted to write something in the middle, where most of us live most of our lives. I wanted to write the wonder of the ordinary happiness, the very unremarkable happiness of being in love."

#tbrtemptation

Extraordinary prose. This is kind of like interlinked short stories, about a teacher in Sofia and the impact a relationship with a man, R. , has on him during this time. I wish I could see Greenwell in person speak about his writing. He's a genius IMO.

Just the first chapter of this alone took my breath away.....Hot take: I think Greenwell will stand the test of time and be considered a literary giant.

This book was so introspective and melancholy, though not depressing. About an American man living and teaching in Sofia, Bulgaria and the people he meets there. Some of the scenes were a bit unsettling, but not without purpose. Overall the prose was so beautiful. I would have kept reading if there had been more to read.

Much like Garth Greenwell's last novel, What Belongs to You, which I admit I never finished, the narrator feels like the author sharing stories from his time teaching English in Bulgaria. In a few he is quite young, some are during revolution, and in some he is older (but the narrator is the same.) ⤵️

Gay erotica but with the beautiful written prose that dares display human connections, experiences, and blunt sexuality. The story is told through an unnamed American narrator who is teaching college in Sofia, Bulgaria. Here, he explores his desires and carnal wantoness through various encounters that is both scary, empty, sad, joyous, and at times meaningful. This is certainly not for the prudish but a voyeuistic view of human psychology.

This is Garth Greenwell‘s second novel and this one is just as surreal as the first. He is a poet at heart and it definitely comes through when he transitions to novels.

For my full review, please visit my blog at: http://obsessedbookaholic.com/2019/11/29/cleanness-book-review/

Thank you NetGalley and Farrar, Straus and Giroux for an Advanced Reader‘s Copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I don't think it's an understatement to say that Garth Greenwell is one of our greatest living prose stylists. But I think that's selling this book short, because focusing only on the beauty of this writing misses what it says about human connection. The way Greenwell uses the erotic as a means of exploring the need for connection, and different types of connection, and connection with self, is pretty amazing, I think.

I‘ve been looking forward to this for so long, and it‘s everything I‘d hoped for.

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