Cleanness - Garth Greenwell
A review of Garth Greenwell’s novel driven by desire, shame, and a narrator governed by appetite rather than judgement.
240 pages · Paperback · 2020 · Picador
A Raw Study of Desire and Shame
Cleanness is my third Greenwell this year, and it is the book where his central impulses are most exposed. Sex, longing, shame, and the narrator’s persistent hunger drive every chapter. He is almost always wanting someone, touching someone, or regretting the moment he stopped himself. Desire governs him more reliably than judgement ever does, and the book does not pretend otherwise.
I found it deeply absorbing, even when it frustrated me.
The sexual material is not present for provocation. It is the structure of the book. Rough encounters, tender ones, and impulsive ones all show how quickly the narrator loses direction once lust takes hold. Greenwell writes these moments in a quiet, controlled tone that sharpens their effect. Even the more questionable scenes carry weight, because they show the narrator stripped of his usual self-defence.
The book is uneven but compelling. Some chapters drift. Others strike cleanly. The night at the club is one of the clearest depictions of queer confusion and attraction I have read in some time. The scene with the stray dog may be the strongest moment in the book, precisely because it is the only one untouched by desire or panic.
For readers new to Greenwell, What Belongs to You remains the better entry point. For those interested in the version of him that pushes furthest into sex, shame, and emotional exposure, Cleanness is the more revealing book. It is flawed, absorbing, and driven almost entirely by the narrator’s restless erotic energy.