Cleanness is Garth Greenwell’s second book. The protagonist is a gay expatriate American writer teaching in Bulgaria. The book consists of chapters that are stories or vignettes complete in themselves that read like memoir. The subject matter is gay sex and love and, to some extent, the setting of Bulgaria. The protagonist alternates between dark S & M encounters and a long-term romantic, idealized relationship, both of which are described with unflinching honesty, precision, and delicacy. Greenwell’s prose is beautiful. Here’s what Kirkus Reviews says:

https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/garth-greenwell/cleanness/