In Deep Conversation - Cleanness by Garth Greenwell (video 2 of 4)

[@whatpageareyouon]

This was wonderful!! "Between desire and dirtiness" yes, exactly! You articulated perfectly what I couldn't: my hesitance with understanding what the narrator's motive was based on his mystifying sexual past that led to tropey territory that became, for me, a larger blimp than what Greenwell may have intended, which took the spotlight over his prose. This was such a compelling and, more than ever, charming review! Even with those, er, musically independent stylings featuring sounds of the orgasmic variety? I have a feeling it was no royalty free Audio Jungle selection! : )

[@WeirdBookBookClub]

Thanks, Alex! I had to improvise a bit on the sound effects, but these are tough times and maintaining high production values seemed important. At times I wondered if my inability to identify with the narrator signaled a lack of empathy on my part for people who are struggling to come to terms with their sexual identity, but for someone who thinks about and has sex so regularly and invests it with so much significance it strained credibility to me that he was still so consistently vague/undecided about it. Like, surely he would've had to establish some baseline conclusions about why his desires always feel so fraught. Your perspective was incredibly helpful, allowing me to suss out my own feelings on the text!

[@derekmainereads]

1. So happy to see you with a new video! 2. "I miss Kentucky, and I miss my family." But, most importantly, this idea and execution was fantastic. Kudos to all and hope ya'll do this again. Thanks for the great work

[@WeirdBookBookClub]

Thanks, Derek! Sarah and Leo were able to coax me out of hibernation and this project ended up being a welcome distraction. I was actually supposed to be visiting my family in Kentucky today--my mom's 61st birthday--but we had to settle for a video call. (I did not mention this video or its contents to her, lol.)

[@derekmainereads]

I’m sorry you had to settle for a video call, at least it’s something. Not being able to see my parents, and my parents not able to see the grandkids, has been really hard. Surprised your mother had you at 40, but awesome for her!

[@WeirdBookBookClub]

You so accurately guessed my age! I'll be celebrating my 13th annual 21st birthday this summer. Yeah, in lots of ways we're fortunate even to have this degree of contact with my parents right now. My mother-in-law passed away last summer, so I feel for you.

You are back! Lovely!

[@WeirdBookBookClub]

Haha, thanks, Britta! Leo and Sarah coaxed me out of hiding. The opportunity to discuss perversity in literature was an added incentive, too. ;-)

[@CharlesHeathcote]

I really appreciated hearing your thoughts about this book, and think you've raised some great points regarding the perception of sex and sexuality in fiction. I'll admit to some reticence in reading Cleanness, but am grateful to you, Sarah and Leo for going into such depth with your discussion.

[@WeirdBookBookClub]

Thanks, Charles! I'm sure there's enough bad sex writing out there to convince some people that it's not a rewarding topic to center an entire novel around. But I think it's definitely a mistake to dismiss it entirely. I'm grateful to Sarah and Leo, too, for encouraging me to give this book a try and share my thoughts on it. If you do end up reading Greenwell I'd be interested to hear your take, too!

[@BookishTexan]

"Teaming hoards of porn watchers" :) Thought your answer to question four was brilliant.

[@WeirdBookBookClub]

Haha, thanks, Brian! All of my extracurricular "research" in this area if finally paying off!