Reviews tagging 'Death'

Pure by Andrew Miller

1 review

sunnybopeep's review against another edition

4.5

Pure is a really interesting book. The entire plot revolves around one seemingly simple task—the demolition of an old church and the adjacent cemetery. It gets really juicy when that task turns out to be a lot more difficult than anyone could have expected. It’s set just before the French Revolution when the lower and middle classes are stirring with unrest toward both the aristocracy and the church. The great cathedral itself is highly symbolic, and it poses many obstacles for the team working on bringing it down. Many of those challenges are mental rather than physical. Toward the end of the book, the story takes an unexpectedly human turn. The characters eventually develop through their trials and end up feeling more flesh and blood than they did at the beginning. I was skeptical about being able to sympathize with an engineer from Normandy, but the book kept me interested in his fate… and eventually, I grew to understand the motivations of all of the main characters. 

Interestingly enough, like actual books that were written during this time period, this book is very much about the struggle between good vs evil. However, it takes more of an understated, psychological approach to that topic. 

It’s not the most exciting book ever, but it’s a really well-balanced and high quality read. The writing is absolutely fantastic, and I actually want to read MORE by this author, which is the highest praise of all.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death and Vomit

Moderate: Rape