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ifnotparis's review against another edition
4.0
"Purity" is a classic Franzen novel: all of the characters are white and have upper-middle class white people issues. Even the "poorest" (economically speaking) characters in the novel are poor out of choice. But this is Franzen's world, and he illustrates it beautifully. He's a wealthy, white male intellectual whose traumas and tragedies seem to be quite internal and psychological. It's reminiscent of Kundera with a lot less sex.
The plot plays second-fiddle to the psychological profiles of the characters, who uniformly have issues with the mother figures in their lives. This all sounds like a criticism, but it was a pleasure to read. Understanding that Franzen's writing is more or less a mirror of his own personal relationships and psychology doesn't take away from the work, it simply puts it in context. He writes about people who are like him, for better and for worse.
PROSE: As good as you'll find anywhere. The writing is superb.
PLOT: Intriguing, if a bit disconnected from the reality of the Internet culture it attempts to portray (Franzen hates the Internet and doesn't use social media, and yet he's written a book about the internal workings of technocracy ...)
CHARACTERS: Not very diverse in either background or psychological hangups, but unique and quirky enough to stay interested in their plight.
VERDICT: 4/5 stars. The man's a great storyteller.
[b:Purity|23754479|Purity|Jonathan Franzen|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1438958976s/23754479.jpg|43369154]
The plot plays second-fiddle to the psychological profiles of the characters, who uniformly have issues with the mother figures in their lives. This all sounds like a criticism, but it was a pleasure to read. Understanding that Franzen's writing is more or less a mirror of his own personal relationships and psychology doesn't take away from the work, it simply puts it in context. He writes about people who are like him, for better and for worse.
PROSE: As good as you'll find anywhere. The writing is superb.
PLOT: Intriguing, if a bit disconnected from the reality of the Internet culture it attempts to portray (Franzen hates the Internet and doesn't use social media, and yet he's written a book about the internal workings of technocracy ...)
CHARACTERS: Not very diverse in either background or psychological hangups, but unique and quirky enough to stay interested in their plight.
VERDICT: 4/5 stars. The man's a great storyteller.
[b:Purity|23754479|Purity|Jonathan Franzen|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1438958976s/23754479.jpg|43369154]
jennieleigh's review against another edition
5.0
impeccable character development. hard to put down. a great beach read. but in the end, I was left wondering what the overall message was supposed to be?
librarygoddess619's review against another edition
4.0
I listened to the audiobook. The narration was great, and the story was pretty good. The characters were well developed but the pace was more on the slow side than fast.
taygantz's review against another edition
Does the author know how to sexualize anyone other than 13 year old girls? Fucking hell. It's not edgy it's exhausting.
adrireism's review against another edition
adventurous
funny
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Emotional abuse
barrytho's review against another edition
3.0
Compelling in places but unpleasant overall. None of the characters behave like real people. I was a fan of the Corrections and Freedom but not this.
naoki's review against another edition
3.0
Franzen constructs characters more real than any others I’ve read. Purity is no exception, but this book is different in other ways. It’s of broader scope, and perhaps more ambitious, as Franzen goes outside America in parts, delving into socialist East Germany. The Internet’s totalitarian quality (we can’t escape it) is a major theme, as explored by Andreas Wolf, the Julian Assange-like “do-gooder”. Longing for purity but continuously confronted by moral ambiguity, these characters go through a hell of a lot of muddiness. Anabel and Tom’s section was my favourite, Franzen adept at illustrating the toxicity of doomed relationships. Franzen’s best assets–complex characters, contemporary themes, and clever CLEVER writing–are all present here, but this novel wasn’t as tight as his earlier work.
jslive's review against another edition
3.0
Expertly written and imagined, but I found the last half difficult to care about
houyhnhnm64's review against another edition
3.0
There is a passage in Jonathan Franzen’s latest novel Purity where one of the characters, Leila, is speaking with her husband Charles, who is a writer, and I quote:
Leila: ‘Have you ever been tempted to leave a thought unspoken?’
Charles: ‘I’m a writer, baby. Voicing thought is what I’m poorly paid an uncharitably reviewed for.’
I must say, clocking at some 560 pages, Purity is a long novel and I wonder, could Franzen not have left one or two (or possibly more) thoughts unspoken? There are many digressions and particularly in the second half of the novel I sometimes had to summon quite a bit of will power to keep reading. The prominence of sex in this novel is quite striking, and I still wonder what purpose it serves. I read an interview with Franzen the other day, in which he states it is meant to be comical. Frankly (and I claim to have a sense of humour) I did not so much as smile once.
The story revolves around a young woman, Pip Tyler, whose real name is Purity. She is the daughter of a woman named Anabel, who is the heir of a multi-billion company owner and a man named Tom Aberant. When Tom and Anabel get married their ‘joint plan was to be poor and obscure and pure’. Eventually, Tom and Anabel break up. In the mean time Tom has met Andreas Wolf, an East-German man who in the course of the years becomes a sort of Snowden/Assange - leaking government secrets on the internet.
Both Anabel and Andreas Wolf, in different ways, are very disturbed and strange persons. Each in their respective modes, they can be said to strive for purity. Annabel by refusing her father’s billions, Andreas by exposing the lies and secrets of states. But the choices both Anabel and Andreas make, leave deep traces. Anabel has never told her daughter who her father is, and has lived all her live in a simple cabin. One of the most intriguing questions the book raises, is when a friend of Pip aks her: ‘What personal choice did your mother ever give up for you?’ How far indeed, can a parent go in shaping her or his own life, without giving heed to the consequences for the offspring she/he decided to have? What does it entail to be pure?
Franzen has great psychological insight, and yet he uses it very differently from writers such as Michael Cunningham or Ian McEwan. He doesn’t imply, but he explains. The ending, where everything - well, not everything, but still, nearly everything - is nicely resolved, is Hollywoodian. I once heard someone say that the music of The Rolling Stones stands to that of The Beatles as a peasant’s stew to a gourmet chef’s dinner. Well, in this sense, Franzen is The Rolling Stones, and the likes of Cunningham are The Beatles. I have always been more of a Beatles fan.
All in all, as far as I am concerned, a big book, but not a great book. Still, the story - though implausible - is entertaining, and there is a long and impressive murder scene that I believe will stay with me for a long time yet.
Leila: ‘Have you ever been tempted to leave a thought unspoken?’
Charles: ‘I’m a writer, baby. Voicing thought is what I’m poorly paid an uncharitably reviewed for.’
I must say, clocking at some 560 pages, Purity is a long novel and I wonder, could Franzen not have left one or two (or possibly more) thoughts unspoken? There are many digressions and particularly in the second half of the novel I sometimes had to summon quite a bit of will power to keep reading. The prominence of sex in this novel is quite striking, and I still wonder what purpose it serves. I read an interview with Franzen the other day, in which he states it is meant to be comical. Frankly (and I claim to have a sense of humour) I did not so much as smile once.
The story revolves around a young woman, Pip Tyler, whose real name is Purity. She is the daughter of a woman named Anabel, who is the heir of a multi-billion company owner and a man named Tom Aberant. When Tom and Anabel get married their ‘joint plan was to be poor and obscure and pure’. Eventually, Tom and Anabel break up. In the mean time Tom has met Andreas Wolf, an East-German man who in the course of the years becomes a sort of Snowden/Assange - leaking government secrets on the internet.
Both Anabel and Andreas Wolf, in different ways, are very disturbed and strange persons. Each in their respective modes, they can be said to strive for purity. Annabel by refusing her father’s billions, Andreas by exposing the lies and secrets of states. But the choices both Anabel and Andreas make, leave deep traces. Anabel has never told her daughter who her father is, and has lived all her live in a simple cabin. One of the most intriguing questions the book raises, is when a friend of Pip aks her: ‘What personal choice did your mother ever give up for you?’ How far indeed, can a parent go in shaping her or his own life, without giving heed to the consequences for the offspring she/he decided to have? What does it entail to be pure?
Franzen has great psychological insight, and yet he uses it very differently from writers such as Michael Cunningham or Ian McEwan. He doesn’t imply, but he explains. The ending, where everything - well, not everything, but still, nearly everything - is nicely resolved, is Hollywoodian. I once heard someone say that the music of The Rolling Stones stands to that of The Beatles as a peasant’s stew to a gourmet chef’s dinner. Well, in this sense, Franzen is The Rolling Stones, and the likes of Cunningham are The Beatles. I have always been more of a Beatles fan.
All in all, as far as I am concerned, a big book, but not a great book. Still, the story - though implausible - is entertaining, and there is a long and impressive murder scene that I believe will stay with me for a long time yet.