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vegantrav's review against another edition
4.0
Purity is my first Jonathan Franzen novel. Knowing Franzen's reputation as something of a curmudgeon, a Luddite, and an elitist, I though perhaps I wouldn't like this novel, though I didn't honestly know what to expect at all.
Thus, I must say I was pleasantly suprised by Purity. I found Purity very enjoyable. I was fascinated by all the main characters, particularly the eponymous Purity (Pip) and Anabel. I really loved how Franzen gave us not just the story of Pip but of all the major characters (Anabel, Tom, and Andreas and even of the more secondary charcters Annagret, Clelia, Leila, and Katya). Franzen basically gives us fairly robust biographies of these main characters, so we readers really get to know them very well and care about them very much--as well become very annoyed with and even angry with them, particularly Anabel and Andreas.
Franzen writes wonderfully easily and naturally; his prose is unintrusive, ever apt, and even a joy. Reading Purity was a never a chore and was engaging throughout.
The basic plot of the novel is the tale of a young woman just out of college and struggling with debt who wants to find the father she has never even met and whose identity she does not even know. The voyage on which we are taken with her--through the stories and histories of a large cast of characters on three different continents and over 50 or 60 years of time--is long and winding and ultimately resolves itself very satisfactorily.
Thus, I must say I was pleasantly suprised by Purity. I found Purity very enjoyable. I was fascinated by all the main characters, particularly the eponymous Purity (Pip) and Anabel. I really loved how Franzen gave us not just the story of Pip but of all the major characters (Anabel, Tom, and Andreas and even of the more secondary charcters Annagret, Clelia, Leila, and Katya). Franzen basically gives us fairly robust biographies of these main characters, so we readers really get to know them very well and care about them very much--as well become very annoyed with and even angry with them, particularly Anabel and Andreas.
Franzen writes wonderfully easily and naturally; his prose is unintrusive, ever apt, and even a joy. Reading Purity was a never a chore and was engaging throughout.
The basic plot of the novel is the tale of a young woman just out of college and struggling with debt who wants to find the father she has never even met and whose identity she does not even know. The voyage on which we are taken with her--through the stories and histories of a large cast of characters on three different continents and over 50 or 60 years of time--is long and winding and ultimately resolves itself very satisfactorily.
andrewkerndc's review against another edition
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
literachar's review against another edition
dark
emotional
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
ivonanesicc's review against another edition
3.0
”You're merely an object that people project their idealism onto or their anger.”
after ten long days reading this book, many breaks in between and some skipped parts i have finally finished it. it’s a long psychological fiction novel, which, in a way made me feel many emotions while reading it.
i was debating whether to rate it or not, because i am torn on how to feel about this book, it made me go from zero to million in instant, so i will settle on 3⭐️ rating. when i found this book in store and read summery, not going to lie, i was pretty enthusiastic about diving into it. jonathan’s writing style is appreciable and solely on that, i enjoyed it. i think he is great storyteller and how everything clicked by the end of the book, how every character in one way or another, was somehow connected to the other and storyline. it really shows how world is so small.
"It'd be nice to be able to just dip inside their heads, just for like two seconds, and make sure everything's ok-just be sure that they're not thinking some horrible thought about me that I have no clue about-and then I could trust them."
now, this book left me conflicted. no matter how much i’ve enjoyed some parts of the story and found endearing, the other parts were as much disturbing and insuffarable. in the way, i do appreciate flawed and fucked up characters and reading about them is something i’ve found myself to become quite fond of. none of the characters i hate nor do i love, i think it’s kind of the point too. some parts will make you resonate with them, others will make you want to gag them. it’s safe to say it’s complex read.
“The soothing thing about the sort of poetry he wrote was that it limited his choice of words."
if you are slightly interested in reading this book, i’d say go for it. who knows will you love it or hate it, or will it leave you with mixed feelings? i am glad i’ve read this book and the journey. maybe i’ll read some other franzen novel at some point, but i will definitely take a big break from him.
”Only once, and only because I was very young, could I have merged my identity with another person's, and singularities like this are where you find eternity.”
after ten long days reading this book, many breaks in between and some skipped parts i have finally finished it. it’s a long psychological fiction novel, which, in a way made me feel many emotions while reading it.
i was debating whether to rate it or not, because i am torn on how to feel about this book, it made me go from zero to million in instant, so i will settle on 3⭐️ rating. when i found this book in store and read summery, not going to lie, i was pretty enthusiastic about diving into it. jonathan’s writing style is appreciable and solely on that, i enjoyed it. i think he is great storyteller and how everything clicked by the end of the book, how every character in one way or another, was somehow connected to the other and storyline. it really shows how world is so small.
"It'd be nice to be able to just dip inside their heads, just for like two seconds, and make sure everything's ok-just be sure that they're not thinking some horrible thought about me that I have no clue about-and then I could trust them."
now, this book left me conflicted. no matter how much i’ve enjoyed some parts of the story and found endearing, the other parts were as much disturbing and insuffarable. in the way, i do appreciate flawed and fucked up characters and reading about them is something i’ve found myself to become quite fond of. none of the characters i hate nor do i love, i think it’s kind of the point too. some parts will make you resonate with them, others will make you want to gag them. it’s safe to say it’s complex read.
“The soothing thing about the sort of poetry he wrote was that it limited his choice of words."
if you are slightly interested in reading this book, i’d say go for it. who knows will you love it or hate it, or will it leave you with mixed feelings? i am glad i’ve read this book and the journey. maybe i’ll read some other franzen novel at some point, but i will definitely take a big break from him.
”Only once, and only because I was very young, could I have merged my identity with another person's, and singularities like this are where you find eternity.”
perfect_leaves's review against another edition
5.0
It took me a while to get through Purity because I had to worry about work in school, but in the moments I could spare I drank this text like water. When I received a copy (I got it from a giveaway at school), I heard that Franzen is a controversial author. Some love his novels, others hate them. I suppose I fall into the first camp. The book was hefty, clocking in at nearly 600 pages, but the space isn't filled with empty phrases. Franzen chooses his words carefully, and it's obvious he spent time crafting sentences that deliver maximum emotional effect. Some sections of Purity feel like unnecessary plot detours at first, but Franzen masterfully ties all of pieces together in a way that is unexpected but not unbelievable. Each character is robustly dynamic, even those that don't necessarily receive a lot of screen time, er... page time.
Purity isn't for everyone. A quick scroll through the rest of the reviews will review the split opinions on Franzen's newest work. In an interview (I don't remember which, I heard it back in November, when I first received the book), Franzen acknowledged that this novel is a departure from his previous work. If you liked the novels about family and such, this might send you running for the hills. Sure there's a family in this one as well, but it's not exactly functional.
My only complaint is that Franzen wraps up the novel rather hastily. Towards the end, is seems like Pip's manner of speaking changes drastically as she attempts to confront her parents, which changes readers' perceptions of her character. I'm not sure whether the change in vernacular was an attempt to show Pip had grown up and was coming into her own. If it was, it was a disastrously failed attempt. The last section felt a little bit rushed, as if Franzen ran out of ideas and didn't really know how to end the story. While I'm not at all satisfied with the ending, the first 500 or so pages enthralled me, I can forgive the lazy ending.
Purity isn't for everyone. A quick scroll through the rest of the reviews will review the split opinions on Franzen's newest work. In an interview (I don't remember which, I heard it back in November, when I first received the book), Franzen acknowledged that this novel is a departure from his previous work. If you liked the novels about family and such, this might send you running for the hills. Sure there's a family in this one as well, but it's not exactly functional.
My only complaint is that Franzen wraps up the novel rather hastily. Towards the end, is seems like Pip's manner of speaking changes drastically as she attempts to confront her parents, which changes readers' perceptions of her character. I'm not sure whether the change in vernacular was an attempt to show Pip had grown up and was coming into her own. If it was, it was a disastrously failed attempt. The last section felt a little bit rushed, as if Franzen ran out of ideas and didn't really know how to end the story. While I'm not at all satisfied with the ending, the first 500 or so pages enthralled me, I can forgive the lazy ending.
schrav's review against another edition
dark
emotional
mysterious
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
jfaberrit's review against another edition
3.0
It has always seemed to me that Jonathan Franzen has gotten something of a bad rap with regard to literary misogyny, somehow becoming the face of the problem even though he didn't really seem to be particularly misogynistic, the "great author" always held up as the face of male authorship and its privileges. I still think much of the criticism directed his way on that issue remains unfair, but I wonder if it got to him here. While Pip Tyler is certainly his strongest female protagonist to date, and the heart of what could have been a much better story overall, the rest of his female characters here come off extremely negatively. It is possible to like a book without liking the main characters, and lately it seems that antiheroes and villains-as-protagonists are more common than not; it is much harder to like a book when the author himself seems so unsympathetic toward so many of his characters, particularly the women. Anabel comes off like a cartoon feminist from both Tom and Pip's descriptions, Katya more a figure of scorn than her actions would indicate being fair, Anagret a cold and emotionless foil via Andreas, even Leila a muddle of emotional reactions without much by way of a plan. Add this to the Andreas sections of the book, which are both the least believable as well as the most extraneous, and they drag down a rather solid story about searching for family into a jumble featuring the battle of the sexes, modern technology and its discontents, something never very well thought out about mental illness, are vs. capitalism, etc. This could have been a better book, and Franzen is easily talented enough to do it, but this one missed pretty badly.