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A review by vegantrav
Purity by Jonathan Franzen
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.