Pure

Julianna Baggott

Feb 2012 · Sold by Grand Central Publishing

About this ebook

Julianna Baggott presents her beautifully written, riveting, breakout novel, PURE, the first volume in her new post-apocalypse thriller trilogy.

We know you are here, our brothers and sisters . . .
Pressia barely remembers the Detonations or much about life during the Before. In her sleeping cabinet behind the rubble of an old barbershop where she lives with her grandfather, she thinks about what is lost-how the world went from amusement parks, movie theaters, birthday parties, fathers and mothers . . . to ash and dust, scars, permanent burns, and fused, damaged bodies. And now, at an age when everyone is required to turn themselves over to the militia to either be trained as a soldier or, if they are too damaged and weak, to be used as live targets, Pressia can no longer pretend to be small. Pressia is on the run.

Burn a Pure and Breathe the Ash . . .
There are those who escaped the apocalypse unmarked. Pures. They are tucked safely inside the Dome that protects their healthy, superior bodies. Yet Partridge, whose father is one of the most influential men in the Dome, feels isolated and lonely. Different. He thinks about loss-maybe just because his family is broken; his father is emotionally distant; his brother killed himself; and his mother never made it inside their shelter. Or maybe it's his claustrophobia: his feeling that this Dome has become a swaddling of intensely rigid order. So when a slipped phrase suggests his mother might still be alive, Partridge risks his life to leave the Dome to find her.

When Pressia meets Partridge, their worlds shatter all over again.
 

Ratings and reviews

After the apocalypse the world is divided, the Pure's that live in the Dome untainted by the detonations. Then there are the Wretches. Their bodies fused to objects that were near them during the blast, some unrecognizable as even once being human. The animals, the dust and the plants, everything has been effected. Prissia a wretch had her hand fused to her doll she was holding. Where her hand used to be has doll eyes that click shut, persed lips. She can feel the small ridges of her knuckles and fingers where they fused. She is raised by her Grandfather who has a horrendous fan forever lodged in his throat. She is about to turn 16 an age where you get taken away. Partridge, is a Pure the son of one of the leaders of the Dome.Eh has been isolated and lonely. The boys in the dDome undergo a coding treatment to make them better. For some reason his coding is not going as it should. His mother gave him something before the blast that made some of the coding not work. After his brother kills himself and his father is angry about the coding not working he makes a drastic decision. He leaves the Dome, escapes. His adventure into the world is a terrible nightmare, and yet there is beauty. The effects of the blast and the nanotechnology in the bombs has helped regenerate humans into grotesque beings. His survival is unlikely until he meets Prissia and her friends and discover a history that will change everything they believed. Fascinating details and world development. I can not compare this to any book I've read. It was so completely unique in the details they almost overwhelmed the story. It is a dark world and a dark story, not happy fairy tales here, and yet I could not put it down. I will always remember parts of this story.

I love a good post apocalyptic yarn as well as the next person, but this was too much. The hallmark of any good fantasy story is to take the world and make a consistant and believable change to it, then to set characters that people can relate to in that world. Everytime the story breaks away from the people and moves to exposition about the world you break the flow of narrative. Masterful storytellers make that transition in long bursts. Pages of exposition can be forgiven if you are not trying to follow a character through them. Julianna's Pure is a prime example of how not to do this, since small bits of exposition and world building are interspersed within the character arcs of each player. Other nits: trying to world build a current post apocalyptic world, and a pre apocalyptic world simultaneously. Long winding examinations on characters who will be minor characters at best. There may have been moments of genius in this book, but I really missed them.

It was a good book. Slightly disturbing, but a good book none the less. A real intresing plot. But Pressia does slightly remind me of our good friend Katniss Everdeen. Of course, after reading such a good book as The Hunger Games, evrything reminds me of it. Good book though.

About the author

Julianna Baggott is the author of numerous novels, including Pure, which was a New York Times Notable Book in 2012. Her poems have been reprinted in Best American Poetry, and her essays have appeared in the New York Times Book Review, the Washington Post, the Boston Globe, and on NPR's All Things Considered. She teaches at the College of the Holy Cross and in Florida State University's College of Motion Picture Arts.