Review Detail

'Pure' is dark, twisted and beautiful all at the same time. It’s an intense read, one that absorbed my attention and made me think about it even when I wasn’t reading the novel. I was hooked from the first page, and I had a hard time putting it down; it's the kind of book that made me stay up extremely late even when I had work the next morning, knowing I'll need to live off coffee the next day. That kind of book is becoming increasingly rare for me, so I was delighted to find ‘Pure.’

The story is about multiple characters, but it focuses on the story of Pressia, a kind-hearted, resourceful, inventive girl who has a doll’s head for one hand, and Partridge, a determined, sheltered Pure boy from the Dome who is searching for his mother, who he has recently discovered might be alive. After Pressia saves Patridge, they search for his mother together and discover secrets about the Detonations, the world they live in and their connection to each other. They are joined by El Capitan and his brother Helmud, who is fused to him in a permanent piggyback, and Bradwell, a conspiracy-theorist with live birds fused into his back. Their journey takes them through destroyed suburbia, abandoned city streets, creature-ridden wastelands and situations that are almost completely lose-lose. The discoveries that Pressia and Partridge make about themselves and their world will change them forever and have the possibility to affect every remaining survivor.

Baggott’s main skill lies in world-creating; in ‘Pure,’ she creates a world that is devastating, realistic and entrancingly horrible. I seriously loved learning more about Pressia and Partridge’s environments and meeting the people who populated this post-apocalyptic world. However, I would have liked to see more of normal life in the Dome, just so I could get a better feel for exactly how different the Dome is from the outside world of the ‘wretches’. Baggott is just a fantastic writer, with a great feel for scene-setting, description, dialogue and phrasing.

I would not recommend this book to younger middle schoolers because of the fusings, multiple deaths and the intense grittiness of the novel. However, I think high schoolers, especially senior and juniors, would benefit greatly from reading this novel and not just because of its entertainment value. It brings up serious ethical questions and provides a mature prospective on a society that has experienced a very recent apocalyptic event. The outside world in Pure hasn’t had time to rebuild a stable society after the Detonations, and it’s intriguing to see the brutal nature of the chaotic time. Not everyone will enjoy this gritty novel, but some will find it a treasure for their shelf.