Pure

'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.

Pure, by Julianna Baggott, tells the story of two teens and a shattered world. Pressia survives in the ruins of the nuclear bombing; among burned, fused and mutated beings. Partridge is a Pure, living in the controlled and monitored environment inside the protective dome, along with the others that were lucky enough to be shielded from the bombs. Partridge is convinced his mother is alive somewhere in the ashes outside the dome, and he escapes knowing he may never come back. Pressia is hiding; she now has reached the age where the militia, or OSR, must capture her to either be trained or die.
Pure is well written, with lots of attention to detail. The book starts out a bit slow in the beginning but soon grabs your attention and quickens the pace. Flashbacks of everyday moments such as birthdays, barbeques and movie theaters from the “before” (before the bombing) gave me a new perspective on everyday life taken for granted. Pure gave me an appreciation of what I have and the world I live in. I was a little confused as to the location of where Pure is supposed to take place. I don’t know if this was a conscious decision by the author, but I was just wondering what was supposed to be happening in other places in the world. Pure is not as action-packed as I would have liked; it has more inner and emotional struggle. Pure has a quiet air to it, like the silent desolate world it takes place in. I thought the characters were well developed and lifelike. Overall, I thought Pure was fresh, unpredictable and compelling. Pure is a book that made me think.
I would recommend this book to boys and girls ages 12 and up. Pure is the first book in a planned trilogy and I look forward to reading the next one.

ISBN: 9781455503063
Publisher: Grand Central Publishing
Pages: 448

We know you are here, our brothers and sisters.
We will, one day, emerge from the dome to join you in peace.
For now. we watch from afar, benevolently.

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 theatres, 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.
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.

I received Pure by Julianna Baggott from Netgalley to review. I really enjoyed reading this dystopian tale, it was well written and well thought out. I loved reading the mixture of perspectives from Lyda & Partridge, inside the Dome and Pressia & Bradwell, outside the Dome. The only part of Pure that I didn't like was the ending, for me it didn't fit in with the rest of the book, it seemed too simple and a bit odd. My favourite character was Pressia because of her resourcefulness and determination. I love the cover of Pure, the blue butterfly surrounded by ash within the Dome implies that whichever side of the Dome the characters are on, they are trapped in one way or another.

Available at Amazon.co.uk.

Overall, I enjoyed the writer’s descriptive writing, it’s very visually written, creating intense imagery. Yet it’s almost overloaded with the set up and descriptions, so it was a little harder to get through. I prefer a page turner.

Pure starts of frustratingly slow and secretive. We're leaked bits and pieces about the world in which Pressia lives, but these clues do little answer any questions about how the world has reached it's current state. Other then deducing that there was some kind of nuclear explosion, laced with fusion-causing nanobytes, many things are left completely unexplained for the majority of the book. When is this taking place? Is it supposed to be a few years in to our futures, or is it set in the far-distant future? Why was the Dome created at all, if those in charge weren't aware of an impending nuclear attack? How did those in the Dome manage to get in to the Dome, if the attack wasn't predetermined? Even with the addition of certain nanobytes, why would a nuclear-like blast fuse people to the objects they were near instead of incinerating them completely? How can an organic being fuse with something inorganic and become more object then being? Why would the buildings of a city survive (albeit, in pieces) when situated at the centre of the explosion, but things become more desolate and barren further from the epicentre? Wouldn't it make more sense for things to be most destroyed at the centre? These questions kept distracting me from the plot, making my reading experience less enjoyable.

The plot is virtually nonexistent until more then halfway through the book. Much is built up, the OSR or Project Phoenix for example, only to later serve no purpose. Baggott is amazingly descriptive, bringing life to the fused monstrosities of her world and the barren landscapes that exist in a constant shroud of ash, but her vivid scenery takes too much away from the plot, making it stagnant. I found myself skimming sections several times, as it was just more of the same. I actually began to dislike Baggott's ability to truly capture a description with her words, because there was so much of it.

The characters were all a little dull, and I couldn't relate to any of them. They all seemed afflicted by ADD as their thoughts seemed quite scattered, especially considering the circumstances they at times found themselves in. It was almost like we bore witness to every single thought that went through their minds, which was at best confusing, and at worst distracting. These scattered thoughts would branch off in to full-fledged tangents and I would forget what was actually happening, until they returned to reality and were forced to deal with the situation at hand. I had a hard time fearing for Pressia's life, for example, when every time she was faced with a life-threatening situation, all she could think about was whether or not her memories of her trip to Disneyland, or how her father smelled, were valid. I felt like a lot of the secondary characters, similar to some of the plot points mentioned and then forgotten, served no real purpose other then to add superfluous content. The numerous points of view were also unnecessary, as I learned nothing from either El Capitan or Lyda that was significant in progressing the plot.

I feel liked Pure tried to be thought-provoking, touching on a couple of "controversial" themes: 1) the treatment of others who are different; and 2) the regression of woman's rights within the Dome. The problem I had with Pure was that it never took a firm stance on either subject. Those who segregated themselves from those who were different were the characters who seemed to prosper, and those who were different seemed to worship those who remained "Pure". And even though it was only ten years since the explosion(s), within the Dome women accepted that they were either deemed fit for motherhood (or not) and were comfortable with their government sanctioned women-appropriate activities, like basket weaving. Outside the Dome, however, Pressia and Partridge both comment on how beautiful things can be, because of their differences, and we see that one of the most powerful and revered organizations is a group of ex-housewives, led by the "Good Mother". I kept waiting for Pure to take a firm stance on either subject, and was disappointed by its lack of backbone.

The ending was rushed and chaotic. There was a nice mix of both predictable and unpredictable plot twists, and the pacing increased to full speed. Unfortunately, it was too little too late. More information is dumped on us, but its done in such a way that it leaves many new questions unanswered. Almost nothing is actually resolved, and though the characters talk about a future like there's hope, their situation leaves a lot to be desired.

I think that this book definitely reminds of the fact that people are people, even though they might not be "Pure", or perfect, as many people aren't. Probably, of all the eight million people on the planet, most of them are definitely not pure. Most are probably poor and starving, living in desperate poverty while the rest of us enjoy the high life.

Pressia is one of the "wretches", as teh Pures call them. They are the part of everyone that were left outside of the Dome when the apocalypse struck, fusing everyone outside the protection of the Dome to things, animals or even other people. Juliana definitely makes it easy to imagine exactly what the wretches would look like. Pressia has a dolls head fused to her wrist, and her grandfather has a fan inside his throat. But she got off lightly, I think. Some people for example have been fused to the ground and have become Dusts, while others are now half human half animal abominations.

Partridge is one of the lucky ones, inside the Dome. They are called the Pures, as they are Pure and were not damaged by the apocalypse. Partridge is the son of the most important person in the Dome. But his father is not kind, or loving. And when he lets slip that Partridges mother might be alive instead of dead like he had always thought, he is quick to make up his mind about escaping from the Dome as soon as possible.

These two teenagers from completely different worlds meet and set off on a journey to find Partridges mother (who, it is found out later in the book, is Pressia's mother as well). They are joined by El Capitan who has had his little brother fused to him, so obviously wherever one goes, the other goes as well. They are also joined by Bradwell, a boy who has had birds fused to his back. Together they all go against forces greater than them, but they will never give up. Not for anything.

Pure is a really great book that tells us about the value of not judging someone immediately. Behind the awful scarred skin of the wretches may lie a trusting friend, or, in Partridges case, a long-lost sister.

First of all, I want to point out that, although the main characters are all teenagers, this is not a novel aimed at young adults. While some teens may enjoy it perhaps, the tone and the writing style definitely market towards adults. This change is visible, too, in the romance, which is much darker and less perfect than in most YA dystopias.

Let me discuss that a bit more. Whereas, even in the harshest of dystopias, like The Hunger Games or Battle Royale, people look and act like people, maybe not good ones, but people nonetheless. The violence may be gratuitous and the acts depraved, but, ultimately, the people are, wounds aside, attractive and normal. This is not the case in Pure.

In fact, this is what I liked best about the novel, and this is the part that will stick with me long after I've forgotten most of the plot. The people, the wretches, who were outside when the bombs went off fused to whatever happened to be near them at the time. Obviously, most people did not survive this, but a lot did, but they came out of it looking like something out of a horror movie.

Pressia got off pretty lightly all things considered: scarring on one side of her face and a doll's head fused to one of her hands. El Capitan, one of the heads of the guards that rule the world outside the dome, fused with his brother, Helmud. Mothers who grabbed their children have their kids fused to their legs or breasts. Other people, Dusts, seem to have fused with the ground, the dust, the rocks. (Is it bad that this also makes me think of Sid's toys in Toy Story?)

Now, this does seem somewhat far-fetched to me, but one of the remarkable things about nature is its ability to bounce back. So why not? These fused people (and animals--humans are not the only ones affected by the radiation) are completely terrifying and will haunt me.

What bothered me, though, was the plan that the folks in the Dome had. It doesn't seem like they planned to stay in there for all that long. I thought radiation took a really long time to dissipate...how will they be okay until that time? This wouldn't be Blast from the Past.

All in all, I'm really not entirely sure how I feel about this one. It was a bit of a struggle for me to read. Something about it just didn't mesh with me. Having looked through some reviews on GoodReads, I know I'm not the only one who felt this way. Still, there were some cool things here, and I may read the next book in the series despite my reservations.