Pure (The Pure Trilogy) [Hardcover]

Julianna Baggott (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: February 8, 2012 | Series: The Pure Trilogy (Book 1)

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.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

A Q&A Between Justin Cronin and Julianna Baggott

Justin Cronin is the author of The Passage.

Justin Cronin: As Pure opens up we meet a girl named Pressia, who has a doll-head fused to one hand and a crescent-shaped burn around one eye.  Where did this image and character come from?

Julianna Baggott: The doll-head fist first appeared in a series of strange, otherworldly short stories. At the same time, I wanted to write something really ambitious, large in scope with cinematic world-building. Not thinking of either of these things, I sat down one day and started writing a dreamy stream of consciousness from the perspective of a 16-year-old girl, hiding in an ashen cabinet in the back of a burnt-out barbershop. I then realized that this girl had a doll-head fused to her fist and that the landscape outside of this barbershop was that ambitious cinematic landscape I'd been longing to write. The two things knit together, and Pressia found her true home.

Justin Cronin: Pure presents a dystopian future after the "Detonations."  What is it about post-apocalyptic fiction that attracted you as a writer and strikes a particular chord with readers today?

Julianna Baggott: Pressia is someone who finds small moments of beauty even amid all of the destruction of this post-apocalyptic world. That was one of the challenges--creating a character who's capable of seeing beauty, who's resilient and tough, and still has hope. I think that our world right now feels precarious--economically and politically--and therefore readers might be drawn to fiction that reflects the necessary toughness that so many people are relying on to survive. But, too, readers might be drawn Pure because the teen years can feel post-apocalyptic, and, on that level, Pure reflects a kind of emotional honesty that feels real.  

Justin Cronin: In the world of Pure, who are the Pures and who are the Wretches?

Julianna Baggott: The novel opens with Pressia who has survived the Detonations and is therefore a Wretch. But we also get the perspective of Partridge who's survived the Detonations inside of a protective Dome; he's a Pure. He's always believed that his mother died a saint while trying to save people during the Detonations. When he finds that this might not be true, he escapes the Dome to find her. The two characters' lives are set on a collision course and become entwined in many twisted ways that make this book a thriller.

Justin Cronin: The cover of Pure includes a striking image of a blue butterfly. What does the butterfly symbolize?

Julianna Baggott: The novel will hopefully force readers to think about what it means to be truly pure--pure of heart. The blue butterfly can represent the Pures who, like Partridge, live in the protective Dome, much like the bell jar on the cover. But it can also represent a more personal purity--like that of Pressia and some of the wretches who struggle to live with their dignity and humanity intact. In the second book in the trilogy, the blue butterfly takes on a more literal meaning as well. Also, check out the back cover of the book. There you'll find a mechanical butterfly created by the artist Mike Libby, well known in steampunk circles. The mechanical butterfly exists in Pure as one of Pressia's creations.

Justin Cronin: What can you tell us about what's coming next for Pressia, Bradwell, and Partridge in the next installment, Fuse?

Julianna Baggott: I broaden the ravaged landscape. Some of the characters travel great distances. There are new creatures to contend with, as well as plot twists and turns within the Dome. (I absolutely love the new characters that we meet within the Dome--as well as the development of characters that readers only met briefly in Pure.)  In addition to a new mystery to be unraveled and power struggles, there are two love stories in Fuse that really take hold, go deep, and become much more complex.

Review

"What lifts PURE from the glut of blood-spattered young adult fiction is not the story Baggott tells but the exquisite precision of her prose...discomfiting and unforgettable." (The New York Times Sunday Book Review )

"Baggott's highly anticipated postapocalyptic horror novel...is a fascinating mix of stark, oppressive authoritarianism and grotesque anarchy...Baggott mixes brutality, occasional wry humor, and strong dialogue into an exemplar of the subgenre." (Publisher's Weekly (STARRED review) )

"A great gorgeous whirlwind of a novel, boundless in its imagination. You will be swept away." (Justin Cronin, New York Times bestselling author of The Passage )

"PURE is a dark adventure that is both startling and addictive at once. Pressia Belze is one part manga heroine and one part post-apocalyptic Alice, stranded in a surreal Wonderland where everyone and everything resonates with what has been lost. Breathtaking and frightening. I couldn't stop reading PURE." (Danielle Trussoni, bestselling author of Angelology )

"From the first page on, there are no brakes on this book. It's nearly impossible to stop reading as Baggott delves fearlessly into a grotesque and fascinating future populated by strangely endearing victims (and perpetrators) of a wholly unique apocalypse. And trust me, PURE packs one hell of an apocalypse." (Daniel H. Wilson, New York Times bestselling author of Robopocalypse )

"A boiling and roiling glorious mosh-pit of a book, full of wonderful weirdness, tenderness, and wild suspense. If Katniss could jump out of her own book and pick a great friend, I think she'd find an excellent candidate in Pressia."
(Aimee Bender, author of The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake
)

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 448 pages
• Publisher: Grand Central Publishing (February 8, 2012)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1455503061
• ISBN-13: 978-1455503063
• Product Dimensions: 6.5 x 1.5 x 9.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (235 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #335,363 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Critically acclaimed, bestselling author, Julianna Baggott -- who also writes under the pen names Bridget Asher (The Provence Cure for the Brokenhearted) and N.E. Bode (The Anybodies) -- has published 17 books, including novels for adults, younger readers, and collections of poetry. Her latest novel, PURE, is the first of a trilogy; film rights have sold to Fox2000 -- www.pure-book.com. Her work has appeared in the New York Times, Washington Post, Boston Globe, Best American Poetry, Best Creative Nonfiction, Real Simple, on NPR.org, as well as read on NPR's "Talk of the Nation" and "Here and Now." Her novels have been book-pick selections by People Magazine's summer reading, Washington Post book-of-the-week, a Booksense selection, a Boston Herald Book Club selection, and a Kirkus Best Books of the Year list. Her novels have been published in over 50 overseas editions. She's a professor in the Creative Writing Program at Florida State University and the founder of the nonprofit Kids in Need - Books in Deed. For more, visit www.juliannabaggott.com.

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

37 of 38 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Weird, Wonderful, Wild February 25, 2012

By Tamela Mccann TOP 1000 REVIEWERVINE™ VOICE

Format:Hardcover|Amazon Vine™ Review (What's this?)

This one's going to stay with me for a very long time. I already know this because the images from Pure by Julianna Baggott are seared into my mind--wildly disturbing, absorbing, imaginative, freakish. This is a dystopian unlike most others out there, and I'm hooked.

Pure is the story of almost sixteen year old Pressia, who has lived for the nine years since the world ending/changing Detonations with her grandfather in a small barbershop in what's left of America. Those who survived the Detonations were fused to whatever they happened to be touching at the moment the bright light exploded, so Pressia's right hand is now the head of the baby doll she was holding and her grandfather has a small fan stuck in his throat. The two have been foraging for their lives, knowing that when Pressia turns sixteen, the dreaded OSR soldiers will be coming for her (for whatever purpose they deem). It is this knowledge that leads Pressia to Bradwell, a fellow survivor with birds actually living in his back, and ultimately to El Capitan, an OSR officer whose younger brother has fused to him. Meanwhile, there are a select few who have survived unscathed--Pure--in the Dome; Partridge, son of one of the leaders, feels certain his mother survived the Detonations outside the Dome and he becomes determined to find her, even if it means leaving his sanctuary. All of these lives intersect, combine, and impact one another throughout the most vivid landscape and people I've read about in quite a while.

Pure is not without its faults; its present tense writing annoys and the improbability of people fusing to items as varied as animals, metal, plastic, and land kept nagging me. Still, if you put aside the illogic, this is a story whose characters are truly the stars. Pressia is a flawed heroine whose loyalty ties her to people and places that may not be the best, but she is a determined, tortured soul. Partridge's escape and his focus on finding his family leads to layers of backstory being exposed, and while most of it is predictable, it's still exciting and fresh. El Capitan and Helmud are going to haunt me for a long time, with their shared body being both burden and sacrifice. In fact, there's not one character anywhere to be found whom I will be able to forget: Illia, the wife covered in a full body skin stocking, the Dust which lies in wait to capture unsuspecting humans for consumption, the Good Mother who demands a tall sacrifice from the Pure Partridge. All so vividly writtenly that my mind's eye has them literally fused inside my head.

This is a unique story and one I can recommend to those who like dystopias, but don't go into it thinking there is going to be a huge romance or an easy path. By the time this trilogy is done, I wouldn't be surprised to see Pressia and her friends as leaders of the Dome or as dead legacies. It could definitely go either way, but I know it's going to be interesting. This one's actually a strong 4.5 stars, marked down only because of the totally unnecessary use of present-tense. I'm going to be waiting anxiously for the next in the series.

70 of 81 people found the following review helpful

3.0 out of 5 stars kind of a bummer February 7, 2012

By Madame X TOP 500 REVIEWERVINE™ VOICE

Format:Hardcover

Do you ever forget, while wading through the books populating the YA shelves, how to tell the difference between a dystopian and apocalyptic novel? Well, PURE combines the two in an illustrative way. Most of the world is post-apocalyptic, an endless wasteland populated by mutants where survival is only for the fittest. Rising from the ashy gloom is the Dome, inside of which a technologically advanced, tyrannical government has established a joyless dystopia.

There are two main POV characters. Pressia is a young woman who barely remembers life before the Detonations destroyed everything. She's scarred, with a doll's head fused to her hand, but she's a survivor. Partridge grew up spoiled and naive in the Dome. I'd say the book starts when Partridge decides he's going to escape, but that doesn't happen until about 30% of the way through the book. Baggot spends a lot of time setting up the story and conflict (too long, in my opinion).

PURE is good but not entertaining. Everything about it is done well. The characters, the worldbuilding, the conflict. It's also dark, grim, and joyless. After jumping from Pressia's strained relationship with her grandfather to Partridge's strained relationship with his father, from descriptions of desperate people running from death squads to miserable schoolroom scenes of propaganda presented as education I just...stopped wanting to turn the pages.

I hoped that once Pressia and Partridge joined up, the pace would pick up and their rapport might carry me along - but I should have known better. Pressia and Partridge aren't fast friends. They're uneasy allies. They use one another, and their conversations are as painful to read as every other human interaction in the book.

PURE is a lot more like 1984 or BRAVE NEW WORLD than, say, THE HUNGER GAMES or UGLIES. Which might be compliment, except that I'm not sure it has anything new to say.

PURE wasn't to my taste but I have a long history of disliking books that are depressing from beginning to end. If it sounds good to you, by all means give it a try.

22 of 25 people found the following review helpful

1.0 out of 5 stars Nagging in the back of my mind November 28, 2012

By Travis

Format:Paperback

I did not enjoy Pure. Almost the entire time I was reading it I kept having a vague feeling that I'd already read this novel. I hadn't, but the ideas are so typical to this type of post-apocalyptic story that I just felt like nothing was new to me. I finally went and googled a book that I'd recalled reading maybe ten years ago and found "The Last Book in the Universe" which is of a similar vein to this story, maybe that is what was tickling my memory.

Spoiler at the bottom for the most messed up thing about this book.

Anyway, the story itself could be great because the "fuse" thing really is interesting. I feel the need to mention that one of the other reviewers on here says something about "What if the birds fused to the boy's back die?" But the author reveals pretty early on that all the animals fused to people will live until that person dies and vice versa, it will kill the people to cut those creatures off. I say 'could be great' because the pace kills this story. 479 pages later and you've made no real leap into the story at all. A few things happen that you've guessed will happen since about page 30, so that is nice. No real surprises in the story though, even the small twists and turns that come unexpectedly still give ample warning before anything actually happens with them. The reason why nothing happens? Because on this Amazon page it clearly states that this is part of Trilogy not yet written. I bought this as a paperback off the shelf at the local book store and nowhere on the back, front, or lead in pages to the first chapter does it say ANYTHING about this not being a standalone novel. There is no clue whatsoever that you aren't actually getting a full story. Besides the book obviously just stopping without any sort of resolution, the only clue you have that there will be another book coming is the last page, "The End of Book One" written at the bottom. I cannot stand starting a trilogy only to have to wait a year or two for the next book, forget to check when it actually releases for a book like this where I'm not actively anticipating the next one, and end up not getting it until so long down the road that I don't remember any of the subtle plot points that the author will most definitely touch back upon in the next book which means I either read it and skim over the stuff that doesn't make sense because I don't remember the first book and thus lose out a little on the story, or else go back and read this book again before reading the next. For this book, that is definitely not happening. Too high a stack of books still to read and too many good ones coming out in the future to bother with all that jazz.

In the end, if you like books set in these sort of worlds, give it a whirl, as long as you're aware that it is part of a trilogy that hasn't been fully written yet, and the characters a little shallow. ***SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER*** - I waited for awhile to add the spoiler so people don't accidentally read it. Not a huge giveaway but you don't find out for awhile in the story and some people are picky. If you want to know about shallow characters, there is a soldier in this book and we read from his point of view a few times. I quote here: "El Capitan wants to kill a Pure. It's a simple desire as ordinary and forceful as hunger." We learn about how El Capitan is a survivalist above all else. We learn about how he is sometimes ordered to hunt people for fun and does it, and even tests mutated foods on captives to see what he can eat and what will kill him. We learn that he really, really wants to kill a Pure, someone from the Dome. However, this girl, Pressia, is put in charge of him and immediately from there on out he is on her side. We are given a very crappy paragraph about how El Capitan accepts that he won't get to kill a Pure because that is actually who he works for, but at any point after this in the story he could betray Pressia and disappear. His survival instinct has been beaten to death before this. Nope, El Capitan risks his life for Pressia multiple times and even comes back to save her when he could just let her die, maybe on a stretch you could tie a link to the fact that he is supposed to aid her...but if she dies on the mission and no one else is there to see it, wouldn't El Capitan let that happen and not risk himself? There's also no real redemption scene for El Capitan to make you understand why he continues to help Pressia, even after he finds out she's gonna do her own thing. It's about the same as a man repeating the phrase, "I hate kittens" over and over again as he hugs a thousand kittens to his chest and fills his house full of fake mice and scratching logs at great personal expense.