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Purity: A Novel Hardcover – September 1, 2015

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Jonathan Franzen (Author)
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Jonathan Franzen (Author)
3.4 out of 5 stars 768 customer reviews
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Product Details

  • Hardcover: 576 pages
  • Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux; First Edition edition (September 1, 2015)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 0374239215
  • ISBN-13: 978-0374239213
  • Product Dimensions: 6 x 1.6 x 9.2 inches
  • Shipping Weight: 1.5 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
  • Average Customer Review: 3.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (768 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #5,214 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Top Customer Reviews

1.0 out of 5 starsJust...The Worst
By Brandon Whitfeld on November 21, 2015
Format: Hardcover Verified Purchase
Having devoured Franzen's last two books with the frenzy of some sort of hungry woodland fox, I have absolutely no idea how PURITY happened or who let it happen. It is an amalgamation of everything everyone despises in indulgent, pretentious, 21st century "top tier" fiction, and a useless editorship, in blind servitude to a perceived "brand" that isn't there, and never was. I have virtually no idea how anyone could have liked this novel.

On a sentence-by-sentence level, the book flows, but makes little sense. There is no plot, just the awkward smashing together of a lot of BIG IDEAS about TECHNOLOGY and PRIVACY and SEX and JOURNALISTIC INTEGRITY and FAMILY and FEMINISM meant to drive book groups to exhaustion in Connecticut towns that sound British, and at Park Slope dinner parties where the wine is Slovenian and the denim is raw.

A big part of the problem is the book's inherent structure--sudden, unneeded, unwanted flashbacks, flash forwards (and maybe even a few that go sideways), in headache-inducing reader-unfriendly 40-60 page chunks with no chapter breaks. Franzen is so confident you won't be able to put this drivel down he felt he didn't need any. But every time I picked up the book again, I was in the middle of another flaccid, blustery TREATISE ON SOMETHING and I was lost in the narrative. Nothing stuck with me. By page 400, I had no idea what the story was about, what was happening, or who anyone was.

There are SO MANY CHARACTERS, most of whom do so little, and propel nothing, and are so thinly sketched, they are hard to distinguish. There's Pip and Andreas of course, but then the names just keep coming--like blurry cars on a fast moving, never-ending train to literary hell.Read more ›
23 Comments 243 people found this helpful. Was this review helpful to you? Yes No Sending feedback...
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4.0 out of 5 starsAnother well-crafted creation from the chronicler of contemporary angst
By Curious Wavefunction TOP 1000 REVIEWERVINE VOICE on September 2, 2015
Format: Hardcover Verified Purchase
Jonathan Franzen’s latest book carries on the tradition of exploring – and exposing – the hypocrisy, complexities, tragedies and triumphs of modern day American lives and families. As in his previous books he does a great job pointing out the contradictions and humanity in his principal characters. His fluid prose is sometimes poignant and his humor is often characteristically dark. The plot involves the fall of the Berlin Wall, a stolen nuclear warhead, Internet activism and characteristically entangled human relationships including intergenerational conflicts, and for the most part Franzen manages to pull it off with connecting the characters to each other and making us care enough about them. While the book is relatively long it's a fast read, and I often found myself reading it long after the lights should have been turned off.

The protagonist of the novel who’s named Pip goes on a search for her father, and in her journey we see several meandering inter-generational dilemmas and tragedies that unfold in 21st century America. Pip is confused and strong at the same time, a combination that seems to be a mainstay of much of human nature. Pip’s story also explores some of the practical dilemmas facing contemporary America, including student debt and single motherhood. Her search, both for her father and for herself, takes her to Andreas Wolf, an endlessly conflicted character and son of two members of the former East German political elite who himself exemplifies the modern clash between iconoclastic individualism and conformism to traditional values. What happens in Pip’s relationship with Wolf, his harnessing of her beliefs and how this impacts her relationship with her mother all constitute a central theme of the book.Read more ›
5 Comments 132 people found this helpful. Was this review helpful to you? Yes No Sending feedback...
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4.0 out of 5 starsA Novel of Big Ideas, or merely a Big Novel?
By Roger Brunyate TOP 500 REVIEWERVINE VOICE on September 3, 2015
Format: Hardcover Verified Purchase
It may sound strange to say so, but Jonathan Franzen has written one of those big blockbuster novels that you used to get in airports. The kind that can say: "From the slums of Oakland to the jungles of Bolivia," or "Spanning a turbulent half-century from STASI-era East Germany to the age of WikiLeaks." Or perhaps "A story of murder and atonement and a daughter's search for the father she never knew." There is something big, bold, and Dickensian about this novel, which doesn't worry too much about plausibility and is just slightly over the top. Of course it is a modern novel too, written with the satirist's keen eye on the political scene, and with its full share of sex. Until it began to bog down around 400 pages in, I found it hugely absorbing to read and finished it in record time. Franzen notoriously rejected the popularizing power of Oprah Winfrey for his first novel on this scale, THE CORRECTIONS, but made amends with his second one, FREEDOM. Given a similar launch, it would be hard not to see PURITY as a popular best-seller too.

But Franzen would shudder to be seen as a mere hack. He is an elegant writer, capable of magnificent prose. His social commentary seldom makes the mistake of being one-sided. And he is fiendishly clever, as unfortunately he reminds us once too often.Read more ›
42 Comments 98 people found this helpful. Was this review helpful to you? Yes No Sending feedback...
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Most Recent Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 starsBest book I have read this year

Just like his previous two books, loved this one as well. Franzen is one of the most honest authors I have had the privilege to experience. Read more

Published 4 days ago by ty
2.0 out of 5 starsTwo Stars

Not my favorite

Published 5 days ago by gary a baker
3.0 out of 5 starsInteresting in parts, overall very laborious, even when the author...

I have read every Franzen book, and this might be my last. The plot twists seemed to be inserted in order to have a plot twist, and the resolution was completely un-satisfying on... Read more

Published 7 days ago by lw3
4.0 out of 5 starsPurity

Interesting life of a girl with lots of characters.

Published 7 days ago by Kristina M. Valles
1.0 out of 5 starsConvoluted and poorLy edited.How was this a top pick for 2015?

I am amazed and confused over how this work of "literature" made it to the best seller's list,as well as being lauded by reputable critics. Read more

Published 8 days ago by Alan J. Rosenfeld
2.0 out of 5 starsTom E Purity

Interesting but no as good as his two previous novels. About 60% through the book started to get a bit bored and lost track of some of the characters

Published 11 days ago by Tom
1.0 out of 5 starsThey're not bad, they're just not engaging enough to warrant the ...

I have tried and I just can't finish one of Franzen's novels. They're not bad, they're just not engaging enough to warrant the length. Read more

Published 11 days ago by L. A. Forbus
3.0 out of 5 starsThree Stars

Disappointing - expected better from Franzen.

Published 11 days ago by Eileen Covert
1.0 out of 5 starsDon't do this to yourself, seriously, put the book down.

Normally I love Jonathan Franzen because he's a master of prose and I love a beautifully-written story. But I hated this book. Read more

Published 11 days ago by Carie
3.0 out of 5 stars... of the story was - the writing was very good and there were some...

not sure what the point of the story was - the writing was very good and there were some fun insights but it could have used a bit more editing.

Published 11 days ago by Alice Bertini

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