Review: Pure by Julianna Baggott

Title: Pure

Author: Julianna Baggott

Series: Pure #1

Release Date: February 8^th, 2012

Number of Pages:  448

Publisher: Grand Central Publising

Source: NetGalley

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.

Pure was one of these novels that I was really hoping to love, yet didn’t really work out for me. It simply wasn’t for me. The thing is, it took me while to really get into the book. Well, even when I got a little more into the story, I still felt a distance that I couldn’t make disappear. I think there are novels like this one that just won’t work for everyone. It doesn’t mean they aren’t good. I have to give it to Julianna Baggott, the story is original and the world is well built. Thing is, I was missing something.

The ideas behind the characters were amazingly interesting, yet I wish she could have given more. I mean some characters were supposedly in love with another character, yet I never felt anything of that during the novel. Suddenly, they are telling each other that they care. I simply wished we could have had a little more information about the characters through the novel. Hopefully, we’ll get more through the rest of the series.

One of the things I think is really great in this novel is the multiple points of views.  It gave us a better understanding of the world the story is set in, as they all come from different background. I have to say that I do prefer Pressia as the narrator. Well, I did prefer her as a character too, so that’s a given...

One of the things that may stop you when you first start reading this novel is the slow beginning. Give it a chance. It does seem to speed up through the book.

Finally, one of the things I have to give to Julianna Baggott is that this book is beautifully written. Readers that don’t enjoy dystopian will probably find it hard to love this book, especially if you have trouble with worlds that sounds slightly familiar, yet with an extremely horrible outcome for the future of the human race.

This is one those kinds of novels I believe one need to try to make up their mind. I know that many readers loved it. Yet, it simply didn’t work out for me.