PJV Quickie: Dry and emotional defunct characters made ‘Pure’ by Julianna Baggot one of the worst dystopians that I’ve read in awhile, which is a shame because the idea behind the writing was amazing.
Author: Julianna Baggot
Series: Pure #1
ISBN: 1455503061
Publication: February 8th 2012 by Grand Central Publishing
ARC review copy from Amazon in exchange for a review
Links: Author Web >> Author Twitter >> Purchase Book >> Goodreads
Rating: 1 out of 5
Review
These are the hardest reviews to write, the reviews about the books that didn’t spark any passion at all. At least if the book was BAD I would have something passionate to say about its badness. But ‘Pure’ by by Julianna Baggott was just dry, slow-paced and frankly, boring. The weirdness of the world of ‘Pure’ was the only thing that gave the story any merit. Other than that, I felt like I was stuck in a story with a ménagerie of boring characters and a plot that inched along moment to moment.
The world has been ripped asunder and the elite of the world have withdrawn into domes, leaving the others to fend for themselves in a apocalyptic environment. Detonations rocked the planet when Pressia was a small girl. She barely remembers what it was like before, when people were whole and every moment wasn’t a struggle to survive. Partridge lives in the Dome, a Pure, but his life isn’t the stuff of fairy tale like the people living outside the Dome believe. His life is regulated, even down to his genetic make-up. He thought his mother was dead but recent revelations make him think she might be alive. The only way he’ll know for sure is by leaving the Dome. No one has left the Domes and returned. Outside the dome the people that have survived the detonations are bizarre, fused with metal, animals and each other. It is a very dangerous place – especially for a Pure, which are things of legend.
It sounds interesting doesn’t it? I was instantly intrigued with the synopsis. Unfortunately Baggot’s dry writing style and monotonous descriptions left me bored. Not to mention the odd fused beings just became more bizarre by the page. The drunk Groupie that made an appearance when Pressia and Partridge are first introduced was like the straw that broke the plot…imagine this – a Groupie is a monstrosity of the detonation, a fusion of a group of people all stuck together and functioning as one. See, during this detonation event people were fused to different things. Some were fused to their microwave, others to different living beings, some a lot of different beings. This particular Groupie was drunk. It would seem Groupies are bullies. I had a hard time imagining a huge form with a bunch of people stuck together, walking properly, much less functioning as a bully. The physics of this particular drunk, bully groupie escapes me, but logic escaped me when a lot of the beasties and sandies and sheepies were described. Things like a guy with a dog for a leg – a man with birds on his back, a doll for a hand. I kept thinking, what if the birds died? How does one walk with a dog’s head as a foot? It was just odd and I think that the basic idea of the books was excellent, just the implementation went terribly wrong.
I doubt their fusion would be as streamlined as Toyota imagined it:
Recommendation:
I can’t recommend this novel.
Like This, Like That Better
‘Under the Never Sky‘ by Veronica Rossi
‘Legend‘ by Marie Lu
I felt pretty blah towards this novel as well, which is sad because it did have potential.
I really hate when a good idea goes bad..
And I was so looking forward to reading this one next week! Now I’m not too sure I’ll bother…
Thanks for the honest review.
♥Melissa
I’m sorry
It seemed like this book was going to be super hyped at first, but looks like that has died down…hopefully. A bidding war for the publishing rights and the movie rights being optioned way before publish date, seems like that was all really premature. I don’t think most people like this book. I thought it was pretty gross. The “mothers” still freak me out!
I thought so too, I was really excited about another ‘Divergent’ or ‘The Night Circus’ oh well…
Bahaha, that pic totally cracked me up. I just added this on GR last night, I think I may have to remove it now. Sounds like she had a great idea for a book and went entirely overboard with shock factor. Unfortunately it takes more than that to have a good novel, Love the honesty
It wasn’t even shocking though because it was so dryly recited… could have been shocking.
Ugh, and I had such high hopes for this one.. Not going to waste my time on it now..:)
I actually had to give up on it, because I just couldn’t get into it at all. Even when I really tried to just continue reading, it was just so slow and uninteresting… I know some say it’s worth it and it does get better, but I just couldn’t see it and didn’t feel it was worth the struggle to maybe get there some time. I guess if I really feel the need to, I’ll have to give it another go in the future. As it is now, it just couldn’t hold my interest… :/
it shouldn’t be a struggle to continue into a book…it was the same for me, I literally had to force myself to go on — and when I had all these other great books staring at me. Waste of time.
Those are the hardest reviews to write. You did a great job as usual. The Groupie thing is freaky! And that video was so appropriate for the post.
Thank you!
I got a review copy of Pure as well(not from Amazon though) but I’m busy at the moment so my sister read it and the guest review is scheduled for tomorrow
Her view of this novel was also negative but she ended up giving it a three star rating, her biggest issue was all the crazy mutations as you mention and some inconsistencies in the novel.
After having read your review as well I’m pretty sure I won’t be reading this one myself, it sound a bit over the top to me.
Some people seem to really like it, but from what I’ve been reading on goodreads.com today, my thoughts aren’t alone. A lot of people are saying it was rather inconsistent and boring.
I don’t think I found it quite as dry, and I got into the world and characters more, but the fusing really got to me. I think I rated it higher last fall that I might now… just ’cause I keep handing out 4′s and I really feel a wide range of emotion over them. Developing Rating System?! Here’s my review:
http://burgandyice.blogspot.com/2011/12/review-pure-by-julianna-baggott.html
I got an ARC of this one and I couldn’t finish it…it wasn’t really the story either, I thought the idea and characters were pretty genius, it was the writing that I couldn’t connect with. I think boring is an excellent word, because if I wasn’t falling asleep, things like Dora the Explorer and checking out my nails were distracting me….
Eeeeh… Well I always HOPE to say I MIGHT try to give books a go even after I’ve read a couple less than “glowing” reviews of it, but I doubt I’ll read this one dude.
This is also a REALLY BIG book…so when it is slow and boring???…that’s a turn off!
I’ve had this on my bookshelf for a couple months now, and I’ve been wanting to pick it up but I think I’ll hold off.
♥bookluvrmindy
Magical Urban Fantasy Reads
Yeah, right there with you on this one. Such a great premise but I just didn’t feel it. Actually, I was kind of grossed out (and dolls? *shudder*). I had to put it down and haven’t picked it back up. But, since I hate to DNF a book, I’ll probably try to finish it when I get a chance.
I noticed your review on Amazon earlier. I vine, too.
I noticed that fans of the novel go slightly rabid when you don’t agree with their five star reviews… One tried to guilt me into bumping up my star rating for the title b/c it ‘wasn’t fair to the author to lower the average of a fantastic book’. *right, I’ll just go do that– never*
I didn’t enjoy this book, either. It was too dark for my taste. Love that you recommended ‘Legend’– that book needs more love! I’m glad I’m not in the extreme minority *not* enjoying ‘Pure’.
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I actually thought “Pure” was really good! At first, I thought the fusing thing was a little weird, but I loved the plot point and the symbols hidden in the novel. I didn’t think the characters were boring; the only one I really didn’t like was Lyda (I thought she wasn’t necessary, but whatever). I can’t wait for the sequel.
Another book you might like: “Cinder” by Marissa Myer.