Such an emotional complex book and characters. 4.3/5

DNF on page 189. Reading other reviews, it appears I’ve only met two of the four main characters, but I’m bored out of my brains. There’s a young American woman who is smart but not really going anywhere - she feels held back by her mother never telling her who her father is (or her mother’s real name for that matter). And a German guy who murders someone for the under age girl he’s lusting after. Life is too short, there are too many books to read.

I wasn't sure I was going to like this book when I started reading it but I think I feel that way about any of his books. The story, once I got a handle on the plot, was really interesting and made for a compelling read.

Threads of this story are brilliant. I wanted to see if Pip would throw off the tyranny of her painfully-overbearing mother. I wanted to know if Tom (pip's father) would embrace her as a daughter. I could see where purity in concept got corrupted over and over, whether that was on the internet, in the agribusiness fortune belonging to Pip's mother, or in the relationships. But... there were also so many pages devoted to making us readers hate these characters, into pounding the point that power and money corrupt, that I grew to dread reading it.
Thus, 3 stars.

What a marvelous book this would be if 200 pages were torn out and incinerated.

I finally finished this book. It doesn’t help it was 25 hours long and I devoted about 30 minutes each day :)
Pros: I finished a Franzen book! There were some great parts and I was more than interested in finishing it -compelled even. I wasn’t sure how everything was going to culminate. Franzen poked fun at himself and other writers which was nice. There was lots of complication which I mostly enjoyed.
Cons: some of Franzen’s language choices. He used the word p**** and Andreas’ constant reference to his “stiffy” was ridiculous. There was way too much focus on sex/masturbation and I get it: Andreas was messed up. I don’t think I needed that much focus to realize he had severe mommy issues and a self-destructive streak. In fact, almost all the adults were dysfunctional. Pip was about the only truly likable character.
The audiobook narration was fantastic as always.
There’s one more Franzen book available on audio and I will likely check it out. Who knows if I will actually finish it.

I can't decide how many stars to give this book. Part of me wants to give it a 2 because I couldn't stand ANY of the characters. Anabel - what a whiny, self-involved, paranoid and delusional woman. Clearly some undefined mental health issues but I never cared. I never felt compassion for her. She felt like a head-case female character drawn by a man. Pip - get over yourself. A lot of people have huge school loans. That seemed to be her overriding reason for everything she did. She didn't want to meet her dad to see what she missed out on, or who he was.... she wanted to ask him for money. And yet she's drawn as a sympathetic character. Andreas - egotistical psychotic misogynist. Tom - he I actually liked the most. But I wanted him to get some balls. Actually, I take it back, I liked Choco the best.

Part of me wants to give a higher rating because I clearly got riled up by the characters and the story and there were parts that were super interesting. The cold-war period in East Germany in particular. The links to the whole wiki-leaks and leaks/reporting scenario that still plays out in the news media today.... But at the same time, I'm kind of pissed I spent over a week reading this book when I have so many others I want to read. It left me feeling IRRITATED!

Oh, and there was no need for this to be so long. Except maybe the author's ego. Now I'm pissed again!

This book. It was just so close to being great, like really, really almost. But I've never read a novel cast entirely with such unconvincing characters. Unlike in The Corrections, or even Freedom, whose characters are assholes behaving badly...and yet you felt empathy and rooted for them anyway. Not one person in Purity elicited even a shred of empathy and I think it is because they all were such farcical caricatures scratching at the surface of being interesting. And if you're not distracted by your connection to the characters, you might notice that the plot is also lacking. This book was written as if Franzen's heart just wasn't in it. If he weren't so famous already, a tough editor could have probably helped transform it into something better. Or just maybe not publish it at all. I felt disappointed and annoyed all the way through.

As an unabashed lover of "The Corrections" and "Freedom", this is somewhat disappointing. "Purity" throws up some fascinating ideas around privacy and the power and tyranny of the internet that I don't think are fully developed here. Perhaps he needed a few more rounds of editing? In any case, "Purity" is a good book, but this is Franzen, and good just doesn't cut it.

Every once in a while, I finish a book out of spite. This was one of those books. It took me three weeks to trudge through this mess.
I don't know what makes Jonathan Franzen think he's too good for chapters, but this book was a struggle to get through. And that's a shame because the ideas behind it really piqued my interest. My other grievance (besides the lack of chapters) was Franzen using "autistic" as an insult. That's just irresponsible writing.