Reviews

Pure by Rebbecca Ray

callme_tippy's review against another edition

1.0

Horrible, I read this over ten years ago but I remember how bad it was.

penalew's review against another edition

1.0

Nothing about this book was tolerable. Good lord - do people like this even exist? Are there truly people in this culture who would not only allow their 14 year-old daughter to smoke and drink in the house, but would also let her date a 31 year-old man AND let him stay the night AND let her stay at his apartment? Seriously? Not a single likable character or even someone to root for. I was angry the entire time I read this, and I continued only because I had to believe that there would be SOMETHING redeeming. Instead I wasted precious hours of my reading life.

Steer away from this one. Gack!

cmapilado's review against another edition

2.0

The story kep me reading to see what cracked out thing would happen next, but it isn't a book that I would really reccomend to anyone looking for something meaningful to read.

hellkitty915's review against another edition

2.0

This book is completely pointless. There are no chapter breaks so it feels like a long run-on sentence. The characters are never fully described and seem two-dimensional at best. I honestly do not understand the glowing reviews this book has received.

kelliem1905's review against another edition

1.0

... what the hell kind of ending was that? (spoiler-it wasn't). No. if you're thinking of reading this, don't. Just... No.

taratearex's review against another edition

2.0

i randomly ran into this book at the thrift store the other day and remembered id read it. its weird. the author dropped out of high school to write it. in the book she's in high school and starts dating someone in his late 20's. i cant remember much.

caseey's review against another edition

4.0

I can certainly see why people would dislike this book due to how disturbing it is but personally I really enjoyed it (for want of a better phrase, considering how chilling it was). The narrative perfectly depicted the main character's numb and apathetic state of mind. I suppose you could say the writing was very devoid of emotion, yet so much pain still managed to seep through. Despite the anonymity surrounding the narrator, I really connected with her and the way her detatchment from everything and everyone led to terrible decisions. We never learn the name of the fourteen year old who narrates the book, and I thought this worked excellently in adding to the sense of detatchment and lack of care she had for herself. The parents in this book were shockingly terrible, making little wonder that the narrator was as messed up as she was.

I was unaware until after I'd finished this book that Ray began writing it at such a young age, making me all the more impressed. Pure isn't for everybody but if you're looking for something raw and hard-hitting, it's well worth a read.

merixcil's review against another edition

2.0

Not that I don't think this is well written, but I don't think it particularly completes. There's so sense of finality to the heroine's arc and no one around her seems to have much of a growth moment either.

What's more, the fact that no one, other than a not-really-friend (described in such a way that we are clearly not meant to be on her side) has anything to say about the paedophilia of the whole thing is...uncomfortable. Which I think was on purpose, but it's intensely distressing to read about parents so thoroughly failing to safeguard their daughter and then to not go anywhere with it.

artchickcore's review against another edition

dark emotional

2.25

This is arguably one of the most disturbing books I’ve ever read and will haunt me for years.

audeve's review against another edition

4.0

It took me this long to say that I liked the book. Such a young author, such a disturbing book. This story sucked me in, made me feel like I was living through this girl, and in the end, I felt like I needed a good shower with a Brillo pad.