I have read the book Pure over summer. It is set in a dystopian future society in the remains of an Earth destroyed by warfare. There are two main settings, one is the Dome, and the other is the land outside. The Dome was a structure built to save a select group of people in case of extreme destruction due to warfare. This did indeed occur soon after the Dome's completion, in an event known as the Detonations. Most of the people who were denied access to the Dome were killed during the Detonations. The survivors were "fused" to other objects, animals, people, or the Earth itself. These survivors have to live in nearly inhabitable conditions, and despise the people inside of the Dome, known as Pures. The Pures are led by Ellery Willux, a politician who was responsible for the Dome's construction. Willux's son Partridge begins to suspect that his father is hiding secrets, and escapes the Dome. Partridge and the other main characters then go on a mission to take down the Dome and unify the two populations.
There are many dynamic characters, but I have chosen to write about the character El Capitan. At the beginning of the story Cap was an OSR officer. The OSR controls the people outside of the Dome. It is later understood that they are under the control of Ellery Willux. As an officer, El Capitan had murdered thousands of people, and felt no remorse. He was very violent and disrespectful towards his brother Helmud, who he is permanently fused to. As the story progressed, El Capitan began to show a softer side, and started to value others more than he used to. He forms friendships with the other characters and begins to show respect for his brother. These are both things that would seem out of character at the beginning of the book. A major sign of El Capitan's transformation was when Helmud saved himself and Cap from the soldiers trying to kill them: "For the first time in as long as he can remember, El Capitan is proud of his brother," (Baggott, 392). This quote shows how Cap's attitude towards his brother is finally changing, which also means that his personality is going through a similar transformation.
Overall, I enjoyed the book Pure. I like reading about dystopian societies, and that is the setting for Pure. The story is different from the other books in this genre since it provides us with main characters who are far from perfect. The character Bradwell accepts his fusings as a sign of survival, while the character Pressia is torn between accepting her fusings and wanting them to be gone. Another element that helps Pure stand out is that the book puts great emphasis on how the Earth became this post-apocalyptic habitat, while most other books only summarize those events.
Overall, I enjoyed the book Pure. I like reading about dystopian societies, and that is the setting for Pure. The story is different from the other books in this genre since it provides us with main characters who are far from perfect. The character Bradwell accepts his fusings as a sign of survival, while the character Pressia is torn between accepting her fusings and wanting them to be gone. Another element that helps Pure stand out is that the book puts great emphasis on how the Earth became this post-apocalyptic habitat, while most other books only summarize those events.
Here is the New York Times' review of Pure. The NY Times provide a summary of the book, as well as an analysis of the characters.
