Pure

by Rebbecca Ray

Book Overview

A sensational and accomplished novel that made its young author one of the most talked about in Britain last year, Pure is about fourteen -- the age when you know everything, except when you don't... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0802137008
• Release Date: June 2000
• Publisher: Grove Press
• Length: 416 Pages
• Weight: 1.10 lbs.
• Dimensions: 8.3" x 1.0" x 5.5"

Customer Reviews

I know the book as "Pure"

I just got finished reading this book for the second time. I love the rawness of it. It tells about being a teenager like I remember it. From not liking your parents to your parents not liking the guy you're dating to your feelings changing about the friends you hang out with. Because it takes place in England the language is different and takes a minute to figure out what the author means (i.e. snogging=making out). It's basically about a girl who is overweight and struggles to fit in. The only way she knows how to be accepted is to let guys have their way with her. Then she meets an older guy and starts dating him. He's abusive but it doesn't bother her. I really wanted to scream at the main character for being so stupid and staying with the guy but it's true for a lot of young relationships. You will stay with anyone just to feel important and just to fit in. It was realistic and a good read.

Astounding

For the first time, I'm rating something so flawed five stars.And with many reasons.Pure is an absolutely phenomenal novel,filled with so much raw emotion.After I finished reading the book, I couldn't stop thinking about it.Rebacca Ray is in every sense of the word brilliant(she was 16 when she wrote this novel).It is so realistically described, that I can practically see,and feel, smell, and just taste every single thing throughout the whole story.When the main character was going through pain, I could almost feel the pain with her, whther it was physical or emotional.I must start by saying that this book is not an easy read.If you plan on buying this book judging it by the cover, well DON'T!IT is not the everday teen novel that it makes itself out to be.It's very graphic,sexually,emotionally,physically, and does not have any boundaries in which it feels the need to stop. Also, the story is not in any case "your girl-next door adolscent gal finding herself type of thang".Unless your everyday girl-next-door lets random guys at school touch her in private places,engages in sexual, abusive relationships with 31 year old men, and cuts her wrists to try and numb the pain.This book is by no means light, and I do not reccomend it to everybody.It's very sad, and depressing.So why did I love this book so much?Well, first of all, it showed that life isn't always bright and cheery.That there aren't always clearings that come after a rough path, sometimes all of life is ...., and things never do get better.It shows ever so graphically what goes in the mind of a cutter, what he/or in this case she feel as they cut a sharp object through their bare flesh.It shows how sometimes instead of coming up, you go down, way down. Yup, that's "Pure" folks, and it ain't Danielle Steel.This book went so deep into me, it cut through me just like the main character cut her own skin. It was so touching.This book,despite all the turmoil, was so touching,maybe in a different way, but it was touching, even though it was ever so sad. So what are the flaws?Well,the writing is a bit choppy,and a lot of things really get you wondering.Like, for example, how any parents, no matter how self-absorbed,clueless, or busy would ever allow their daughter to engage in an obviously sexual relationship with a man of 31.Having him over at their house,inviting him for dinner,acting as if it were just the most normal thing.And plus, her mom was a stay-at home mother, and her father didn't work that much, so they had to notice,right?Also the ending was so dissapointing.There seemed to be no resolution, no answers to all those questions.But, I'll keep those flaws, because they make the book what it is!!Not all books are meant to be the way you want them to be.Not all books are meant to resolve themselves, some books leave questions,leave thoughts flailing around.As for Rebecca Ray, this girl has got it, and I CANNOT wait until her next novel comes out.I hope she'll be around for years to come, b

Unique and shocking

I Purchased this book in the UK under the title A Certain Age. Once I started reading I knew I could not put it down. It is an ultimate page turner. Rebecca Ray writes a hilarious, Sometimes sad novel of Female Coming of Age which I think the majority of us can relate to.

Brutally Honest view of adolescence

I picked up this book for a potential summer read because the cover was very interesting as was the description. I was startled that the book was written by someone so young. Maybe that is why this book truly describes female adolescence in its most painfully straightforward telling. From the "pure" honesty in the first sentece you are drawn in immediately. Even if you never lived through the actual events in this book, you most likely have shared the feelings going on around them. I loved this book and I could not put it down. I can't wait to see what is to come from this author since this was only written at 16.