Julianna Baggott

Where do I even start in my love for this book? Seriously. I picked up Pure on a whim, on a hunch that the cover was holding something immensely interesting, and I was dead on. Julianna Baggott doesn't just rehash the same old dystopia that is thrown around so often in young adult fiction. Far from it. What you'll find here, hidden in the pages of Pure, is a romp into the gritty and very realistic lives of those who survived the Detonations. It isn't pretty my friends, but it's show more fascinating.

Pressia's dystopian home is imagined and described beautifully. Baggott lures the reader into a world that has been torn apart. Whole towns leveled to the ground. People who are fused to inanimate objects, or worse yet, their own loved ones. What really comes through more than anything else here is the haunted existence that these survivors live. They've come to terms with who they are now, but so many of them cling to their remembrances of the "the Before" to stay sane. Those who survived only did so because they gave up a part of themselves. The hurt, the anguish, the spark of survival, Baggott shares it all with us through this dark and desolate world she puts her characters into.

In terms of the characters, I really enjoyed them all. From the Pressia, all the way down to the normal townspeople, each character is built lovingly and realistically. Pressia is a character who is hard not to fall for. Despite her self acknowledged flaws, she won't give up on herself or her companions. When things get tough, we meet Bradwell and Partridge. Bradwell is the epitome of what a survivor is. Never getting too close to anyone else. Until, that is, he meets Pressia. Partridge is a gorgeous mirror to the ugliness that surrounds Pressia and Bradwell. With his perfect clothes and skin, his enhanced DNA, he becomes the odd man out. However it is only by working together that these three can ultimately save themselves, and those around them.

I'm rambling I know. That's how much I enjoyed Pure. So much that I can't quite put into words how much I loved it. The action in this book is copious, the world is beautifully built, the characters are strong and lovable. Everything about Pure is new, refreshing and amazing. I've read dystopian fiction. I love dystopian fiction. It is because of this that I can say that Pure far outshines everything else I've read in this genre so far. If you are okay with a bit of grit in your reading, pick up Julianna Baggott's new book and prepare to be sucked in. show less

I grew wary when I discovered My Husband’s Sweethearts is chick-lit. I’ve sampled the genre, and have found its too-chatty, first-person narrators and tragi-silly content to be unbearable. But this novel’s mix of likeable characters, smart dialogue, and touching moments -- evocative of the wonderful Elinor Lipman -- was so much fun!

Thirty-ish Lucy Shoreman is an accomplished corporate auditor and the estranged wife of a much-older -- and serially unfaithful -- husband, Artie. Though show more still smarting from his betrayals, she agrees to return home to him when she learns he’s dying of heart failure. Once there and in possession of his little black book, she begins phoning his past lovers to demand that they now take turns at his deathbed. A background procession of women eventually flows through the house, but the core of the novel is the growth of a mutual support system among Lucy, her mother, two of Artie’s lovers, and his estranged adult son. The characters are so well drawn that I found myself casting the movie as I read (and indeed, film rights for this romantic comedy have already been optioned). I’ll not only watch for other novels by Bridget Asher (a pen name of author Julianna Baggott) … but maybe take an occasional re-look at the genre. show less

Pure is a dystopian tale with a post nuclear apocalyptic setting in which some people were saved and sheltered by a dome built in anticipation of the nuclear attack, but most weren't. Outside the dome, most people who survived are either maimed in some way and or fused to whatever they were near at the time of the explosions. Pressia, a young girl on the outside, has a plastic doll's head where her right hand should be. Her friend, has living birds fused into his back. {the author's show more creations here are wonderfully Miéville-eske!)

To both sets of people, the other is just that 'other', neither really knows the other - only what they have heard, or been taught. Outside the dome it's a rough world and survival is the story; inside the Dome life is comfortable and controlled. When Partridge, a young man in the Dome, learns his mother might still be alive on the outside, he finds a way to escape. Eventually, as one might expect, he connects up with Pressia and the two join forces in what become common cause. They are joined by others.

I'm not going to belabor the plot summary here. I'm not particularly a reader of YA fiction, though I have read some. I am however a reader of Julianna Baggott (I've read all of her adult fiction and her three volumes of poetry) and a fan of dystopian fiction. Pure is a clever, surprisingly complex adventure tale with pretty much non-stop action (and here is where I remember what a snoozer I thought Never Let Me Go was...). It's decidedly addicting. No magic wands to solve any problems here! And, damn, it's nice to read about girl action heroes...

The book is fairly complete in itself, despite being the first part in a trilogy. That is, if you think you will be able to stop at just that one. show less

Heidi is still grieving her husband Henry nearly two years after his tragic death. She has closed herself off from her business as a pastry chef, and from her family and friends. Her focus is on her troubled and fearful eight year old son, Abbott. She tells him stories about his father to keep Henry’s memory alive. When Heidi’s mother proposes that Heidi travel to Provence to renovate a house which has been in their family for decades, Heidi decides to make the trip and brings Abbott and show more her sixteen year old niece Charlotte with her. All three characters arrive in France with emotional baggage – Abbott carries his fears of death, Charlotte is seeking acceptance after being caught between her divorced parents, and Heidi hopes only to reconcile her grief and learn how to live her life again without Henry. Beneath the warm Provence sun, surrounded by the heady aromas of French cooking, and immersed in the secrets of the past, all three will find that healing is possible.

Julianna Baggott (writing under the pseudonym Bridget Asher) captures the beauty of the French countryside and made my mouth water with her gorgeous descriptions of food which is such a huge part of French culture.

I could see the pale gold chicken resting in its deep sauce of tomatoes, garlic, peppers. I could smell the garlic, wine and fennel. Veronique served and the juices ran sparkling to the edges of my plate, carrying a hint of citrus. And the smell bloomed. – from The Provence Cure for the Brokenhearted, page 242 -

The characters in this novel ring true. Baggott reveals their strengths and weaknesses, and creates characters who begin to feel like old friends. In addition to Heidi, Charlotte and Abbott, there is Henry – who lives on the page through Heidi’s memories – and Heidi’s mother, a “proper” French woman who harbors a secret from her “lost summer” in Provence when Heidi was just a young girl. Julien, the Frenchman who Heidi remembers from long ago, is equal parts charm and vulnerability as he reveals that his heart is wounded after a divorce. I found myself absorbed in these characters’ lives, believing their stories, and wanting to see them find happiness.

It would be remiss of me not to mention the house in Provence which becomes a character in its own right. Throbbing with the stories of love and miracles that have unfolded within its walls, the house holds its own secrets.

The house’s mythology was not just my mother’s. It was passed down through generations – how else could it have survived and thrived? – mostly down the line of women. – from The Provence Cure for the Brokenhearted, page 75 -

Grief and loss and the idea of moving forward and healing are strong themes in the novel. Baggott also explores the connections between mothers and daughters and between sisters. But it is the idea of opening one’s heart to another and the liberating exhilaration of finding love which is perhaps what turns this novel of loss into one of joy and redemption.

When you’ve felt shut down and then begin to open back up, what comes alive first? You think of all the usual suspects: the senses, the heart, the mind, the soul. But then maybe all of these things are so interconnected that you can’t differentiate a stirring of the heart from a scent, the rustling of the soul from a breeze across your skin, a thought from a feeling, a feeling from a prayer. - from The Provence Cure for the Brokenhearted, page 241 -

I found myself racing through this novel, gulping it down and immersing myself in its comforting words. Julianna Baggott writes from the heart. Her prose is deeply felt and honest. I loved her descriptions of the French countryside, her understanding of her characters, and the way she was able to merge the stories of multiple characters into a cohesive and compelling novel.

Readers who love novels that are grounded in setting and those who are drawn to women’s fiction, will love this novel. show less