Purity
by Jonathan Franzen
Purity by Jonathan Franzen holds a well received rating of 3.59 out of 5, based on 24.8K reader ratings. First published in 2015. The book spans 563 pages.
About Purity
A magnum opus for our morally complex times from the author of FreedomYoung Pip Tyler doesn't know who she is. She knows that her real name is Purity, that she's saddled with $130,000 in student debt, that she's squatting with anarchists in Oakland, and that her relationship with her mother - her only family - is hazardous. But she doesn't have a clue who her father is, why her mother chose to live as a recluse with an invented name, or how she'll ever have a normal life. Enter the Germans. A glancing encounter with a German peace activist leads Pip to an internship in South America with The Sunlight Project, an organization that traffics in all the secrets of the world--including, Pip hopes, the secret of her origins. TSP is the brainchild of Andreas Wolf, a charismatic provocateur who rose to fame in the chaos following the fall of the Berlin Wall. Now on the lam in Bolivia, Andreas is drawn to Pip for reasons she doesn't understand, and the intensity of her response to him upends her conventional ideas of right and wrong. Purity is a grand story of youthful idealism, extreme fidelity, and murder. The author of The Corrections and Freedom has imagined a world of vividly original characters - Californians and East Germans, good parents and bad parents, journalists and leakers - and he follows their intertwining paths through landscapes as contemporary as the omnipresent Internet and as ancient as the war between the sexes. Purity is the most daring and penetrating book yet by one of the major writers of our time.
| Detail | Value |
|---|---|
| Author | Jonathan Franzen |
| Published | 2015 |
| Pages | 563 |
| Genres | Fiction, Fiction |
| Average Rating | 3.59 / 5.00 |
| Total Ratings | 24,811 |
Reader Ratings & Analysis
Rating Overview
How It Compares
Frequently Asked Questions
What genre is Purity?
Purity is categorized as Fiction, Fiction. Its primary genre classification is Fiction.
Is Purity worth reading?
Based on 24.8K reader ratings, Purity has an average score of 3.59 out of 5.00, which is considered "Well Received."
How many pages is Purity?
Purity has 563 pages. It is a longer read suited for dedicated readers.
Who wrote Purity?
Purity was written by Jonathan Franzen. It was first published in 2015.
What is the ISBN for Purity?
The ISBN-13 for Purity is 9780374239210.0.
Data sourced from community book ratings and reviews. Last updated: April 23, 2026
