Pure by Andrew Miller

Pure

by Andrew Miller

Deep in the heart of Paris, its oldest cemetery is, by 1785, overflowing, tainting the very breath of those who live nearby. Into their midst comes Jean-Baptiste Baratte, a young, provincial engineer charged by the king with demolishing it.

At first Baratte sees this as a chance to clear the burden of history, a fitting task for a modern man of reason. But before long, he begins to suspect that the destruction of the cemetery might be a prelude to his own.

 

 

This was a very good, character driven story written in the present tense.  I loved the description of the Paris streets and slums during the 1700's.  Things were not pretty, not at all, and this story tells all the dirty details.  I was horrified at the living conditions through most of the book. 

Jean-Baptiste begins as a very impressionable young man with not much worldly experience and I loved how his character grew during the span of the story. 

The story itself was very literary and although I loved the writing, I wished I could have sunk down into it more. 

Pure was very good, very well-written...and often disgusting.  Which is really true to history, I think.