Critical Praise

“Franzen has created a spectacularly engrossing and provocative 21st-century improvisation on Charles Dickens’s masterpiece, GREAT EXPECTATIONS…. PURITY will be one of the most talked about books of the season.”

—Donna Seaman, Booklist (starred review)

“A twisty but controlled epic that merges large and small concerns: loose nukes and absent parents, government surveillance and bad sex, gory murder and fine art…. [Franzen is] admirably determined to think big and write well about our darkest emotional corners. [PURITY is] an expansive, brainy, yet inviting novel that leaves few foibles unexplored.” 

—Kirkus Reviews (starred review)