This book received the best average score of our picks from January to May. Here are some of the questions we discussed.
1. How are sex and trust interwoven in Purity? In the novel, is there a difference between the way men and women pursue their desires?
2. Discuss the novel’s images of mothering, especially between Katya and Andreas, Clelia and Tom, and Penelope and Purity. What accounts for the volatility in these relationships?
3. In their quest to expose the truth, are Tom and Andreas equally admirable? Is Leila’s investigative journalism on nuclear warheads more useful than the Sunlight Project’s leaked emails? Are the real-world hackers Julian Assange and Edward Snowden heroes?
4. Was Andreas right to bludgeon Horst on Annagret’s behalf? How do his motivations compare to those of Tom’s father when he rescued Clelia?
5. How did your opinion of Anabel shift as you read about her from different points of view? Is she insane or noble – or both?
6. Under what circumstances would you turn down a billion-dollar trust fund? What do we learn about the characters through their perceptions of money and justice (such as Dreyfuss’s housing situation, which becomes a priority for Purity)?
7. What does the closing scene tell us about irreconcilable differences? What enables Purity to do better than her parents?
1. How are sex and trust interwoven in Purity? In the novel, is there a difference between the way men and women pursue their desires?
2. Discuss the novel’s images of mothering, especially between Katya and Andreas, Clelia and Tom, and Penelope and Purity. What accounts for the volatility in these relationships?
3. In their quest to expose the truth, are Tom and Andreas equally admirable? Is Leila’s investigative journalism on nuclear warheads more useful than the Sunlight Project’s leaked emails? Are the real-world hackers Julian Assange and Edward Snowden heroes?
4. Was Andreas right to bludgeon Horst on Annagret’s behalf? How do his motivations compare to those of Tom’s father when he rescued Clelia?
5. How did your opinion of Anabel shift as you read about her from different points of view? Is she insane or noble – or both?
6. Under what circumstances would you turn down a billion-dollar trust fund? What do we learn about the characters through their perceptions of money and justice (such as Dreyfuss’s housing situation, which becomes a priority for Purity)?
7. What does the closing scene tell us about irreconcilable differences? What enables Purity to do better than her parents?