Status
Available
Call number
Collection
Publication
Europa Editions (2012), Editie: Reprint, 331 pagina's
Description
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.
Media reviews
Flowers bloom again in the disinterred cemetery. Sunlight illuminates the darkness through the broken roof of the church. Though progress brings suffering and death, the balance, as Baratte knows, "will still be in your favour". As Miller proves with this dazzling novel, it is not certainty we need
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but courage, now as much as ever, before we too are reduced to bones. Show Less
Purifying centuries of decaying mortality and removing the miasma that permeates the dwellings, skin and even food of the area is neither simple nor necessarily popular. Miller threads into this fabric subtle ideas about modernity, glancing at Voltaire, public health and the seditious graffiti that
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anticipate the revolutionary fervour of 1789 - just four years away. Show Less
User reviews
LibraryThing member gaskella
Initially I approached this book with some caution. The only other Andrew Miller novel I’d read many years before was Ingenious Pain, and although I could see that it was a great novel, I did find it hard going at the time. The premise of his latest though was so attractive, and by the second
Pure is set in 1785, shortly before the French Revolution. Jean-Baptiste Baratte is a young Norman engineer, hired by the King’s offices to oversee the cleansing of an overfilled Parisian cemetery, that is poisoning the earth and air all around it. Nice job eh? Jean-Baptiste heads off into Paris, where lodgings have been set up with a local family overlooking the cemetery. He soon makes friends with Armand, the church organist, and finds that everything smells better after a brandy or two. He contacts his colleague from his last job at the mines at Valenciennes – Lecoeur will bring a team of miners to Paris to dig out the cemetery. Jeanne, the teenaged grand-daughter of the sexton will look after the men – indeed most of them grow to love her as their own daughter.
All is set and the excavation is underway. Some doctors arrive, including one Dr Guillotin – yes! He is there to examine the bones, but his presence will prove necessary on many occasions over the following months – injury, illness, attempted murder, rape, suicide – everything will happen to those involved on this job. But it’s not all bad, for Jean-Baptiste will also find love in an unexpected place.
The story is entirely that of Jean Baptiste – he is present on every page. He’s conscientious, and good to his men, but can be persuaded to let his hair down occasionally. The young engineer is a very likeable hero and an interesting young man. In between the gruelling work to reclaim the ground from the cemetery, we do get glimpses of the bustling markets and streets around the Les Halles area of Paris where the novel is set, and even radical murmurings. The historical detail is both rich and absolutely spot on, I liked the way that Miller echoed Victor Hugo in his style when Baratte's former patron is referred to as the 'Compte de S-'.
The major business of the novel is the job in hand though. In this respect, (with my tongue in my cheek slightly), it is the opposite of Ken Follett’s enjoyable blockbuster novel The Pillars of the Earth, in which a cathedral is built over generations rather, than removed in a year. In both, however, the work is the star – and it was actually fascinating to read.
I will have to re-read Ingenious Pain and catch up on others of Miller’s backlist – I do have most of them in the TBR, as I enjoyed Pure very much indeed. This was a brilliant historical novel with literary nous, and I wouldn’t have been surprised to see it as a Booker longlist contender.
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chapter I was hooked on this rather original historical novel.Pure is set in 1785, shortly before the French Revolution. Jean-Baptiste Baratte is a young Norman engineer, hired by the King’s offices to oversee the cleansing of an overfilled Parisian cemetery, that is poisoning the earth and air all around it. Nice job eh? Jean-Baptiste heads off into Paris, where lodgings have been set up with a local family overlooking the cemetery. He soon makes friends with Armand, the church organist, and finds that everything smells better after a brandy or two. He contacts his colleague from his last job at the mines at Valenciennes – Lecoeur will bring a team of miners to Paris to dig out the cemetery. Jeanne, the teenaged grand-daughter of the sexton will look after the men – indeed most of them grow to love her as their own daughter.
All is set and the excavation is underway. Some doctors arrive, including one Dr Guillotin – yes! He is there to examine the bones, but his presence will prove necessary on many occasions over the following months – injury, illness, attempted murder, rape, suicide – everything will happen to those involved on this job. But it’s not all bad, for Jean-Baptiste will also find love in an unexpected place.
The story is entirely that of Jean Baptiste – he is present on every page. He’s conscientious, and good to his men, but can be persuaded to let his hair down occasionally. The young engineer is a very likeable hero and an interesting young man. In between the gruelling work to reclaim the ground from the cemetery, we do get glimpses of the bustling markets and streets around the Les Halles area of Paris where the novel is set, and even radical murmurings. The historical detail is both rich and absolutely spot on, I liked the way that Miller echoed Victor Hugo in his style when Baratte's former patron is referred to as the 'Compte de S-'.
The major business of the novel is the job in hand though. In this respect, (with my tongue in my cheek slightly), it is the opposite of Ken Follett’s enjoyable blockbuster novel The Pillars of the Earth, in which a cathedral is built over generations rather, than removed in a year. In both, however, the work is the star – and it was actually fascinating to read.
I will have to re-read Ingenious Pain and catch up on others of Miller’s backlist – I do have most of them in the TBR, as I enjoyed Pure very much indeed. This was a brilliant historical novel with literary nous, and I wouldn’t have been surprised to see it as a Booker longlist contender.
Show Less
LibraryThing member lauralkeet
Jean-Baptiste Baratte, a young French engineer, arrives in 1785 Paris and receives the assignment to empty the Les Innocents cemetery, which is overflowing and having an ... erm ... environmental impact on the surrounding area. Baratte finds lodgings with a local family, the Monnards, and hires a
Baratte also must deal with a wide variety of emotions from the local residents. Some take great interest in the project and lend their talents to providing for the laborers. Others see the cemetery as an institution that should not be tampered with. As the story progresses, Baratte moves from idealistic and naive to someone more hardened, resigned, and at times even desperate. Baratte and the organist Armand strike up a friendship, and Armand helps him find his way with the locals. But Baratte's friendship with Lecoeur is tested as men who were once peers adjust to a new working relationship, and the stress of the project begins taking its toll. Three women play pivotal roles in the community and are just as interesting as those working on the excavation. Their stories enhance the dramatic tension and greatly enrich this novel.
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team of laborers from a mine, with his friend Lecoeur as foreman. The cemetery also includes a church, no longer in use but with a staff that includes a priest, sexton and organist. As excavation begins the enormity of Baratte's task becomes evident. The cemetery is sub-divided and the crew tackles one large pit at a time. Remains must be moved, and the pit refilled. The laborers initially see their new jobs as a step up from working in a dangerous mine, but Baratte faces one challenge after another in motivating the laborers and providing for their basic needs. Baratte also must deal with a wide variety of emotions from the local residents. Some take great interest in the project and lend their talents to providing for the laborers. Others see the cemetery as an institution that should not be tampered with. As the story progresses, Baratte moves from idealistic and naive to someone more hardened, resigned, and at times even desperate. Baratte and the organist Armand strike up a friendship, and Armand helps him find his way with the locals. But Baratte's friendship with Lecoeur is tested as men who were once peers adjust to a new working relationship, and the stress of the project begins taking its toll. Three women play pivotal roles in the community and are just as interesting as those working on the excavation. Their stories enhance the dramatic tension and greatly enrich this novel.
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LibraryThing member clfisha
A few years before French Revolution, Les Innocents stews in a miasma of rubbish and the dead, an old unloved church and cemetery containing millions of dead. An outdated place that no longer fits with modern France, it all must be tidied away. Barratte is the ambitious engineer brought in to
With an intriguing plot, slap bang in a fascinating period this book didn’t quite deliver for me; a slow moving tale with sporadic flashes of drama. Atmospheric to a point, but probably too much of horrid undercurrent, I like my light with dark, a rose amongst the manure so to speak. I found it a little tiresome and sometimes overblown. I suspect however it is a homage to a certain type of fiction I have never read (well I have listened to a Les Miserable’s CD once) and if you are familiar with that and with French history the story will be much richer. For everyone else it depends on your patience level. To be honest another reason I didn’t much care for it was the basic plot was just not to my taste. I find the character of innocent young man, surrounded by odd and exuberant characters maturing under life’s hardships, well a bit too dull. A personal thing definitely but one which sours the book for me, especially if there is not much action to balance it.
It is a fascinating period in history and is well written and lauded by others. Lovers of historical fiction, French 18th century fiction will probably heartily enjoy it, however I cannot recommend it. Instead I urge you to visit the Paris Catacombs.. at night..with a guttering candle :)
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oversee it, a dark, fetid task that is going to change his life.With an intriguing plot, slap bang in a fascinating period this book didn’t quite deliver for me; a slow moving tale with sporadic flashes of drama. Atmospheric to a point, but probably too much of horrid undercurrent, I like my light with dark, a rose amongst the manure so to speak. I found it a little tiresome and sometimes overblown. I suspect however it is a homage to a certain type of fiction I have never read (well I have listened to a Les Miserable’s CD once) and if you are familiar with that and with French history the story will be much richer. For everyone else it depends on your patience level. To be honest another reason I didn’t much care for it was the basic plot was just not to my taste. I find the character of innocent young man, surrounded by odd and exuberant characters maturing under life’s hardships, well a bit too dull. A personal thing definitely but one which sours the book for me, especially if there is not much action to balance it.
It is a fascinating period in history and is well written and lauded by others. Lovers of historical fiction, French 18th century fiction will probably heartily enjoy it, however I cannot recommend it. Instead I urge you to visit the Paris Catacombs.. at night..with a guttering candle :)
Show Less
LibraryThing member riverwillow
An evocative, but deceptively simple and poetic novel, Pure has just won the Costa Novel of the Year award and deservedly so. Miller is a great storyteller and I was hooked from the end of the first chapter. Miller’s vibrant evocation of a pre-revolution eighteenth-century Paris feels authentic,
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from his opening description or the mud, or worse, that Baratte tries to remove from his stocking, to the stench from the rotting corpses that permeates the air around Les Innocentes. His characters too feel real and are beautifully observed, as they react in individual, and sometimes in a seemingly inexplicable violent manner, to the clearing of cemetery. Which becomes an allegorical hell, as they excavate deep pits, which are filled with the dead yet to be exhumed, surrounded by walls of exhumed bones, with fires constantly burning to purify the air. This is one book that I know I will need to re-read at least once more, as it has so many layers. Show Less
LibraryThing member BlackSheepDances
Jean-Baptiste Baratte is a modern man, well-versed in Voltaire and ready to leave his peasant upbringing behind. Eager to display his engineering talents, he meets the minister at Versailles to receive his first significant appointment. Confident, composed, although a bit cocky, he really can’t
But, all his plans of illustrious success are somewhat hampered by the assignment he receives, one that is couched in a veiled threat. His job will be to demolish a dangerously aged Medieval church as well as removing the entire cemetery attached to it, on the Rue de Les Innocents. The minister explains,
"It is poisoning the city. Left long enough, it may poison not just local shopkeepers but the king himself. The king and his ministers.
Yes, my lord.
It is to be removed.
Removed?
Destroyed. Church and cemetery. The place is to be made sweet again. Use fire, use brimstone. Use whatever you need to get rid of it."
Given such a grotesque assignment, he quickly realizes that the challenge lies in more than just removing bodies. The task itself is monumental, given the crowded city and the few who wish to work on such a gory task. Baratte hesitates to begin, and as he settles in to his new job, he finds avoidance is his first impulse. What better time to buy a new suit and get drunk? A fashionable pistachio green suit that is purchased by trading in his father’s dark classic suit is a symbolic gesture that sets the scene for his new undertaking, and his new pal Armand, organ player at the Church, shows him exactly what and how to drink in order to forget the dead he’ll soon be faced with.
Thus, the novel begins, with Baratte and Armand and several other characters dealing with the sentimental and awkward removal of a beloved church. Each character is fully developed, and fascinating in the way they interact. Besides the intriguing plot, just seeing the ensemble of unlikely individuals become close-knit among grave circumstances makes the narrative surprisingly enjoyable. Virtually everyone changes in some way, and none more than Baratte.
"But are his ambitions what they were? Are they, for example, less ambitious? And if so, what has replaced them? Nothing heroic, it seems. Nothing to brag of. A desire to start again, more honestly. To test each idea in the light of experience. To stand as firmly as he can in the world’s fabulous dirt; live among uncertainty, mess, beauty. Live bravely if possible. Bravery will be necessary, he has no doubt of that. The courage to act. The courage to refuse. "
Given his thoughts above, you may imagine the fate of the pistachio suit.
The story is unique and clever, and astonishingly fast-paced. I’m not normally a fan of the historical fiction genre, and I’m completely unfamiliar with this period in French history, but I was completely absorbed. However, I have to mention, in hopes of assisting others, that some reviews of the book (most notably the New York Times) seem to imply a supernatural element, of vampires and some sort of wolf-spirit. I didn’t get that at all. One strong wind was described as howling like a wolf, but that’s it. Two well-preserved bodies are inexplicably uncovered in the removal, but no indication or allusion is made to them of being vampires. So, while there is madness and community resistance to Baratte’s assignment, there’s nothing that feels otherworldly about the story.
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foresee any challenge his enlightened education can’t overcome. But, all his plans of illustrious success are somewhat hampered by the assignment he receives, one that is couched in a veiled threat. His job will be to demolish a dangerously aged Medieval church as well as removing the entire cemetery attached to it, on the Rue de Les Innocents. The minister explains,
"It is poisoning the city. Left long enough, it may poison not just local shopkeepers but the king himself. The king and his ministers.
Yes, my lord.
It is to be removed.
Removed?
Destroyed. Church and cemetery. The place is to be made sweet again. Use fire, use brimstone. Use whatever you need to get rid of it."
Given such a grotesque assignment, he quickly realizes that the challenge lies in more than just removing bodies. The task itself is monumental, given the crowded city and the few who wish to work on such a gory task. Baratte hesitates to begin, and as he settles in to his new job, he finds avoidance is his first impulse. What better time to buy a new suit and get drunk? A fashionable pistachio green suit that is purchased by trading in his father’s dark classic suit is a symbolic gesture that sets the scene for his new undertaking, and his new pal Armand, organ player at the Church, shows him exactly what and how to drink in order to forget the dead he’ll soon be faced with.
Thus, the novel begins, with Baratte and Armand and several other characters dealing with the sentimental and awkward removal of a beloved church. Each character is fully developed, and fascinating in the way they interact. Besides the intriguing plot, just seeing the ensemble of unlikely individuals become close-knit among grave circumstances makes the narrative surprisingly enjoyable. Virtually everyone changes in some way, and none more than Baratte.
"But are his ambitions what they were? Are they, for example, less ambitious? And if so, what has replaced them? Nothing heroic, it seems. Nothing to brag of. A desire to start again, more honestly. To test each idea in the light of experience. To stand as firmly as he can in the world’s fabulous dirt; live among uncertainty, mess, beauty. Live bravely if possible. Bravery will be necessary, he has no doubt of that. The courage to act. The courage to refuse. "
Given his thoughts above, you may imagine the fate of the pistachio suit.
The story is unique and clever, and astonishingly fast-paced. I’m not normally a fan of the historical fiction genre, and I’m completely unfamiliar with this period in French history, but I was completely absorbed. However, I have to mention, in hopes of assisting others, that some reviews of the book (most notably the New York Times) seem to imply a supernatural element, of vampires and some sort of wolf-spirit. I didn’t get that at all. One strong wind was described as howling like a wolf, but that’s it. Two well-preserved bodies are inexplicably uncovered in the removal, but no indication or allusion is made to them of being vampires. So, while there is madness and community resistance to Baratte’s assignment, there’s nothing that feels otherworldly about the story.
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LibraryThing member lizchris
This tale of the clearing of a cemetery in the middle of Paris takes place just before the French Revolution.
A naive provincial engineer spends a year of his life organising the works; his life is changed dramatically through his experiences.
A very sensory novel, the smells, tastes, sounds and
A naive provincial engineer spends a year of his life organising the works; his life is changed dramatically through his experiences.
A very sensory novel, the smells, tastes, sounds and
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sights of Les Innocents and its surroundings pervade every page. Show Less
LibraryThing member Eyejaybee
This novel recently won the Costa Literary Prize, and it is easy to see why. Beautifully written, the novel tells of the commission given to Jean-Baptiste Barratte, a young engineer from Normandy, to supervise the demolition and deconsecration of the huge l'Eglise des Innocents in Paris in 1785,
The local residents have mixed feelings - the church and cemetery dominate the area, casting a widespread pall of extreme melancholia, but they feel that it is THEIR church. However, Barratte is commissioned by the Minister who will brook no delay.
Barratte begins his task assisted by Lecoeur, a former colleague from mining work in Valenciennes, and a troupe of thirty barely literate Flemish miners. Miller marvellously conveys the squalor of their daily existence. The miners are encamped in the cemetery grounds, gradually surrounded by the wall of bones that they retrieve from the charnel pits. Not surprisingly in such circumstances, the veneer of civilised behaviour starts to wear thin...
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having first arranged for the mass disinterment of all the bodies in the cemetery grounds.The local residents have mixed feelings - the church and cemetery dominate the area, casting a widespread pall of extreme melancholia, but they feel that it is THEIR church. However, Barratte is commissioned by the Minister who will brook no delay.
Barratte begins his task assisted by Lecoeur, a former colleague from mining work in Valenciennes, and a troupe of thirty barely literate Flemish miners. Miller marvellously conveys the squalor of their daily existence. The miners are encamped in the cemetery grounds, gradually surrounded by the wall of bones that they retrieve from the charnel pits. Not surprisingly in such circumstances, the veneer of civilised behaviour starts to wear thin...
Show Less
LibraryThing member PennyAnne
Both very interesting and very dull! Based on the true story of the destruction of the cemetery of Les Innocents in Paris prior to the French Revolution and the removal of all the bones to the new catacombs, this book should have been fascinating and un-put-downable. Unfortunately the characters
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were very one dimensional (and in some cases simply inexplicable) and I found myself skimming pages fairly regularly. Show Less
LibraryThing member edgeworth
Towards the end of the 18th century, at the heart of the Enlightenment, the cemetery Les Innocents at the centre of Paris is full. The ground is swollen with the dead. Basement walls break open under the pressure, corpses tumbling into them. The very air is tainted, poisoning the food and the
Jean-Baptiste Baratte, a young provincial engineer, is hired by the government to “purify” it – to dig the corpses up, remove the tainted earth, make the place clean again. From the very beginning he is uneasy about the project, sitting on a bench outside the palace in Versailles after he is issued his orders, trying to convince himself that “it cannot be impossible to conceive of this work as something worthy, serious. Something for the greater good.”
Pure is a heavily allegorical novel, the destruction of the cemetery tearing apart Baratte himself, and prefacing the greater “purification” that is to come with the French Revolution, just a few short years away. I suspect some of the novel’s metaphors and allegories are quite explicit, but if your knowledge of French history is thin – as mine is – you might have trouble picking up on them.
Pure is also one of those novels that’s difficult to review, because I didn’t feel particularly strongly about it. I would describe it as: “good… not great.” It’s certainly not forgettable; the concept is fascinating, and it creates a powerful image of a cemetery being disinterred, bone by bone, fires burning day and night, a kind of hell at the heart of Paris. But – although it’s certainly a good, competent novel, and one that has received critical acclaim – I personally wasn’t captured by it.
It does, however, have the most awesome cover ever. (And yes, I know where it comes from.)
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breath of those who live nearby.Jean-Baptiste Baratte, a young provincial engineer, is hired by the government to “purify” it – to dig the corpses up, remove the tainted earth, make the place clean again. From the very beginning he is uneasy about the project, sitting on a bench outside the palace in Versailles after he is issued his orders, trying to convince himself that “it cannot be impossible to conceive of this work as something worthy, serious. Something for the greater good.”
Pure is a heavily allegorical novel, the destruction of the cemetery tearing apart Baratte himself, and prefacing the greater “purification” that is to come with the French Revolution, just a few short years away. I suspect some of the novel’s metaphors and allegories are quite explicit, but if your knowledge of French history is thin – as mine is – you might have trouble picking up on them.
Pure is also one of those novels that’s difficult to review, because I didn’t feel particularly strongly about it. I would describe it as: “good… not great.” It’s certainly not forgettable; the concept is fascinating, and it creates a powerful image of a cemetery being disinterred, bone by bone, fires burning day and night, a kind of hell at the heart of Paris. But – although it’s certainly a good, competent novel, and one that has received critical acclaim – I personally wasn’t captured by it.
It does, however, have the most awesome cover ever. (And yes, I know where it comes from.)
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LibraryThing member kmstock
An excellent, quick read about the destruction of the les Innocents cemetery in Paris, just before the French Revolution. It is the story of the engineer who overseas the task, but follows him on a personal as well as professional level. He is a likeable character, with just the right balance of
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integrity and idiocy to make a good protagonist (in my view). The descriptions are beautiful, building a a picture of life in the les Halles area of Paris, and the book is full of colourful and eccentric characters. Most enjoyable to read, but also a bit gruesome. Somehow the unpleasant parts of the story, like the task itself ostensibly, seem tolerable. Show Less
LibraryThing member lkernagh
Love the cover art of my copy but what a peculiar story. At times descriptive and flowing, and other times rather obtuse, vague and disjointed, I struggled as I tried to follow the author's logic - I am assuming there was some logic at work here - in piecing together this tale. My appreciation of
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the story - more the lack there of - could be chalked up to my impression that the story has a resigned Dickensian quality to it: The engineer's task is one that borders on the monumental, set in a time and place not wholly dissimilar to the dank, festering world of Dickens' grimy London. Dickens is very much a hit-or-miss author for me and sadly, this does not lend assistance in getting me to appreciate Miller's story. The whole story gave me the overall impression/feeling of ruin and crumbling decay - that was done rather well - but I found Miller's prose to be a bit stilted, almost as though it was a poor translation, even though it was written in the English language. Interesting story concept with a lot of potential but the delivery just fell flat for me. Part of me was hoping that this was the author's debut novel - it kind of had that 'debut' feel to it - but, no, this is novel number six so I am at a loss to explain my review and rating except to say that I am not Miller's target reading audience, even though the LT Will you like it? gave it a very high prediction confidence that I probably will like it. Always fun to click that after I finish a book! Show Less
LibraryThing member Mercury57
t’s 1785. Jean-Baptiste Baratte, a young, ambitious engineer, arrives at the palace of Versailles hoping to get a Ministerial commission that will help him make a mark on the world. He "dreams of building utopias where the church and its superstitions will be replaced by schools run by men like
In the Rue de Saint Innocents stands the oldest cemetery in Paris. More than 50,000 victims of bubonic plague were reputedly buried here in one day. The subterranean wall separating the living from the dead has collapsed and the bones and decaying flesh have released a miasma which fouls the air, taints the food and even the breath of those who live within its shadow.
It takes a year for Barratte and his team of miners to open the graves and clear away the past. It’s a job which almost costs Baratte his life as the cemetery becomes a kind of hell of burning fires and walls of bones and skulls. Few of those involved in the enterprise emerge unscathed physically or mentally. When they began they imagined they were engaged in a noble cause, building the foundations of a better future in which their endeavours would be marked for posterity.
“They will name squares after us ……..the men who purified Paris,” declares the foreman of works. But as the graves are emptied and the cemetery's wild flowers wither, so the vitality drains out of the workers. Tobacco, alcohol, weekly visits by prostitutes – nothing can distract the team of miners from the sense of loss. ‘I had some good in me once' one observes bleakly.
Baratte too undergoes a transformation. The naïve young man is easy prey when he first arrives in the city. It takes little to persuade him to exchange his sensible brown suit for one of pistachio green silk or to join a group of drunken vandals who move about the city under cover of night painting obscenities about Queen Marie Antoinette. But it is not long before he finds he cannot sleep without a sedative and his ideals and belief in the power of reason are destroyed.
The cleansing of the cemetery is an extended metaphor for the cleansing that we as readers know these citizens will experience shortly, although on a significantly bigger scale. Miller provides plenty of symbolic references to the French Revolution, including naming one of characters Dr Guillotin and including dialogue that can easily be read on two levels. Take this example, from Baratte's first meeting with the Ministerial aide, who gives him his commission:
It is poisoning the city. Left long enough, it may poison not just local shopkeepers but the king himself. The king and his ministers.
Yes, my lord.
It is to be removed.
Removed?
Destroyed. Church and cemetery. The place is to be made sweet again. Use fire, use brimstone. Use whatever you need to get rid of it.
Pure is Andrew Miller’s sixth novel and it won him the 2011 Costa Book of the Year award. The judges praised it as a "structurally and stylistically flawless historical novel." Miller deftly avoids some of the biggest failings I see in many historical novels - the author's tendency to want to drown readers in period detail and factual information and then to make their characters speak in a kind of cod 'period language'.
Not so for Miller. He's clearly done his research but only uses it to bring the characters and location alive through snatches of information about clothes, food and daily domestic life . His descriptions of the stench that pervades the neighbourhood were so powerful I could almost smell it on the page I had in my hands. (rather like my feeling on reading the Paris scenes early on in Patrick Sushkind’s Perfume).
In all, for me Pure was a gripping read.
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himself." Instead, the task he is handed is not one of construction but of demolition.In the Rue de Saint Innocents stands the oldest cemetery in Paris. More than 50,000 victims of bubonic plague were reputedly buried here in one day. The subterranean wall separating the living from the dead has collapsed and the bones and decaying flesh have released a miasma which fouls the air, taints the food and even the breath of those who live within its shadow.
It takes a year for Barratte and his team of miners to open the graves and clear away the past. It’s a job which almost costs Baratte his life as the cemetery becomes a kind of hell of burning fires and walls of bones and skulls. Few of those involved in the enterprise emerge unscathed physically or mentally. When they began they imagined they were engaged in a noble cause, building the foundations of a better future in which their endeavours would be marked for posterity.
“They will name squares after us ……..the men who purified Paris,” declares the foreman of works. But as the graves are emptied and the cemetery's wild flowers wither, so the vitality drains out of the workers. Tobacco, alcohol, weekly visits by prostitutes – nothing can distract the team of miners from the sense of loss. ‘I had some good in me once' one observes bleakly.
Baratte too undergoes a transformation. The naïve young man is easy prey when he first arrives in the city. It takes little to persuade him to exchange his sensible brown suit for one of pistachio green silk or to join a group of drunken vandals who move about the city under cover of night painting obscenities about Queen Marie Antoinette. But it is not long before he finds he cannot sleep without a sedative and his ideals and belief in the power of reason are destroyed.
The cleansing of the cemetery is an extended metaphor for the cleansing that we as readers know these citizens will experience shortly, although on a significantly bigger scale. Miller provides plenty of symbolic references to the French Revolution, including naming one of characters Dr Guillotin and including dialogue that can easily be read on two levels. Take this example, from Baratte's first meeting with the Ministerial aide, who gives him his commission:
It is poisoning the city. Left long enough, it may poison not just local shopkeepers but the king himself. The king and his ministers.
Yes, my lord.
It is to be removed.
Removed?
Destroyed. Church and cemetery. The place is to be made sweet again. Use fire, use brimstone. Use whatever you need to get rid of it.
Pure is Andrew Miller’s sixth novel and it won him the 2011 Costa Book of the Year award. The judges praised it as a "structurally and stylistically flawless historical novel." Miller deftly avoids some of the biggest failings I see in many historical novels - the author's tendency to want to drown readers in period detail and factual information and then to make their characters speak in a kind of cod 'period language'.
Not so for Miller. He's clearly done his research but only uses it to bring the characters and location alive through snatches of information about clothes, food and daily domestic life . His descriptions of the stench that pervades the neighbourhood were so powerful I could almost smell it on the page I had in my hands. (rather like my feeling on reading the Paris scenes early on in Patrick Sushkind’s Perfume).
In all, for me Pure was a gripping read.
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LibraryThing member Edwinrelf
Oh the smell! Paris in 1785 stank. Not only was the ancient graveyard of Les Innocents putrid because it was so full of corpses they couldn't decay, but the people didn’t bathe and hardly washed and then there were chamber pots under beds, in cupboards, behind screens and even in the corner of
That, of course, must be the author’s intent. There are two major aspects of this novel. On the one hand there is the powerful overriding metaphor that is the fact of the book. Secondly there is the sweet story of a young man with talent and aspiration who reconciles his notion of himself in his future with the reality of himself as a person as he goes through a major proving moment (a year) and settles to love with a woman and they with the companionship of friends.
Through history any reader knows that the monumental French Revolution is only four years away. The Revolution is a cornerstone event in European civilisation and this civilisation’s dominance in the contemporary world. Bound with the names of locations and characters a meta table of symbols is laid out against which the saccharine (though stinky) story of the novel’s people plays out. Les Innocents alludes to Herod the king killing the innocent children. The central character Jean-Baptist Barrate is also John the Baptist and Barrate is a churn – a butter churn. Here is John the Baptist paving the way for the saviour (the Revolution?) turning over the foundation of the Catholic Church – which in France at the time was as corrupt as all get out. Lurking kindly in the story is Dr Guillotin studying life in the detritus of the corpses as they come from the ground. He is the historical character who as a Deputy in the first Assembly of the people after the revolution, and as a stern advocate against the death penalty, convinced the Deputies that if they were insistent on having a death penalty to do it as instantly as possible with Antoine Louis’s invention. (Severing the blood flow from the heart to the brain immediately reduces the cerebral profusion pressure and the neurones in the brain die instantly.)
So, in Pure, we have this whacking huge metaphor as a backdrop to what is a sweet (innocent?) every day tale of a young man maturing. There is nothing outstanding in that story, lots of books have done that better. Andrew Millers writing is okay – good but not exceptional. Some of the vignettes with curious characters he drops into the story are witty. The importance of this book is the metaphor; the story, not so much.
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the box at the opera. In this sense the title of the book, Pure, is a oxymoron. Pooh’s and piss perfuming everywhere!That, of course, must be the author’s intent. There are two major aspects of this novel. On the one hand there is the powerful overriding metaphor that is the fact of the book. Secondly there is the sweet story of a young man with talent and aspiration who reconciles his notion of himself in his future with the reality of himself as a person as he goes through a major proving moment (a year) and settles to love with a woman and they with the companionship of friends.
Through history any reader knows that the monumental French Revolution is only four years away. The Revolution is a cornerstone event in European civilisation and this civilisation’s dominance in the contemporary world. Bound with the names of locations and characters a meta table of symbols is laid out against which the saccharine (though stinky) story of the novel’s people plays out. Les Innocents alludes to Herod the king killing the innocent children. The central character Jean-Baptist Barrate is also John the Baptist and Barrate is a churn – a butter churn. Here is John the Baptist paving the way for the saviour (the Revolution?) turning over the foundation of the Catholic Church – which in France at the time was as corrupt as all get out. Lurking kindly in the story is Dr Guillotin studying life in the detritus of the corpses as they come from the ground. He is the historical character who as a Deputy in the first Assembly of the people after the revolution, and as a stern advocate against the death penalty, convinced the Deputies that if they were insistent on having a death penalty to do it as instantly as possible with Antoine Louis’s invention. (Severing the blood flow from the heart to the brain immediately reduces the cerebral profusion pressure and the neurones in the brain die instantly.)
So, in Pure, we have this whacking huge metaphor as a backdrop to what is a sweet (innocent?) every day tale of a young man maturing. There is nothing outstanding in that story, lots of books have done that better. Andrew Millers writing is okay – good but not exceptional. Some of the vignettes with curious characters he drops into the story are witty. The importance of this book is the metaphor; the story, not so much.
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LibraryThing member infjsarah
Dull, dull and dull. Why use 1 word when 24 will do? I just hated the style. An interesting historical episode but the book was like treacle. After page 30 I just skim read to the end in about 30 mins. Good idea, bad execution.
LibraryThing member oldblack
What was I thinking when I put this book on my wish list? I guess it was that I liked Miller's writing in "Oxygen" and wanted to try out more of his work. However, I invoked the Nancy Pearl rule and terminated my reading of this book. It was kind-of interesting, in an historical sort of way, but
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was just too much removed from my own experience to make it worth reading - at my advanced age, with not too many books worth of reading time left. If I were a 20 year old, it would probably be worth reading for "my own education". I'm beyond education now. Show Less
LibraryThing member thejohnsmith
A thoroughly engaging and interesting novel that centers on the work of a young engineer tasked with the demolition of a church and the cemetery around it – including the exhumation and removal of all those buried there. Set in late 18th Century Paris, just before the French Revolution, the story
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is rich with atmosphere and well developed characters. I was fascinated before I’d finished the first chapter and by Chapter 6 had reached the “can’t put it down “ stage. A very enjoyable and satisfying read. Show Less
LibraryThing member AdonisGuilfoyle
A fortuitous recommendation introduced me to Andrew Miller's novel about eighteenth century Paris, after learning about the cemetery of Les Innocents in another recent read. Les Innocents was the city's largest cemetery for centuries, until it was finally filled to overflowing in the 1700s, and
I love the detail of Miller's novel, and some of the stylised narration - 'Their whispers fly about their heads', 'she has pulled [grief and rage] like a thorn bush through her own entrails' - but I never really connected with any of the characters, especially Barratte. Despite the backstory and description that Miller put into them, they were more caricatures than convincing personalities, symbolic figures a la Voltaire, especially with the constant knowing references to the coming Revolution ('That,' says Jean-Baptiste, 'is a metaphor'). Although that might not be a problem for some readers, I like to feel something for the characters in a story, whether sympathy or antipathy, but only Heloise the prostitute came close to evincing any kind of emotion in me (I always admire life's survivors). So the characters reduced an unusual novel from memorable to 'Well, that was cleverly crafted'. Otherwise, though, an instructive and entertaining read.
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closed in 1780. The bones from thousands of graves were excavated from the grounds near the market of Les Halles and stacked undergound in the catacombs of Montparnasse. Miller's novel weaves fact with fiction, describing the colossal task of removing the human remains - including boiling down dead bodies to dismantle the bones - as the onerous assignment of a gauche engineer, Jean-Baptiste Barratte (possibly based on Charles Axel Guillaumot, 'the man who saved Paris').I love the detail of Miller's novel, and some of the stylised narration - 'Their whispers fly about their heads', 'she has pulled [grief and rage] like a thorn bush through her own entrails' - but I never really connected with any of the characters, especially Barratte. Despite the backstory and description that Miller put into them, they were more caricatures than convincing personalities, symbolic figures a la Voltaire, especially with the constant knowing references to the coming Revolution ('That,' says Jean-Baptiste, 'is a metaphor'). Although that might not be a problem for some readers, I like to feel something for the characters in a story, whether sympathy or antipathy, but only Heloise the prostitute came close to evincing any kind of emotion in me (I always admire life's survivors). So the characters reduced an unusual novel from memorable to 'Well, that was cleverly crafted'. Otherwise, though, an instructive and entertaining read.
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LibraryThing member helensdatter
This is already one of my favourite books of all time, and I am only a quartet of the way in.
LibraryThing member martitia
A young engineer accepts the job of emptying an ancient, overflowing cemetery in late 19th-century Paris. The grisly project has unforeseen consequences for the individuals involved. This haunting novel, based on a true-to-life story of urban renewal, possesses a strong sense of place.
Readalikes:
Readalikes:
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Human Traces by Sebastian Faulks Show Less
LibraryThing member Laura400
An absorbing read, very memorable and rendered in beautifully balanced prose. The subject matter is utterly compelling, especially for a Francophile. I highly recommend it. My only possible quibble is that, while Miller renders the time period and location in a way that feels historically sure, the
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novel always feels modern and English, somehow. Which is, to be sure, a great part of its appeal as well. Show Less
LibraryThing member lynndp
(From QuailRidge Newsletter) An intriguing historical novel, Pure, by Andrew Miller is an excellent depiction of France on the eve of the Revolution. The protagonist is an ambitious and forward-thinking engineer, “a disciple of Voltaire,” "who dreams of building utopias where the church and its
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superstitions will be replaced by schools run by men like himself." He considers himself fortunate to be awarded a royal commission until he finds it is to "purify" a cemetery in the heart of Paris by excavating over 50,000 corpses who died from the bubonic plague 500 years earlier. As you might expect, this ghoulish task creates a dark, mysterious atmosphere. The novel won the 2011 Costa Book of the Year. Show Less
LibraryThing member Mumineurope
Very evocative description of historical paris, emptying graves.
LibraryThing member LARA335
About the clearing of a Parisian cemetary before the French revolution. Although this is an extended metaphor for the 'cleansing' the revolution demanded, I was( unfairly) disappointed in the claustrophobic atmosphere, expecting it, from the cover blurb to be more overtly political and explanatory
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of the period. On the positive, very specific, original and imaginative. Reading Wikipedia Les Innocents was so overcrowded that corpses couldn't decompose, and in the clearing, body fat was sold off to make candles and soap, Surprised Miller held back from this shocking fact. Show Less
LibraryThing member Krista23
For those that enjoy historical fiction here's a pick for you! I don't read much historical fiction but what got me interested in this particular one is it's set right outside the Palace of Versailles during the time of Louis XVI. I am a fan of the movie Marie Antoinette with Kirsten Dunst
and
While our main character's job is most undesirable, and most likely to fail. He only does some of the dirty work himself. Soon after arriving to clean out the remains of an overflowing cemetery he gets a crew of 30 men to dig. They find many things during their exhumations.
Even though Jean-Baptiste is hired for this rather untasteful task, it does consume a year of his life. There is much more to this story than digging up the bodies. The church that lies above, in which the bodies are slowly encroaching and the nearby shopping center. The conflicts as well as intermixing concerns of both, and more!
He does find comfort in the arms of Héloise and a friend in Armand. Of course at the heart of the story is that there is revolution brewing. People are upset and want enlightenment. And during this day and age, their lives will literally go up in flames.
A melancholy story full of dead bodies, but with love and friendship during one of the hardest years in their lives.
and
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thought that it would be interesting to see what it was like for the people living outside the palace during the same time. While our main character's job is most undesirable, and most likely to fail. He only does some of the dirty work himself. Soon after arriving to clean out the remains of an overflowing cemetery he gets a crew of 30 men to dig. They find many things during their exhumations.
Even though Jean-Baptiste is hired for this rather untasteful task, it does consume a year of his life. There is much more to this story than digging up the bodies. The church that lies above, in which the bodies are slowly encroaching and the nearby shopping center. The conflicts as well as intermixing concerns of both, and more!
He does find comfort in the arms of Héloise and a friend in Armand. Of course at the heart of the story is that there is revolution brewing. People are upset and want enlightenment. And during this day and age, their lives will literally go up in flames.
A melancholy story full of dead bodies, but with love and friendship during one of the hardest years in their lives.
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LibraryThing member HelenGress
An abandoned and overfilled graveyard and church poses a health hazard to the people of Paris. An engineer is commissioned to make the air pure by emptying the graves and relocating the bones to an empty quarry. The work is fraught with unsurprisingly disagreeable delays - the workers and their
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lives are described in detail. I enjoyed the read- but will not recommend it to many. Show Less
Awards
Dublin Literary Award (Shortlist — 2013)
Costa Book Awards (Shortlist — Novel — 2011)
Independent Booksellers' Book Prize (Shortlist — 2012)
The Walter Scott Prize for Historical Fiction (Shortlist — 2012)
Publishers Weekly's Best Books of the Year (Fiction — 2012)
Original language
English
Original publication date
2011
ISBN
9781609450670