From the Bookshelf of Questionable Content Challenge 2012…

Pure

Rebbecca Ray

Start date: April 1, 2012

Finish date: April 30, 2012

Discussion: Book Discussions

Discussion leader: Pavarti Tyler

Why we're reading this: April's Challenge…more
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Book Discussions

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By Pavarti · 42 posts · 69 views

last updated Apr 29, 2012 06:37AM

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What Members Thought

Mar 02, 2012 Sheryl Steines added it

This won't be a typical book review. It actually won't be a book review at all. It wasn't one of those experiences that I would jump up and down and scream, YOU MUST READ THIS!

I talked to you last week about some censorship issues forming between Pay Pay and Smashwords and as a result, my friend Pavarti has issued a Questionable Book Challenge, that I accepted. The first book I read was Pure by Rebbecca Ray. Like I said, I'm not going to review this book in the traditional sense, rather, I'm goi This won't be a typical book review. It actually won't be a book review at all. It wasn't one of those experiences that I would jump up and down and scream, YOU MUST READ THIS!

I talked to you last week about some censorship issues forming between Pay Pay and Smashwords and as a result, my friend Pavarti has issued a Questionable Book Challenge, that I accepted. The first book I read was Pure by Rebbecca Ray. Like I said, I'm not going to review this book in the traditional sense, rather, I'm going to defend this book's right to be written and sold, regardless of the subject matter. I can't say that I loved it, that I would have chosen it for any other reason but for the book challenge, I can't say I would recommend it. I can't even say I loved the characters. What I can say is that the author, Rebbecca Ray was honest.

Pure is on the questionable book list because it's about the relationship between a pedophile and his victim. She is 14 he is 31 and in the mind of the victim, they are dating. In the abuser's mind, they are dating and in her parents mind, they are dating. The world the victim lives in, her daily life, is hard. Her parents don't get along, she's not close to her brother, she has no close friends. These aren't excuses for the "relationship", they are an honest portrayal of the reality this child lives in.

The language is harsh and telling. The characters are unhappy people living in unhappy circumstances. And it shows and it was hard to read and yet I couldn't take my eyes from their story. I so appreciated the fact that Rebbecca Ray in no way attempted to sell me on the fact that this "couple" was in love, that they belonged together and were good together and for each other. In no way did she represent this relationship as anything but what it was, pedophile and victim.

There were sex scenes. In no way were they titillating, sexy, lovely or beautiful. I was thankful that there weren't many, and those that were in the book I felt were purposeful and thought provoking. You might ask what purpose a pedophilic relationship in a book could have, but Rebbecca used these scenes to understand her main character, the fourteen year old girl at the center of this. To understand what she truly felt about the relationship, about her life and most importantly, how she felt about herself. I suppose too, it added more insight into the pedophile, though I didn't need anymore help disliking him.

As I read the book, I wanted to see it to the end. I hoped that someone, anyone, would put a stop to this relationship. I wanted to believe the parents could put aside their own miserable lives and do what they should do to fix the situation. But the reality was that with all the characters that the girl had in her life, there was only one who tried, who cared enough to try and stop it, but as it turns out, she was the 14-year-old friend. It left me feeling cold and numb, with the assumption that for some kids, this was probably reality.

By the standards of others, this book is a questionable book, one that will no longer be allowed to be sold on Smashwords, due to the subject matter. Unfairly, I might add, because in reality, it is a well written and thoughtful book. It left me thinking, about my own children and how I would protect them. And isn't that the purpose of books? To lend a voice to the victim, to spur us to action, to make us think?

A book shouldn't be judged by very strict guidelines. They should be looked at as a whole, on their own, with thoughtfulness and consideration. I can't say I enjoyed the book, but I am glad that I read it. And I'm so appreciative that Rebbecca Ray didn't try to make it something other than what it was.

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Feb 25, 2012 Pavarti Tyler rated it really liked it

I first read Pure when I was working in a used bookstore in Brooklyn. It was around when the book first came out and I was able to get my hands on a Galley Copy. I remember shirking all responsibility at the shop the day I found it in the New Arrival's section. It needed to be shelved, much like the other titles it had been packaged with, but I was too engrossed to bother with working that day.

At the time I was reading a lot of dirty literature and from the title I thought this was going to be a ...more

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