Purity: A Novel

"Jonathan Franzen is often thought of as a comic novelist — and he certainly is that — but he’s also a historical novelist, able to capture the mood of a community at a specific moment in time. In Purity, he turns his gaze on state surveillance, online privacy, the student loan bubble, tech culture, and feminism. At the center is Purity Tyler, a recent college graduate looking for the truth about her father. As in Franzen’s previous novels, there are multiple and intertwining plots, superbly crafted scenes, and exquisitely observed moments. But it’s his characters that will keep you reading: They’re angry, yet frail; sensitive, yet oblivious; smart and yet wrong about so many things."