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Purge [Paperback]

Sofi Oksanen (Author)
4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (45 customer reviews)
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Book Description

Publication Date: 1 May 2011
Deep in an Estonian forest, two women, one young, one old, are hiding. Zara is a prostitute and a murderer, on the run from brutal captors - men who know how to punish a woman. Aliide offers refuge but not safety: she has her own criminal secrets - traitorous crimes of passion and revenge committed long ago, during the country's brutal Soviet years. Both women have survived lives of abuse. But this time their survival depends on revealing the one thing history has taught them to keep safely hidden: the truth. A haunting, intimate and gripping story of suspicion, betrayal and retribution against a backdrop of Soviet oppression and European war.

'Purge stands out. Murder, sexual violence and political history combine to place Oksanen in the front rank of crime novelists.' Sunday Times 'Books of the Year'

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Product details

  • Paperback: 400 pages
  • Publisher: Atlantic Books (1 May 2011)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 1848872135
  • ISBN-13: 978-1848872134
  • Product Dimensions: 12.9 x 19.7 cm
  • Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (45 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 33,492 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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More About the Authors

Discover books, learn about writers, and more.
Andreas Dutschmann
Sofi Oksanen

Product Description

Review

A phenomenon. --Sunday Times

Powerful, passionately wrought, emotionally shattering, extraordinary. --Independent

Finland's hottest crime writer will soon be as well-known as Stieg Larsson --The Times

About the Author

Sofi Oksanen was born in Finland and a former graduate of the Finnish Theatre Academy. She is the author of three novels. Purge is her first novel to be published in English translation. She lives in Helsinki.
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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews
80 of 85 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars Very interesting story skilfully written 10 Sep 2010
By Roland Davis VINE™ VOICE
Format:Paperback
I will begin with a warning: don't read the back cover and be careful when you read reviews of this book as they give away a lot. One of the things I like about the book is the way the story, and the issues it is about, unfold bit by bit in an interesting, intriguing way. If I had read the reviews by Claire1806 or Leigh Laitila or the back cover, the experience would have been spoiled.

Of course it's hard to write a review without giving anything away. Let's just say it's about the political history of Estonia and its relationship with Russia, and some social/sexual issues. Put like that it may not sound inspiring but I assure you it is. Even if you have no interest in politics and history, the things that happen in this book feel real and moving, and are presented in a personal way without a trace of preaching or theorising.

I don't like to disagree with other reviewers but some of the comments made are so wrong I have to challenge them. Someone says the book is "about a nasty woman's obsession". This is like saying Jane Austen's novels are about pretty women. No, Purge is about Aliide's life, how she was affected by the things that happened to her and around her, and how she dealt with it. She comes across as a very real believable person. The book made me interested in her. I wanted all the time to find out more.

That review also said the book was confusing, the fate of one of the characters wasn't clear, and that it was depressing. I think the reviewer must have had a bad day. The book is not hard to understand and it is presented in such a balanced way that despite the many dark events, I wasn't at all depressed.

Every chapter begins by stating the year in which it takes place and the book skips backwards or forwards dozens of times. You have to notice the dates carefully but it isn't at all difficult to fit it all together and you won't need to keep re-reading sections - so long as you are reasonably awake.

I had never heard of Sofi Oksanen but I believe she is a very good writer. She has managed to write a book you don't want to put down, and at the same time is thoughtful and challenging.
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7 of 7 people found the following review helpful
4.0 out of 5 stars A tense story of panic, passion and politics 16 July 2011
By Ralph Blumenau TOP 500 REVIEWER
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
The author is a Finn born of an Estonian mother who had emigrated in the 1970s to Finland from the Soviet Union. This novel, set in Estonia, opens in 1992 soon after the country has regained its independence. An apparently paranoid old woman, Aliide, sees Zara, a traumatized, terrified, dishevelled and almost inarticulate young woman outside her house. Aliide overcomes her paranoia and reluctantly lets Zara into the house. The atmosphere is edgy. It takes some time before we discover the horrific cause of Zara's panic (much longer still before we learn more gruesome details of her experiences and of her flight), and also why Aliide had been so suspicious; and we understand why each of them conceals the truth from the other. Zara does not let on for a while that it was not an accident that had brought her to Aliide's house.

When she does, it makes Aliide recall her life during the turbulent history of Estonia - independent after the First World War, then successively under Soviet, German, and then again Soviet occupation. During this last period, those suspected of Estonian nationalism were subjected to horrific violence perpetrated by interrogators and to deportation to Siberia. Aliide had been a suspect, but had sought safety by marrying a communist organiser. Then, driven by a life-long resentment, she had committed a terrible triple act of betrayal.

The betrayal had not brought her the rewards she had expected, and her life was a torment. Now that Estonia was independent, her past counted against her; and what Zara now told her brought her yet further painful memories. The full truth, however, will be revealed to her under chilling circumstances - and not by Zara. Part IV of the book ends with how Aliide now reacts, and brings the narrative to a conclusion.

This is where I think the book should have ended; but there is then a final Part V, which consists of series of reports by the communist agents, which I found not only utterly confusing, but totally unnecessary; and the boring style of these reports adds to their anti-climactic effect.

The story has constantly moved backward and forward in time. Many of Sofi Oksanen's descriptions have been very powerful and atmospheric; at other times they were rather far-fetched; now and again they were elliptical and it was hard to make out what exactly was happening. There were a few longueurs. But on the whole, until Part V, the tension is well maintained.
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6 of 6 people found the following review helpful
3.0 out of 5 stars Glad I read it but not sure if I enjoyed it 9 Oct 2011
By Sab
Format:Kindle Edition|Amazon Verified Purchase
I'm glad I read Purge, not sure if I enjoyed it, but will definitley go back and read it again in a couple of months.

In common with many of the reviewers I found this book alternatley gripping, frustrating, tense, boring and most stages inbetween. All the emotions of obsessive love, rivalry, jelousey, betrayal, corrpution, fear and what people will do to survive are played out against the backdrop of Estonia in the build up to the Second World war, thru the occupations of Nazi Germany and Stalinist Russia, onto the Cold War years and finally into the post Gorbachev era. There are parts that have a '1984' feel to them.

The timeline does jump around so you must keep track of what year the characters are in.

Some quite ordinary scenes feel very drawn out while other very dramatic events are handled with just a couple of bald sentances - I had to go back and re-read them a few times to make sure I that what I thought just happened really had happened. And yes, there are a couple of quite nasty stomach churning scenes but they aren't gratuitous and they do add a lot of emotional punch.

For me, the final coda was very effective even it did jar slightly with the way the rest of the book had been written.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
2.0 out of 5 stars An OK read but not in a style I enjoy
I can see that this is a good story set in the upheavels of Europe in the middle of the last century. My star rating is low only because I did not enjoy the writing style. Read more
Published 1 month ago by TVR-Andy
2.0 out of 5 stars Sorry didn't rate it at all
I found the book rather boring and not very well written - perhaps there were issues regarding the translation into English?
Published 2 months ago by Robert Heaton
5.0 out of 5 stars Brill.
I thought that this book was hard to read initially, but I learned a lot about the war from another perspective and thought that the narrative was interesting and unpredictable.
Published 3 months ago by Harriet Olivia
4.0 out of 5 stars Misleading cover blurb
I chose this book on the strength of the blurb on the back cover where The Sunday Times wants to place Oksanen in 'the front rank of crime novelists' and The Times comments that... Read more
Published 3 months ago by Alison McVey
4.0 out of 5 stars Very good
Not sure I can give this an excellent rating but well worth a read. Some of it is a bit hard going and some of it is a bit brutal but all in all a good read.
Published 3 months ago by Happy Reader 8
3.0 out of 5 stars Unsatisfactory conclusion
The book is beautifully written and deals with a range of issues particularly relating to the sexual treatment of women. Read more
Published 8 months ago by Peter Kilburn
5.0 out of 5 stars Shocking post-war Estonian story
Who can really know what happened all those years ago as the Estonians awaited the intervention of the English, or perhaps the Americans - but nobody came to help the smaller... Read more
Published 10 months ago by Eileen Shaw
5.0 out of 5 stars Good read
I did not expect much from not very famous author, but I have definitely enjoyed the book. It is very interesting stile switching back between the different periods in the past and... Read more
Published 11 months ago by Dos K
5.0 out of 5 stars recommended but spoiled by amazon
you will enjoy this suspenseful book- unless you read the amazon blurb which gives away massive plot spoilers from the first few words
Published 11 months ago by animalimitata
5.0 out of 5 stars Absorbing and very original
This is a thoroughly absorbing and original book. The mixed reviews made me wonder what I was in for and it really is a love it or hate it kind of book. Read more
Published 11 months ago by Bella
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