Sheila Heti

Pure Colour

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Pure Colour is a galaxy of a novel: explosive, celestially bright, huge, and streaked with beauty. It is a contemporary bible, an atlas of feeling, and an absurdly funny guide to the great (and terrible) things about being alive. Sheila Heti is a philosopher of modern experience, and she has reimagined what a book can hold.
Here we are, just living in the first draft of Creation, which was made by some great artist, who is now getting ready to tear it apart.
In this first draft of the world, a woman named Mira leaves home to study. There, she meets Annie, whose tremendous power opens Mira's chest like a portal—to what, she doesn't know. When Mira is older, her beloved father dies, and his spirit passes into her. Together, they become a leaf on a tree. But photosynthesis gets boring, and being alive is a problem that cannot be solved, even by a leaf. Eventually, Mira must remember the human world she's left behind, including Annie, and choose whether or…
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131 printed pages
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Impressions

  • viridianpetalshared an impression2 days ago
    👍Worth reading
    🔮Hidden Depths
    🎯Worthwhile

    4/5 stars.
    A while ago, I added this book to my future reading list and completely forgot any premise that I might've read about it. Needless to say, I was positively surprised by it. I really enjoyed this novel, especially the way in which the story is told - in very short vignettes. Every single word on the page felt extremely well-thought-out and planned, and I honestly liked the metaphors.

    This definitely isn't a book that everyone will like, since it can come off as pseudo philosophy, but there are still people who will get a lot out of it. If you like odd books, I recommend this one.

    But, I did find some odd things about it. A few odd lines, that is. I'll just leave them below, since there weren't that many. Out of context, they sound awful, but I think that the author was intentionally going for a shocking and vivid type of language. These are all about her father:

    -“She had felt his spirit ejaculate into her, like it was the entire universe coming into her body, then spreading all the way through her, the way cum feels spreading inside, that warm and tangy feeling.”

    -“But she did not always return with presents, for she was afraid of becoming his wife.”

    -“Mira felt that her father would have liked her to marry him.”

    -“Perhaps now that he is dead, she can marry her father.”

    There are also a few more ‘out there’ plot points - if I can call them that. Specifically about Mira turning into a leaf, family traditions good and fixers bad, Mira in the leaf costume...

    I think that the whole thing where Mira turned into a leaf would've worked better as a metaphor, of sorts? If she perhaps zoned out, instead of actually becoming a leaf. As for the part about traditions and fixers, I don't think that we, readers, were supposed to read that and agree with it, or Mira. I think that it's an analogy regarding close-mindedness and blind faith, or at least that's how I interpreted it. As for Mira's leaf costume... I don't know what to say, really. These elements are odd but didn't make me hate the book.

Quotes

  • anahas quoted2 years ago
    People should care for other people because they are familiar—because they’re also humans—not because they’re family.
  • anahas quoted2 years ago
    You know the gods consider you dangerous if you are tired all the time.
  • anahas quoted2 years ago
    Were we the lucky ones, to have been chosen to live in this terrible time—to have been chosen to live in this heartbreaking time—as any moment in human civilization will break your heart, but none more so than the end?

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