A review by eeviee
Pure Colour by Sheila Heti

adventurous challenging funny reflective fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.25

This book takes place in what it calls several drafts of existence where our main character lives in different iterations until the gods deem its creations perfect. The main character explains this in simplistic terms, as though the lore and context of their world have been biblical canon. It creates for itself a reality that is both surreal and magical until we reach the final iteration, where everyone loves everyone, a utopia of sorts. Then, we are treated to an ambiguous ending of them asking their father to read the story of the first iteration, implying that everything was part of a storybook a parent was reading to his child.

This will definitely receive mixed reviews -- as my feelings towards it are -- just mixed. It reminds me of Temporary by Hilary Leichter in a way that I'm made to feel like I'm supposed to just accept that the characters are transforming and morphing into different forms of being with no rhyme or reason, and every thread of interaction is supposed to 'ejaculate' something philosophical and deep. Although this one came across as the book equivalent of that one Chastity remark to Bianca Stratford: "I know you can be overwhelmed, and you can be underwhelmed, but can you ever just be whelmed?" And that's it. I suppose the child-like terms were to signal that this was all in the mind of a girl and her relationship with her father, but I just do not have any energy left in me to read much into that one.