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chlsclrksn's review against another edition
emotional
hopeful
mysterious
reflective
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.75
A Very strange and tender book about love and leaves
emcastro's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
hopeful
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Content Warnings
Moderate: Death of parent
jennifertlrc's review against another edition
3.0
This book is hard to describe. It was easy to read yet each sentence was profound and deep and needed to be absorbed. The premise of God creating the world as the first draft created another perspective in how to see things, big and small and to explore the meaning and purpose of relationships and existence.
clara_la's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
reflective
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.5
vivekisms's review against another edition
5.0
I have found my second best book of the year (the first one being After Sappho), and I say this with most confidence, happiness, joy, and sheer pleasure, that it is, Pure Colour by Sheila Heti.
Pure Colour by Sheila Heti is the kind of book that has no start, perhaps no middle, and maybe no apparent end as well, but oh God does it hurt when you are done reading the book. It shines brightly, it is therapeutic, it heals, makes you cry, speaks of the world, and makes you believe (and is the truth) that it is your story unfolding, with art and books at the center of it, and the way we live today.
Love is at the core of this book. Whether it is between Mira and Annie, or Mira and her father, or between people who haven’t met each other yet, or people who have been living with each other for decades, Heti speaks of love most delicately. She also brings to fore with her writing love of different kinds, of different textures that might hurt, of love that transcends time, and bodies, and might compel you to follow the one you love in the body of a leaf. Sheila is a stupendous, unafraid, and a writer that must be read at any cost.
Pure Colour is about the state of civilisation, it is about a woman joining her dead father on another plane of being and existence, it is about art and its critics, about what we hold close and what we are willing to let go of – perhaps it is also earnest at times, but it worked for me, because I was willing to overlook that aspect of the novel.
Sheila Heti’s writing reminds me of Murdoch – of her kind of philosophy that always took the worldwide look – the angle of being and existing together – when she speaks of nostalgia, and how it was before the Internet, you cannot put the book down. When she constructs sentences like “there were so many ways of being hated, and one could be hated by so many people”, you nod, because we have all witnessed that – this kind of writing makes you want to read this book cover to cover and gift it to a friend or a couple of friends and beg them to devour it.
Pure Colour is a mad book. It is a book of our times. It is a book that is crazy, original, empathetic, unafraid, bold, and above all is mindful of the fact that we are all humans, and maybe we all hurt the same.
Pure Colour by Sheila Heti is the kind of book that has no start, perhaps no middle, and maybe no apparent end as well, but oh God does it hurt when you are done reading the book. It shines brightly, it is therapeutic, it heals, makes you cry, speaks of the world, and makes you believe (and is the truth) that it is your story unfolding, with art and books at the center of it, and the way we live today.
Love is at the core of this book. Whether it is between Mira and Annie, or Mira and her father, or between people who haven’t met each other yet, or people who have been living with each other for decades, Heti speaks of love most delicately. She also brings to fore with her writing love of different kinds, of different textures that might hurt, of love that transcends time, and bodies, and might compel you to follow the one you love in the body of a leaf. Sheila is a stupendous, unafraid, and a writer that must be read at any cost.
Pure Colour is about the state of civilisation, it is about a woman joining her dead father on another plane of being and existence, it is about art and its critics, about what we hold close and what we are willing to let go of – perhaps it is also earnest at times, but it worked for me, because I was willing to overlook that aspect of the novel.
Sheila Heti’s writing reminds me of Murdoch – of her kind of philosophy that always took the worldwide look – the angle of being and existing together – when she speaks of nostalgia, and how it was before the Internet, you cannot put the book down. When she constructs sentences like “there were so many ways of being hated, and one could be hated by so many people”, you nod, because we have all witnessed that – this kind of writing makes you want to read this book cover to cover and gift it to a friend or a couple of friends and beg them to devour it.
Pure Colour is a mad book. It is a book of our times. It is a book that is crazy, original, empathetic, unafraid, bold, and above all is mindful of the fact that we are all humans, and maybe we all hurt the same.
litsirk's review against another edition
3.0
Heti is one of those few writers I return to book after book despite not quite loving her work. I’m trying to think of other examples—Henry Green is one. Writers whose books I always finish, even once I’ve decided they’re not quite “my thing,” and when I come across another one I think, “Yes. I’m reading that.”
Why? Because at some point in one of their books I absolutely head over heels loved them. And in each book, there are passages—sentences—half a sentence? that bring me right back to that feeling. I find something valuable in these difficult loves, as I contemplate the boundaries between inner selves and how the same people who seem to strike at my very core can also create in me such a remove. A thought not unrelated to themes in this book.
So, I’m not going to go around telling friends they have to read Pure Colour— I honestly think they’d hate it. But am I happy I read it? Unreservedly, yes.
Why? Because at some point in one of their books I absolutely head over heels loved them. And in each book, there are passages—sentences—half a sentence? that bring me right back to that feeling. I find something valuable in these difficult loves, as I contemplate the boundaries between inner selves and how the same people who seem to strike at my very core can also create in me such a remove. A thought not unrelated to themes in this book.
So, I’m not going to go around telling friends they have to read Pure Colour— I honestly think they’d hate it. But am I happy I read it? Unreservedly, yes.
akovach's review against another edition
1.0
I made it exactly halfway through this ready and was mildly interested but it never stuck for me. I liked the concept of abstract musings but she spends so much time on her father reincarnating into a leaf and it lost me.
courtneyclark88's review against another edition
2.0
listened on audiobook and it was definitely a bit weird
“would u still love me if i was a leaf” but make it 200 pages long
real about how the most tired people are the ones the gods fear because that’s soooo me
also did end up tearing up at the like last page aw
“would u still love me if i was a leaf” but make it 200 pages long
real about how the most tired people are the ones the gods fear because that’s soooo me
also did end up tearing up at the like last page aw
claraeneri's review against another edition
5.0
i’m not sure i have the language to properly explain how this book made me feel, but this was nothing short of ethereal.
i was completely captivated by the discussions about love, grief, death, art and the universe, and though i know this book certainly won’t be for everyone, it was absolutely for me.
this reading experience made me fear death and dying less—which, believe me, is a massive feat—so thank you sheila heti. this one is going to stick with me forever.
also, i read this during a two day summer thunderstorm and it was the perfect backdrop so if anyone planning to read this can recreate that, i highly recommend. what a vibe.
what a magical reading adventure.
i was completely captivated by the discussions about love, grief, death, art and the universe, and though i know this book certainly won’t be for everyone, it was absolutely for me.
this reading experience made me fear death and dying less—which, believe me, is a massive feat—so thank you sheila heti. this one is going to stick with me forever.
also, i read this during a two day summer thunderstorm and it was the perfect backdrop so if anyone planning to read this can recreate that, i highly recommend. what a vibe.
what a magical reading adventure.
acolly's review against another edition
3.0
When I bought this book at a local bookstore the cashier gushed about it and told me it was amazing. I thought, ‘Well of course, it’s Sheila Heti”. It was exactly as I predicted, wonderful, but also too much for my liking. I both like and dislike Heti’s work for being as experimental as it is.
Anything to do with her father was a no from me. Her father’s spirit ejaculating into her? Excuse me? No. Repetition as a style of writing doesn’t really work for me, and I was surprised to be reading about God, especially right off the bat. Not my cup of tea, simply not interested.
The description of the lamp that she liked so much and eventually steals was charming. The demise of the lamp was both humorous and impactful.
On exhaustion: “People complained of being tired, exhaustion, not realizing that this was put in them so they wouldn’t do as many things.” I actually really enjoyed this take. Would still read more from Heti!
Anything to do with her father was a no from me. Her father’s spirit ejaculating into her? Excuse me? No. Repetition as a style of writing doesn’t really work for me, and I was surprised to be reading about God, especially right off the bat. Not my cup of tea, simply not interested.
The description of the lamp that she liked so much and eventually steals was charming. The demise of the lamp was both humorous and impactful.
On exhaustion: “People complained of being tired, exhaustion, not realizing that this was put in them so they wouldn’t do as many things.” I actually really enjoyed this take. Would still read more from Heti!