Roxanne review Pure Colour by Sheila Heiti
You know a writer is talented when she/he/they can outdo previous stories with a truly original voice and idea. Heti’s writing is so artful, she also makes it difficult to give her book a just description, but because it’s so inspiring, I’ll do my best.
Pure Colour is written as a parable, a simply told story about deep metaphysical topics. The novel relates the story of a college age woman named Mira who goes off to college and bumbles her way through self-doubt, attempts at connection and side hustles, until experiencing the death of a loved one.
In a mythological framework, Mira rests on three categories in which to place humans; fish (community centered folks), bears (monogamous introspective types) and birds (free spirited artists) and considers herself the latter. From there, her easy gondola-like experience goes full flume ride into magical realism as Mira’s attempts to make sense of what the meaning of life is in what she refers to as God’s first draft.
Heti’s novel helped me look at death and life in an entirely new way. Furthermore, Mira’s experience with imperfect relationships with her father, as well as her attempts at romantic love, prove the point for striving for reconciliation is the reason for living in the first place.