Book Review: “Pure Colour”

By Antara Gangwal Dec. 15, 2022

The enchanting cover enthralled me to pick up this novel: Its specific shade of green—the “pure color”—paired with a beige backdrop and a subtle golden embossing ont title was simple yet captivating. Unfortunately, it was one of the book’s only enticing parts. In its premise, “Pure Colour” promises “a galaxy of a novel,” but it is less expansive than a single solar system.

The novel opens with a metaphor that forms the narrative’s backbone, establishing that humans view the world from the perspective of a bird, who views life from a high vantage point, a bear, who loyally loves a single person, or a fish, who finds joy in helping others.

Mira, the protagonist, is a bird—a woman who finds beauty in everything yet struggles to understand love. Annie, the woman she falls in love with, is a fish—an orphan who devotes her life to helping those in need. Mira’s father is a bear, holding his daughter the closest in his life.

When Mira’s father passes away, Mira is grief-stricken. Yet, she feels his spirit enter hers, beginning a journey of self-discovery encompassing growth, love and pain.

The novel is eccentric; the plot is driven by Mira’s internal monologue, creating a writing style that is difficult to read because of its rambling nature. Every other paragraph offers insight on a theme, with the central tenet that a second, stronger draft of human existence will replace the current one. However, the topics seem hastily scrapbooked together, with commentary that comes across as pretentious rather than profound.

This storytelling style also led me to feel no connection to Mira, her father or Annie. They seem like plot devices rather than humans. “Pure Colour” is abstract, especially in its structure—one that offers a single paragraph in one chapter and a meandering monologue the next. Expecting a structured novel, I was let down.

“Pure Colour” is the opposite of pure; cloudy and confusing, the novel lacks purpose. Only in the last pages does it begin to achieve the depth it attempts to have—but by then, it is too late. “Pure Colour” fails to touch the reader, cementing the idea that it is misleading to judge a book by its cover.

+ interesting themes

- confusing writing

- lacks purpose and clarity

2/5 stars

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About the Contributors

Antara Gangwal

Staff writer and Columnist

Antara Gangwal is a sophomore at Leland High School and is a staff writer for The Charger Account. Her hobbies include reading, watching films and listening to music.