Auralia's Colors: Post #2 (Tour 1/21/08-1/23/08)
My first post for the CSFF tour is below. I intended to post it yesterday (Monday) but had huge computer issues so be sure to check out the overview of the book before reading further in this post.
Deeper layers:
Auralia's Colors isn't a book where the themes jump out at you. In fact, I was captivated by the story and completed the book altogether too quickly. It isn't unusual for me to read a novel in a short amount of time, however, it is unusual for me to come to the end of the tale and not have a clear picture of the intent and imbedded themes within the novel. While I enjoyed the story from start to finish it took some reflection for me to appreciate the layers of themes in the work.
Musings on Auralia's Colors:
The first thing that jumped out at me was the amazing descriptions of colors. A line in the very first chapter captured my attention:
"her eyes gathered sunset's burning hues and flickered with some element he had never seen; the way she rested, as though commanded to surrender by some voice only she could hear."
The color of the sunset melded in my mind with the moment of decision and surrender. Throughout the book the mood and the elements of the story are joined with a striking mental image of color. The majority of the time I am not excited about a favorite book becoming a motion picture, because so often the screen simply can't convey the richness of the novel (though I would say The Lord of the Rings trilogy was a notable exception). That said, I would love to see Auralia's colors on the big screen. As an amateur artist and someone who enjoys dabbling in video and graphic editing I can imagine how video techniques could visually display Overstreet's amazing writing revolving around color. My only dilemma was slowing down enough while reading to allow the descriptions to become full mental images.
The comparisons of life without color and Auralia's ability to see the colors of the world were thought provoking considerations for me personally. The Queen, in the novel, banned color from the masses and carefully controlled the use of color both within the walls of the city and, until Auralia arrived, in the outer villages as well. Over time, though color was not gone from the created world, the people stopped noticing the colors. Their vision came to reflect the blandness of their colorless daily lives. Auralia often stated that she didn't make the colors, she simply found them. The Creator had lavished all of creation with color if you simply had eyes to see.
As I live and work in a former communist country I daily see the effects of a system that was designed to oppress and stamp out hope. Hope has always been present and available but after years of oppression and control few readily see the hope that exists. It struck me as an interesting parallel that my vision is to see the people of this land embrace the hope that is waiting for them if only they have eyes to see the reality and availability of redemption. The theme of "seeing colors" in Auralia's Colors is a subtle but beautiful picture of the truth, He who has ears, let him hear and a reflection of the possibility of discovery, I once was blind but now I see.
Click on the cover purchase the book at Amazon. You can read the first chapter of the book here. Beware, if you start reading you might just have to buy the book. :)
Another CSFF member blogging about Auralia's colors is Robert Treskillard. His blog didn't make it into the list yesterday but it is well worth looking at his review here.
Check back tomorrow for a few more comments on Auralia's Colors.
Labels: Books, CSFF
This month's Christian Science Fiction and Fantasy Blog Tour features 
I read this book over two years ago when it was published in two volumes. I had hoped to have time to pick it up again before this tour but it didn't happen.
