Reviews

Beautiful Star by Yukio Mishima

lilravio's review against another edition

mysterious reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.25

for the entire book I was wondering if the whole “we are aliens” thing was fake. honestly, i’m still questioning it. hyperrealistic UFOs and aliens isn’t my favourite sci-fi, i’ll just say that.

literarykerry's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark mysterious slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.0

booookboy_melvin's review against another edition

challenging emotional hopeful reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.25

leeloop's review

challenging mysterious reflective medium-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? No

2.5

This was... something.. It was beautiful written with beautiful descriptions of nature and human nature the way you'd expect a Japanese novelist to write. But this book really was a struggle for me to get through. With large long multi-page monologues about the human experience, that sometimes required some rereading to fully grasp. Some parts were funny. Some parts were blatant misogynistic, but am I surprised? This book is from the 60s and well.. women are still in bad positions in Japan now. Overall it was interesting read, I'm glad I read it, but I wouldn't recommend it. 

jaslouis's review

challenging dark reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

An amazing book. Fans of Murakami will enjoy Mishima’s writing. I found myself wanting to read it constantly, wondering what was going to happen to the strange group of characters. Parts of it are very challenging but overall a truly wonderful and unique literary work.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Misogyny, Death, and Gore

maraec5c4's review

mysterious reflective slow-paced

2.25

jemtropy's review against another edition

challenging reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

lyannai's review

challenging dark slow-paced

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

1.0

To be honest I bought this book because of the beautiful cover.
I thought it would be a mythological inspired book and more fantastical than it actually was. The book per se is not bad, it just didn't excite me and I thought it was kind of boring. Because of that I almost didn't finish it but I wanted to power through and I did.
In the blurb the book was described as funny which I cannot understand. To me it is just very socially critical and not in a funny way.
This book just doesn't fit my taste for literature at all.
Take care, love you♥

jimbriel's review

challenging slow-paced

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

2.5

dashspandan's review

Stilted translation