Scan barcode
A review by andrewmashley
Beautiful Star by Yukio Mishima
challenging
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
I picked this book randomly from a book shop, so I had no expectations prior to reading. The blurb sounded interesting, I don't mind some sci-fi, so I gave it a chance.
This is a book I really wanted to like, but I just can't. I appreciated the separate driving points of each family member, deriving from different planets. It gave them their own personality and despite these varying origins, they unified as an extraterrestrial family.
As the story digs deeper, the father and son delve deeper into these weird Earth/Martian/Mercurial political scenarios, and it really loses it there for me. Chapter 9 in particular was extremely tedious to read. Not just during it, but with the hindsight of the ending in chapter 10. Speaking of, the ending doesn't really resolve at all, and I really do miss the point of the book. Maybe I'm not philosophical enough, or maybe this is just an unfinished alien, sociopolitical tale.
The women in the family are also very poorly written in the sense that they are very dated and predictable. A mother resigned to a kitchen, and the daughter's story, meeting the "Venusian" boy. Some terminology used in the English translation just made me physically wince.
I give it a very very low 2 star, verging on 1. It clings on to that second star because I could pull some thought-provoking quotes from this book, and I do like the setting and theme of the story. If Yukio Mishima was aiming to write a bleak, unresolved, extraterritorial politics story, then 5 out of 5.
This is a book I really wanted to like, but I just can't. I appreciated the separate driving points of each family member, deriving from different planets. It gave them their own personality and despite these varying origins, they unified as an extraterrestrial family.
As the story digs deeper, the father and son delve deeper into these weird Earth/Martian/Mercurial political scenarios, and it really loses it there for me. Chapter 9 in particular was extremely tedious to read. Not just during it, but with the hindsight of the ending in chapter 10. Speaking of, the ending doesn't really resolve at all, and I really do miss the point of the book. Maybe I'm not philosophical enough, or maybe this is just an unfinished alien, sociopolitical tale.
The women in the family are also very poorly written in the sense that they are very dated and predictable. A mother resigned to a kitchen, and the daughter's story, meeting the "Venusian" boy. Some terminology used in the English translation just made me physically wince.
I give it a very very low 2 star, verging on 1. It clings on to that second star because I could pull some thought-provoking quotes from this book, and I do like the setting and theme of the story. If Yukio Mishima was aiming to write a bleak, unresolved, extraterritorial politics story, then 5 out of 5.