Light From Uncommon Stars
Reviews
something about the formation of community between women,,,, specifically queer women,,, about women learning to love themselves and break every rule that tells them to be quiet and easily consumable,,, about the real impact food and music make,,,, about family and familial love surpassing genetics and biology,,,, i feel ill
a mind-blowing, life changing read and a perfect ending to the pride month. aside from its beautifully musical and immersive writing, sections named as seasons akin to a classical piece; this book is an accumulation of everything i love in literature: sapphic lovers, sci-fi elements, queer characters, found family, magical realism, mother-daughter relationships and strong women characters. katrina's journey of finding herself and discovering that her identity as a trans person makes her music so special was so moving; every single part was so perfectly constructed. teared up a lot of times. a book so special to me.
4.5 stars i went into this book thinking it would be a quick and easy read. i was not expecting how much this book would move me. katrina's story started off so dark yet ended so bright. shizuka and lan's story was so interesting and i love where they ended up. the idea of the "endplague" and the treatment of it being music and connection was so lovely. i was not expecting an undertale reference but i loved seeing it be recognized for how beautiful the soundtrack and message of the game is. what a hidden gem of a book, so glad i finally picked it up.
I think I would have appreciated this story more if I knew more about music. The writing itself was a bit erratic for my tastes, but it had beautiful moments.
weighed down by an absurd pov-swapping rate and way too much name-dropping of socal locations. like yes, we get it, you love the sgv. we're constantly being told things about characters and then whisked away before we can see it shown, and it makes for paper-thin characters and absolutely no way to connect to them as a reader (42/364)
Beautiful, funny and timely. This book does an excellent job of showing the senselessness of hate while also clearly exhibiting the toll that it takes on the victims. Throughout the book you are consistently rewarded with the progression of each character's road to self acceptance and redemption.
Ryka Aoki does not write so much as reverberate, tell so much as trill. This book is a song, and though it ends its music remains in my step.
AMAZING 1. This is exquisite and beautiful 2. I love how this explore art, war, and life itself. 3. Now I crave donuuuutssss
I have mixed opinions about this book. Overall I think it's very unique and well-written, centering on a topic that needs more exposure in literature. However, I am not pleased with the representation of all men/masculine characters in the story as evil, violent, or generally bad (with the exception of the child Edwin and the teenager Andrew). If there had been even one central male character with kind motives, this would have been a 4-star read for me.
Wow. Just, wow. My review wonโt do this book justice. I am blown away. This is the type of book where when you finish it, you have to take like 2 weeks off from reading just to process.
I can't even begin to describe how privileged I feel to have read this story. Now time to blast Barber Adagio for Strings and cry in the corner.
The pacing of this book might not be for everyone, but I personally loved it. It felt like a piece of music itself and each character added something new to the melody. Every time I put the book down I was drawn back to it, not because I was desperate to know what happened next but just because I was enjoying the experience of reading it.
This book was so imaginative and handled difficult, heavy topics with such care and grace. Iโm not usually much of an annotator, but I saved so many quotes from this novel. Aokiโs writing style is so descriptive and vivid, especially in her discussions of music and food. I really appreciate the level of care that went into the creation of this fantastic story, and Katrina is a character who will stay with me for a very long time.
My expectations were way too high going into this. I've heard nothing but amazing things about this story, but it didn't work for me. There were too many plots going on at once, so it all felt jumbled together. I didn't feel like the narrative flowed well. The POVs were constantly changing every few paragraphs or sometimes even after just a few sentences. There was also way too much talk about food. I didn't mind the first few times, but it got too repetitive. I did like the representation and how Aoki didn't shy away from shining a light on the brutal realities members of the trans community face every day. However, I found the book as a whole a little disappointing.
4.25 An extremely interesting mishmash of genres that left me feeling hopeful and sad at the same time. I was captivated by these characters and wished I could hear the music being played, taste all the food described, and see the stars.
Exceptional. If you think the premise sounds more chaotic than intriguing, you probably wonโt like it. But itโs only January and I already know this will be one of the best books I read this year.
if you are into violins, this book is really cool i probably should have dnf'd this but i was already at 60%
This story took me for a wild and wonderful ride. I didn't know much about it going in, so with the introduction of each new character everything I thought I figured out about the book got up ended. Trans teenager escapes an abusive home clutching her violin.... Oh, this is one of those stories. I wasn't in the mood to be depressed, but okay. Violin teacher who gathers souls for Hell... Ohhhh, were doing THAT kind of story, OKAY! Alien buys a donut store with her family and tries to blend in to the California suburbs... What the hell am I reading?!? But it all works. It all comes together in a surprising and wonderful way. I loved all the characters and the nuance the author gave to each of them. Highly recommend.
A good, fun light read, with some very diverse characters and delightful story moments, from music to donuts. I had some problems with the direction the book took towards the end. Not the most original book, either. But an enjoyable read nonetheless.
I have to say that I was pretty dubious when I read the description of this book. A violin? A deal with a demon for souls? Donuts? A transgender runaway? A family of refugee space aliens???? I just couldn't figure out how all that could make a coherent story that I would like. So I put off reading it. And that was a mistake, because otherwise I could have read this lovely book SOONER and gotten the enjoyment I got from it EARLIER. It's just a lovely book. These crazy disparate elements actually work together. This book made me want to go out and taste some of the exotic (exotic TO ME, a child of the mundane US south) dishes and drinks described. I wanted some of those damn donuts and the bread that makes you think of home. I even want to pull out my long-neglected violin and fiddle around (heh). Not with Bartok though. It's a story about found family, acceptance, and sharing your truths. It's about redemption and not giving up, even though the ultimate end of everything will be coming for us all eventually. Be who you are, play your music, tell your story. It's good, and it's lovely, and it made me happy.
You will hear and read a lot about how this book is wonderful and hopeful. And that is true. You may also hear about it being difficult and dealing with extremely heavy topics. And that is also true. You will hear about it being science fiction, and you will hear about it being fantasy. Both of those are true. This novel is a balancing act. A delicate, lovely, difficult, painful, and healing balancing act of love. It is harrowingly real and delightfully fanciful. At a time when some in the media would like you to believe that being trans is easy now, this books is a stark reminder - without ever saying it - that the suicide attempt rates among trans teens who are not supported by their family and friends are unfathomably high, while the same rates among trans teens who ARE supported by their family and friends are the same of those of the rest of the population. The balancing of tone this book does is incredibly hard, and I am sure it will not work for everyone. It absolutely did for me. I think this may be my favorite read of 2021 so far.
2.5 rounded up. The pro's: Unique, quirky, unexpected mashing of genre's The con's: Entirely too many POV's that rotate chaotically, enough sub plots that the main plot kind of gets lost, bit of a mcguffin ending
This type of writing style where you're jumping povs almost every other paragraph is usually not for me but it worked for this story. The characters felt fully realised and I found them easy to connect to and root for. The plot was pretty simple and worked for the story. The world building was messy at times and I didn't really care for the chapters solely focused on Lan Tran. The sci fi elements were underdeveloped, just there as a backdrop to this almost contemporary story. It was a quick read and I enjoyed the audiobook but this won't be one that sticks with me for a long time.
Highlights
"Too many sections."
"Sections?"
"One usually learns to play a piece a section at a time. Within each section, the musician will memorize passages, phrases, movements, until the sections reach from beginning to end.โLan nodded. That made sense. Of course you would break a large task into smaller ones.
"And so many live the same way. One becomes a good plumber, or mother, or Christian, or Dodger fan, or teenager. One lives section by section, one stage to the next. But sometimes, sections change keys, tempos. They change moods. Timing...Some melodies don't resolve in an expected way. Some don't resolve at all. So people begin to fear playing beyond the sections they have played out of habit, out of fear." โAnd eventually one runs out of sections," said Lan.
"And there, in the dark, the sound develops. There, in the empty spaces, a violin's voice matures, gains complexity, power, depthโฆโ Shizuka pointed at Katrina's heart. โEverything the audience hears, what we strive to create... what we live to convey... it comes from there. ln your hollows. In your nothingness.
"There is where your music gains its life."
Why be like someone else? Where was the vision? The genius? As an agent of damnation, Shizuka understood she would be dealing in the tedium of human weakness. But there had to be more.
Why is this relatable
People think selling one's soul for music is as simple as "Sign this contract and poof! - youโre a genius!" Were it that easy, the world would be awash in transcendent song. Obviously, this is not so. Souls are cheap. The trick is finding the right soul.
What a great opener
One might insist that no lives were saved. One might scoff that nothing was returned. But that is as it should be. The songs will change, but the music is never truly gone. A life ends. A life begins.
But always, it is here for us to play.
But as I played, they listened. And slowly, their music welcomed them home.
What did they find? Perhaps themselves. Perhaps each otherโ who am I to say?
All I know if that i was not playing alone.
Of course, the Endplague could not be avoided. Life could not be avoided. Death comes for everyone. But that did not mean one could not be healed.
That did not mean one could not be saved.
"What language is it this time?"
"Klingon"
AHHHHHHHH
Like the family they had become, they talked into the evening.
BDHAIC ESJSBSSHAJWHW AUFHOR
Applause fell like waves of daybreak, like torrents of song. It continued unabated until the audience realised the music was coming from themselves, and it would be there tomorrow, and the sun would be high overhead.
SOBBING BECAUSE BARBER ADAGIO FOR STRINGS IS HURTING MY SOUL
Throughout the sonata, through each movement, the audience saw, felt, believedโ who they were, what they valued, whose they loved.
But of what could they be sure?
Where does truth, ultimately, lie?
Presto. What is magic, anyway? If magic is more that illusions on a stage, if magic can actually change the world, then what is reality but a song that one imagines and sets free?
Alexa, play Zapotatoโ I meanโ Zapateado
At the fourth movement, some people thought, "The Flight of the Bumblebee!" Finally, a passage they could recognise! But this was no overplayed Rimsky-Korsakov insectโ this was the frantic chaos of refugees escaping a war.
If yOu cAn pLaY iT slOwlY yOu cAn pLaY iT qUiCkLY โจโจโจ
How do we mourn when we know that we, too, have been cruel to both the living and the dead?
For all the lifetimes of being mistreated, mistrusted, broken, lost. For all the lifetines of bullying, betraying, cowardice, and shame.
Yes, there is music as this. And yes, this music is you.
Katrina had wanted to say she had watched her all these years, watched her mother lose herself because her father demanded itโ and that even if they never saw each other again, to please listen to her music, please listen, and hear.
Listening is vastly different from just hearing.
"How can you play to an audience with passion and honesty, when the same audience thinks that you are unworthy of love?"
Lan said it would be the most beautiful spectacle ever.
Yet surely it would be even more beautiful reflected with Donut Lady's eyes.
Oh Shizuka you romantic
Three were more than things. These were vessels to be launched into time, beyond mere West and East, to bring myths and gods to the world to come.
This book is so beautiful what ๐ญ๐ญ๐ญ
Shizuka would guide her, let her feel human, no matter how she might doubt. Let her feel old and broken. Let her feel childish and naรฏve. There was mo need to be perfectly beautiful, nor immortal, nor untouchable.
After all, none of that was needed to write a poem or to sing a song.
Once, Shizuka had said, "For music to happen, every note must sing, then end."
And once, Shizuka had said, "Each fragment, passing eternity onward, hold on to that music forever."
All well and good. All beautiful and wise.
One can run away. One can hide. But that does not mean it is not there.
Hate.
All this sacrifice, all this genius, and still there was so much hate.
This was more than technique or brilliance. This was more than resonance, more than memory.
This was here and now and present.
Think of a piece of music. Is it not a miracle that each time the notes are played, the music is reborn? No scratches, no fading, no loss of fidelity.