Reviews

Beautiful Star by Yukio Mishima

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leeloop's review against another edition

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 against another edition

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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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