Light From Uncommon Stars

by Ryka Aoki

Even Miss Satomi didn’t know how difficult it was when you didn’t feel real. Even Miss Satomi didn’t know how it felt when the only real thing genuine about you was the hurt your existence caused.

Doesnt feel real

She wasn’t real.

Doesn't feel real

“They happen.” Lan’s exceptional willpower was already fighting off Shizuka’s charm. Shizuka let Lan free herself on her own. That way, she’d not notice she had been controlled—she’d just feel a little foggy.

Random glimpses of Shizuka possiblyhaving power or some sort of paranormal influence, maybe bc of her del with Hell, but its not clearly established nor is it continuous

Shizuka glanced at Lan. She looked every bit the starship captain who had brought a family across a galaxy. But now they were in Alhambra. And maybe being a starship captain was not the best thing to be.

She just keeps repeating herself and there isnt any character dev or expansion

“I need her to obey me now,” said Lan. “Markus has already killed two humans. I need to get him away from here. Yes, I know that I am covering his crime and helping him escape, but Markus is my son.” “And Shirley is your daughter.” “Shirley is not my daughter. Shirley Tran is dead.” Shizuka almost spilled her drink. “What did you say?”

Dead daughter > murdering son ??? We're Just ignoring Markus being a psycho

“The Shirley program senses, responds, grows.

!!! So shes not defective then

But please understand, Shirley is just a program, and a defective one at that.”

But you literally saidits based on your dead daughter's fetal neural network (so based on a human-like lifeform's consciousness and potential for sentience) AND that you know the program can -- and maybe you even made it so -- that she can sense, respond, & grow. is Shirley's character supposed to be an extension of Katrina's? Or something to be said about Lan? Lan's saga has a lot of moving parts, most of which are happening and then being ignored (e.g. Markus KILLING people)

“No. After we’re done, I am taking you back to your shop. And I ask that you please consider your actions more deeply.”

I feel like Lan is lashing out at Shirley bc of Markus's actions, but like he murdered two young people in cold blood and shes really that worked up over Shirley???

“I know you were never a mother. But you would have been a good one.”

How do you know?

But now the bite of the varnish, the heavy musk of the hide glue seemed to hover between the sacred and damned.

They were more than tools. They were weapons. Weapons, all.

Her family wasn't shaming her bc she's a girl and luthiers are men, but because they fix/heal/save cursed instruments. That feels like a monumental discovery and a healing opportunity and also absolutely ludicrous. But she seemed to just take it in stride. I hope we go more into this.

“Yes, we do,” she said.

I guess we won't LOL

“You might ask what this has to do with you. Shirley, you can’t control how people see you. All you can do is accept it, right?” Really? Miss Satomi had seemed wise. But accepting how others saw you—as nice as that sounded—was wrong. For example, Katrina’s family insisted that she was a boy … And why should Shirley accept what her mother thought of her? “But what if their views don’t match what you know is true?” Shirley said, disappointedly. “Well, if you feel that strongly about your truth, then there is no reason to worry about your existence, is there?” Shirley paused, processing what Miss Satomi had said. “Shirley, I am telling you this because I don’t trust people. When you go back to the shop, your family may still see you as a program. In fact, I think they will, I’m sorry to say. So when they do, remember what you just said.”

pp.277 -- perception v. reality

Floresta was using steamed bun flour. But she also reduced the gravity in the proofing box for added fluffiness. She genetically modified domestic and wild yeast DNA to create a strain that worked faster, while producing optimum flavor, texture, and aroma. She installed lasers in the ovens; a twelve-microsecond burst gave cake donuts the perfect crunch around the edges, as well as creating a lattice of nanoperforations that let in just the right amount of hot coffee. And then there was an amazing substance she had discovered on this planet: MSG. Just a little, and everything took on a whole new level of tastiness. No, you didn’t have to be a rocket scientist to make donuts—but that didn’t mean being a rocket scientist didn’t help.

I really like themelding of their tech & culture with the new journey on Earth: its not assimilation, but adaptation and evolving of the donut shop endeavor & experience

But Katrina never showed herself unaltered. Furthermore, Katrina asked Shirley to remove live footage of her from the Internet, even the Temple City footage. People constantly asked her do interviews, to go on tour, all of which she graciously declined.

Commentary on our pruning and selective social media presence and therefore perception, and is it healthy for ourselves?

The notes were strangely incomplete, but what was there seemed too fantastic to be true.

I wish details like this were more fleshed out…

ate their young.

Ok im just shreddding this apart at this point… but this whole chapter ws just short paragraphs and snippets of flowery language and nothing else

“And so Tremon handed me this bow. I touched it, and the pain in my hand was gone.”

That explains the physical symptoms she had while playing violin with Katrina in the park when they first met.

West Berlin in February is woefully cold and gray.

The Berliner Philharmonie, itself reborn after the firebombings of World War II, still feels eager and young.

So is this set in the late 40s/50s?

But others will see only what they wish to see. Even when you play faster, cleaner, or with greater expression— People will see a delicate China doll, exotic, enticing. Even when your hand felt like burning, broken glass. Even when you have sacrificed your soul— Will it even matter? People have long stopped listening, if they had ever listened at all.

Okay im grasping the underlying theme of perception… but very very loosley

Katrina readied herself. No matter what, she would be grateful for this night, as she had been for every other. She had her music, she had tasted Astrid’s wonderful breakfasts, she had a violin named Aubergine.

The message seems to be that Katrina is willing and ready to damn her soul because she's trans. Like each day shes surprised to have survived and life has been cruel, so the fatigue and reservation of her mortality underlined and spurred by her identity has made her complacent in this deal… and almost like she's doing it for Shizuka bc she's grateful for everything even though every favor, action, and hospitality was manipulative and insidious in intention

The boy was in third grade, writing in his notebook. And his hands wrote, for the first time, Katrina. Why did he write this? Where had that name come from? No one noticed. The other boys were whispering shit about the teacher. The girls were giggling and passing notes. The boy grabbed his eraser. For some reason, he knew this was wrong, that nobody could ever know. “Katrina? Is that your girlfriend’s name?” a girl said. Her name was Danielle, and her eyes were brown. He did not know how to respond. “That’s a pretty name.”

Misgendered memory again -- why?

Bartók. Sonata for Solo Violin. Shizuka looked at her copy. She looked at her own notes. She breathed. She reached for her violin.

But she had already given it to Katrina

cash prize of $888,888 US dollars,

This seems like such a random amount of $$

All she needed was one last soul.

Does Astrid volunteer? Or do they choose Markus?

“How to make you a girl.”

“Shirley, thank you. Thank you so much. But if I change my body now, I would need to relearn the violin.” “But—” “It’s more than my hands. It’s my body. Everything it’s been through, everything it’s felt. It’s all become part of the way I play. Sure, it’s not perfect, but it’s mine. That’s good, isn’t it? “Besides, I’m already a girl.”

“There’s a reason I’m the captain,”

Im the captain now

Mr. Tso nodded. “Good, good.” As he faced her, he let his hand brush across her legs. Then he grabbed her penis through her dress. Katrina inhaled sharply, and looked up at the other musicians, but they had all discreetly turned away. “Mr. Tso, we should let them get ready now,” Mr. Philippe said gently. “You’ll be seeing more of this one in the future.” Then both of them left the room. A short time later, one of the staff tapped Katrina’s shoulder and gave her an envelope. Inside was a suite number and card key. Katrina smirked. You can give him all the money and power in the world, but a cocksucker was still a cocksucker.

Just abused and harassed until the very end