A dystopic novel set in a Tokyo of the near future, Beautiful Shining People by novelist and author Michael Grothaus is so many things at once, but first and foremost it´s a fascinating book. I am usually a very rare reader of dystopic books but I can hardly refuse myself not reading anything Orenda Books is publishing and with such a high publishing rate I may end up turning my blog into an Orenda Appreciation Blog.
Plus, as I have lived and worked for one year in Japan, I love being there even only through the pages of the book and, as this time, in a future populated with robots and drones - robots exist already and even work in Toyota factory so we are not too far away lost in the time translation, anyway. This book took the reader to places like Hiroshima and Nagano, searching for a mysterious secret but first and foremost for human connection.
Philosophically speaking, the speculative story does have, beyond the quest for community beyond what makes us consider each other ´different´ - in the out of normal sense - is why are we setting for in this life. In this life or in another one, which does not make always sense. Why to long for the uncertain when we have this material real world - although unfolding in a drone observed future, among others?Why not, in the end, accept our daily ephemeral condition instead of dreaming loud for THE world to come, even not sure if heading somewhere will actually lead us anywhere at all.
Beautiful Shining People, which also has a beautiful cover in addition to the magnetic story, is a human story, with its own layers of deep philosophical questioning. Space travel may not be my thing but a journey through the human realm definitly is. And this journey is always worth taking it.
Rating: 5 stars
Disclaimer: Book offered as part of the book tour but the opinions are, as usual, my own
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