MANILA, PHILIPPINES — Bia Fernandez, Executive Creative Director of DDB MNL, shared her take on popular novel Light from Uncommon Stars in this exclusive book review for adobo Magazine. According to the award-winning creative leader, the book is a complex tale of love, introspection, and the persevering power of hope.
Light from Uncommon Stars is a novel by Ryka Aoki – that is the simplest way I can describe the book because nothing can be said after that is quite as simple.
At its heart, this is a story of three women – Katrina Nguyen, Shizuka and Lan Tran.
Each of them is on a journey – interstellar, personal, spiritual – and although they each believe this journey to be one they need to take alone, they still manage to find each other and light each other’s path.
So far, you may think this sounds like a normal enough novel but that’s because I have not told you about the soul-eating violin bow, the overflowing number of tangerines, the deal with the devil, the Queen of Hell, and the rocket ship that is currently disguised as a mom-and-pop donut shop selling donuts made with bao flour. Not to mention the gaming videos, the trigger warnings, nor the people with peanut-sized brains who cannot understand the concept of transitioning.
This novel is at once too much but also not enough. It is a perfect blend of sadness and introspection and ultimately of hope. That perhaps love is indeed powerful enough to defeat damnation. And true family can be found when you least expect it like in a duck pond in San Francisco.
Overall, Light from Uncommon Stars has been such an enjoyable read for me. If you like it weird and lyrical, if you love food and music and Youtube, you should give this book a shot.
About the author
Bia Fernandez is an award-winning creative with more than 100 awards to her name including Cannes Lions. She is a mother, an optimist, and a meme supplier who believes ads can change the world. She is the Executive Creative Director of DDB MNL and is handling brands such as Gatorade, Sting, and GAC with a talented team of doers who dream big.
