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A review by lizhenry
Rocket Girls: The Last Planet by Housuke Nojiri
3.0
English translation of an interesting sf book from Japan. Japan and the Solomon Islands have a space program with short, smart teenage girls in skin-tight suits as their astronauts. The gender politics are interesting but sometimes pissed me off, like when the American astronauts can't stop talking about how the girls are like cute anime characters.
They ARE a bit like anime characters. I did like their girly anime scene with the sushi smuggled aboard their tiny spacecraft, and when they splash down in the high school pond, and then they immediately go shoppping and to a nail salon.
The astronaut from the Solomon Islands is her tribe's shaman and wears a bikini and some shell necklaces or something. She's very at home in the jungle. I found it kind of interesting to see pop culture Japanese racism/imperialism. It wasn't so horrible that I threw the book across the room but it was bad enough to mention and warn about. About on the level of Nancy Drew when she makes friends with someone from pretty much any other culture than WASP-y middle class.
The astronauts were strong and cool characters, were all good friends with each other, and were totally brave and smart in space. The rocket science bits were very hard science, space-program-fan flavored while still being lighthearted and somehow... girly. I liked that too!
They ARE a bit like anime characters. I did like their girly anime scene with the sushi smuggled aboard their tiny spacecraft, and when they splash down in the high school pond, and then they immediately go shoppping and to a nail salon.
The astronaut from the Solomon Islands is her tribe's shaman and wears a bikini and some shell necklaces or something. She's very at home in the jungle. I found it kind of interesting to see pop culture Japanese racism/imperialism. It wasn't so horrible that I threw the book across the room but it was bad enough to mention and warn about. About on the level of Nancy Drew when she makes friends with someone from pretty much any other culture than WASP-y middle class.
The astronauts were strong and cool characters, were all good friends with each other, and were totally brave and smart in space. The rocket science bits were very hard science, space-program-fan flavored while still being lighthearted and somehow... girly. I liked that too!