The Star Child by Oscar Wilde
Finished August 4, 2026
I’m not sure what I expected yet this is totally not what I expected. It was a pretty quick and easy read, which was nice. There are nine stories:
The Happy Prince
The Nightingale and the Rose
The Selfish Giant
The Devoted Friend
The Remarkable Rocket
The Young King
The Birthday of the Infanta
The Fisherman and his Soul
The Star-Child
They did have their little morals, even if some of them left me a bit ??? or in other cases I felt too snarky about them. I actually started this book on a whim and so when I came across blog-able excerpts, I thought, “oh, I’ll remember to find it again, the book is short” and of course I forgot all of them. Knowing better, I thought, “oh, when I see the titles of the stories it’ll jog my memory” yeah, no. I mean, I do remember roughly what most of them are about, but…
I think the funnest one (though not sure any of them were meant to be fun) was “The Remarkable Rocket” and that one I will dig a quote out:
‘Pray, what are you laughing at?’ inquired the Rocket; ‘I am not laughing.’
‘I am laughing because I am happy,’ replied the Cracker.
‘That is a very selfish reason,’ said the Rocket angrily. ‘What right have you to be happy? You should be thinking about others. In fact, you should be thinking about me. I am always thinking about myself, and I expect everyone else to do the same. That is what is called sympathy. It is a very beautiful virtue, and i possess it in a high degree. Suppose, for instance, anything happened to me to-night, what a misfortune that would be for every one! The Prince and Princess would never be happy again, their whole married life would be spoiled; and as for the King, I know he would not get over it. Really, when I begin to reflect on the importance of my position, I am almost moved to tears.’
That snotty ass Rocket really was great.
Rating: 4 Stars
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