Idol, Burning: A Novel

by Rin Usami

Other authorsAsa Yoneda (Translator)
Hardcover, 2022

Description

"Akari is a high school junior obsessed with "oshi" Masaki Ueno, a member of the popular J-Pop group Maza Maza. She writes a blog devoted to him, and spends hours addictively scrolling for information about him and his life. Desperate to analyze and understand him, Akari hopes to eventually see the world through his eyes. It is a devotion that borders on the religious: Masaki is her savior, her backbone, someone she believes she cannot survive without-even though she's never actually met him. When rumors surface that her idol assaulted a female fan, social media explodes. Akari immediately begins sifting through everything she can find about the scandal, and shares every detail to her blog-including Masaki's denials and pleas to his fans-drawing numerous readers eager for her updates. But the organized, knowledgeable persona Akari presents online is totally different from the socially awkward, unfocused teenager she is in real life. As Masaki's situation spirals, his troubles threaten to tear apart her life too. Instead of finding a way to break free to save herself, Akari becomes even more fanatical about Masaki, still believing her idol is the only person who understands her"--… (more)

Publication

HarperVia (2022), 144 pages

User reviews

LibraryThing member Anniik
TW/CW: Domestic abuse, eating disorders, family death, possible learning disabilities, possible mental illness

RATING: 3.5/5

REVIEW: I received a free copy of this book from NetGalley and am voluntarily leaving an honest review.

Idol, Burning is the story of Akari, a high school age girl who is
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obsessed with a pop star and has made her entire identity about him. With her life falling apart around her, she throws herself into her fandom and tries to find something that makes sense there.

This is an interesting book, but it was also pretty weird. We don’t really learn much about Akari outside of her obsessions, although the few glimpses of her life we get show us that she likely suffers from learning disabilities and some sort of anxiety disorder. Like in Akari’s life, the only clear things are those things that have to do with her obsession. In the book, some of the phrasing is really weird, although that could simply be from the translation. It is also a very quick read, so I’d recommend it if you think the subject matter sounds interesting!
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LibraryThing member Belbo713
A very interesting and thought-provoking book, but I felt that it fell short of really getting into the grit of the issue and missed the mark slightly.

Language

Original language

English

Physical description

144 p.; 8.25 inches

ISBN

0063213281 / 9780063213289
Page: 0.1384 seconds