A review by mijsfranssen
Idol, Burning by 宇佐見りん, Rin Usami

3.0

This novella was good, but to say it was great would be overstating it. I loved the afterword and acknowledgements though, that the author wrote, which helped to increase the rating a bit. The story itself is kind of harrowing, as you watch a girl struggle to live in the Japanese society. She has multiple diagnoses for mental health related issues, and only functions when she is busy with her Oshi, her Idol. It was interesting to read a book about Stan culture in Japan. Even though it is a big phenomenon everywhere, I never realized it could take on such a level, and that was an interesting insight. The Japanese society reflected in this book and the family relations were interesting to get to know as well, as I figured it must be so exhaustingly lonely to be like Akari in that world…

It was however a bit too much for me at times to read about Akari’s obsession without getting a clearer idea of what happened with the incident… it also bothered me that we got just her point of view in all of this, as I would have loved more general information. But I guess that that was the whole point of the book in the end. It was good enough for me to read it in a single sitting and to somewhat enjoy it though.