Idol, Burning A Novel Rin Usami Paperback FICTION/Literary A literary phenomenon in Japan—a brilliant examination of toxic fandom, alienated adolescence, the moneymaking schemes of the pop music machine, and the great emptiness that occurs when your idol falls from grace, only to become a real person.“Haunting and sincere, Idol, Burning subverts and astonishes. Rin Usami balances humor, obsession, heartbreak, and sacrifice in her debut, crafting a story that's both enveloping and expansive. Usami's writing is thrilling and deft, and her novel illuminates the shadows cloaking our digital lives, leaving us with honesty and grace in equal measures. Idol, Burning is a barnburner and a prayer and a testament to the lengths that we'll go to reach for our dreams.”—Bryan Washington, award-winning author of Memorial and Lot_Akari is a high school student with one single passion: her oshi—idol—Masaki Ueno, member of the popular J-pop group Maza Maza. She maintains a blog devoted to Masaki, and her goal is to collect every piece of information she can about him to analyze him, understand him, and ultimately see the world through his eyes. Content to worship from afar, Akari’s devotion to her oshi borders on the religious: Masaki is her savior, her backbone, someone without whom she cannot survive . . . despite the fact that she has never actually met him.When social media is set ablaze by rumors that Masaki has assaulted a fan, Akari turns her personal blog into a battle station, and her passionate defenses of Masaki earn her a following of her own. But Akari in real life is nothing like her coolheaded online persona. She’s socially awkward, failing in school, and quickly losing her family’s trust. But even as Masaki’s situation worsens, Akari hangs on to the belief that he is the one person who understands her—even as she struggles to understand herself.Translated from the Japanese by Asa Yoneda