Name: Astral Season, Beastly Season
ISBN: 9781916277113

Tahi Saihate

Astral Season, Beastly Season is the debut novel by Japanese writer Tahi Saihate. The story follows Morishita and Yamashiro, two high-school boys approaching the age in life when they must choose what kind of people they want to be. When their favourite J-pop idol kills and dismembers her boyfriend, Morishita and Yamashiro unite to convince the police that their idol’s act was in fact by them. This thrilling novel is a meditation on belonging, the objectification of young popstars, and teenage alienation.

Astral Season, Beastly Season

Kalau Almony

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i really can't decide on this one i think it's something between 2.5 and 2.7 nevertheless i like the plot it's kinda creative and fresh, the second half was unnecessary but i think the author was trying to depict the other characters' povs and how you never know what's going on in other people's life so yeah

i read this in a couple days (very uncharacteristic for me) but i couldn't put the kindle down. i thought this was such an enticing novel that was simultaneously a critique on fandom culture and, more subtly, the consequences of judging others in your youth

you guys don't understand this book like i do

Stef

"Youth is a mess of a season, impossible to live through without criticizing both the self and others. But in youth, we criticize both ourselves and others in their full humanity. It’s only lonely adults that call others less than human."



I don't know how I feel after reading this one. I really enjoy reading it and having much thought about the character and the purpose of the story that the author wanted to deliver. The first and two last parts of the book, I think that more impactful and best part. 
I felt a little confused when reading the second part that more emphasizes philosophy the other side character. The book can capture the dark and psychological obsession toward idols and how the Japanese high schoolers live their youth.



  In the end, it really doesn’t matter what kind of person you were back in your school days. Everyone looked down on someone else to make themselves feel better. Thinking, I’m different, was, more than anything else, our greatest commonality.

i think i will be thinking about this for a while. what a haunting, haunting read.

i need to open with this: i am well familiar with idol fan culture; while i dabble more in kpop than jpop, there are huge overlaps. i felt that tahi saihate worked with it as a narrative tool perfectly. a fan's obsession with a celebrity is never about the celebrity, it is always about themselves.

i liked that in spite of what would be considered the inciting incident and what binds morishita and yamashiro, this is not a book about fan culture but a book about adolescence (and it is stated very explicitly), of the way we define ourselves and of the ways we chose to define others.

it is a fascinating, thought provoking read.

Astral Season, Beastly Season

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