Set My Heart on Fire

by Izumi Suzuki, Helen O'Horan (Translator)

The first novel from Izumi Suzuki to be published in English: a candid, intimate exploration of passion, music and transgression.

Hope I'm in for a good time, I thought. Even if it's just for tonight.

Set in the underground bar and club scene of 1970s Tokyo, Set My Heart On Fire tells the story of Izumi in her turbulent twenties. Through a series of disarmingly frank vignettes, author Izumi Suzuki presents an unforgettable portrait of a young woman encountering missteps and miscommunication, good music and unreliable men, powerful drugs and disorientating meds. Izumi usually keeps her relationships short but complicated, until she meets Jun.

Set My Heart on Fire is a visceral novel about mistaken relationships and the convolutions of desire, about regret and acceptance. Pulsing through the narration is the protagonist's love of music, a vital soundtrack spanning the Zombies, T. Rex and the Rolling Stones as well as underground Japanese psychedelic-rock bands such as the Tigers and the Tempters.

Genres: Fiction, Japan, Japanese Literature, Library Science, Audiobook, Novels, 20th Century

192 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1983

About the author

Izumi Suzuki was born in 1949. After dropping out of high school she worked in a factory before finding success and infamy as a model and actress. Her acting credits include both pink films and classics of 1970s Japanese cinema. When the father of her children, the jazz musician Kaoru Abe, died of an overdose, Suzuki’s creative output went into hyperdrive and she began producing the irreverent and punky short fiction, novels and essays that ensured her reputation would outstrip and outlast that of the men she had been associated with in her early career. She took her own life in 1986, leaving behind a decade’s worth of groundbreaking and influential writing.

Reviews

[Blair · Rating 3 out of 5]

I’ve read two short story collections by Izumi Suzuki; the first of these, Terminal Boredom, was incredible, while the second, Hit Parade of Tears, seemed to drop off quite significantly in terms of quality. When Terminal Boredom was published, I could find very little information on the author – there wasn’t even an English-language Wikipedia page for her at the time – and I had no idea she’d also written novels. In fact, it turns out Suzuki was a more prolific writer than I’d initially assumed. This book, the first of her novels to be translated, follows a beautiful but unhappy young woman’s adventures in the Tokyo music scene of the 1970s. Towards the end, it takes a more serious turn when she (rather inexplicably) marries an unpleasant bully. From what I can gather, parts of this are pretty true to the author’s own life; accordingly, the protagonist here is named Izumi.

Set My Heart On Fire reminded me insistently, maybe even eerily, of Anna Kavan’s writing: its semi-autobiographical nature; the narrator’s detachment and ennui; the drugs; an abusive, loveless marriage. Kavan, too, is a writer whose oeuvre is a mixture of speculative and realist fiction. Even Izumi’s preference for musicians as romantic and sexual partners is reminiscent of the way Kavan portrays racing drivers in ‘World of Heroes’. Maybe it’s unfair to say this novel pales in comparison to Kavan’s Who Are You? or Julia and the Bazooka, but the thematic (and, sometimes, stylistic) similarities are so strong I couldn’t help comparing them. There are some really vivid, arresting moments in Set My Heart On Fire, and if you know the author’s life story, it’s difficult not to read a certain pathos into the ending. Yet it feels frustratingly uneven, with a dizzying amount of random sex in the first two-thirds followed by an abrupt drop into more gruelling subject matter when Izumi meets Jun. So far, I’ve found Suzuki’s realist fiction less successful than her sci-fi.

[EriKa · Rating 5 out of 5]

So, you’re telling me that before 2021, the English-speaking community was oblivious to the works of this phenomenal author? Truly mind-blowing. Izumi Suzuki’s story was probably revolutionary when published at that time, though it resonates perfectly in today’s era of challenging gender norms. She was the OG woman thriving in male-dominated fields or at least her self-titled character was. I can’t help but wonder if the story between Izumi and Jun (and even Joel) draws from her own life, the jazz, the artsy, musical background, so perfectly aligned with her Wikipedia page...

The book’s cover? Stunning. The writing style? Equally stunning. I found so many quotable lines and profound insights that I could fill an entire journal. The character portrayals flawed yet deeply realistic - stunning. And the vibes? Immaculate. Rock and glam, chaos and passion, indifference and philosophy all swirling together. By the end, you’re left with this bittersweet ache, knowing the characters could have had better endings, but their lives were shaped by their own decisions and unhealed traumas. It felt so painfully real.

This book left me speechless multiple times, mostly thanks to the audacity of men. “Oh, I never cheated on my wife”, then cheats. “Oh, I love you”, then abuses her. “Oh, I’m so talented and handsome, everything came easy to me”, then wastes his life. As for the main character, I don’t share many traits with her, but she’s probably who I aspire to be: detached, unbothered. Yet even so, the story reminds you that no matter how different we are, all women experience the same pain: the yearning to be loved, clinging to faint hopes, knowing we deserve better but feeling too tired or scared to reach for it. Izumi, I get you. I really do.

Her love for Joel felt less like love and more like an escape, a “what if...” experiment to distract herself from her own reality. Or maybe it was the purest love there is? Would she have held onto his memory if he hadn’t been so distant and cold? Probably not. We tend to chase what’s unattainable, it’s the fight for love that feels intoxicating, especially when you’ve never truly believed in it just like Izumi.

In the end, the takeaway is clear: like she says, “we shouldn’t grieve over what we can’t change”, lost loves, missed chances, wasted years. Life moves forward, and so should we.

I’d recommend this to any girl in her 20s, especially to the messy ones, the cynical hopeless romantics who live somewhere between chaos and longing. This book will feel like a mirror, reflecting truths you didn’t even realize you were holding.

[Emma Roo · Rating 3 out of 5]

dating a rockstar 😄🎶🤘🎸❤️
dating a rockstar 😵‍💫💉💀😫🥃

[Kate O'Shea · Rating 3 out of 5]

2.5

I'm sorry but I found this book quite boring. It tells the story of Izumi who spends her time having sex with members of bands who she doesn't ever seem to particularly like. They whistle (or ring) and she goes to them - sometimes they have sex and sometimes they seem to get bored of the idea before they begin and so Izumi goes home.

She doesn't seem to mind if the young men are addicts or mentally ill or married or into her even.

This would be okay for one or even two short stories but an entire book of them becomes tedious.

Sadly there's very little else to the book. It didn't even feel that erotic to me.

The writing is good and that's the only positive I took from this book.

Thankyou to Netgalley and Verso Books for the advance review copy.

[sologdin · Rating 3 out of 5]

The narrator here is a sort of libertine who dates musicians. With an "affected quality to my affection" (9), she endures "a thousand nights in the same place at the same time" (10)--"It's always the same day, over and over. And here I am chasing good times like a maniac. There's nothing else to do. I've got have fun, I no longer have a choice" (11). What follows does have a sort of ananke character, with the narrator often along for the ride. Her obscure object of desire throughout is a half-American kid, presumably offspring of the post-war occupation, just as her mass culture references are mix of American imports and local artists.

She is lost, it seems, insofar as she "didn't understand the rules of the world" (47), so her main principle is "to let everything pass" (75), a sort of protective adiaphora: "Whatever goes down I don't care" (80). It doesn't always work, such as one liaison that leaves her feeling like a "doll left in the trash" (89).

The narrator presents a feminist critique of day-by-day interactions with her lovers, complaining about how they treat her and speak about women. There's also something of a study of ennui here, though the narrator is exceptional to the extent that she doesn't have to work, having "lived through the past twenty-three years without making the slightest effort" (42). It could thus be read pessimistically as an example of how idle hands are the devil's workshop, with all of the drugs and time-wasting and screwing around behind a friend's back and whatnot. I don't necessarily take it that way; it does come across at times as an examination of youth from the perspective of someone who got on the other side of being an aimless twenty-something--there's a maturity to the narrator's observations about her own motivations.

Recommended for chasers of the absolute, those trapped inside an invisible cage, and readers who prefer crisp, fresh indifference.

[cass krug · Rating 3 out of 5]

i’ve been intrigued by izumi suzuki’s work for a little while, but i held off on reading her until now because i’m not a huge short story person. so i was excited to see that her debut novel was finally translated into english! i found this book to be fine - the writing was sharp, it was a quick read, and i found the later parts of the story to be pretty compelling.

set my heart on fire follows izumi, a girl in her 20s drifting through the japanese music scene in the 1970s. she goes through life in a drug-induced daze, hopping from lover to lover and eventually marrying a musician. the beginning of the book fell flat for me - it was repetitive and i had a difficult time keeping track of all of the musicians izumi was involved with. however, once she gets married, the story takes a more troubling turn, and that was when i found myself getting more invested. the darkness between izumi and her husband was reminiscent of the relationship at the center of vigdis hjorth’s if only, but the brevity of set my heart on fire kept it from feeling too bloated.

the writing style was straightforward and sharp, which i always appreciate. this was a quick read that i was able to finish in one day. i think it might be better read over a few days due to the subject matter. i’m not sure if i’ll read suzuki’s short stories after reading this, but i’m glad to have given her a try.

thank you to netgalley and verso for the copy of this!

[nathan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Major thanks to NetGalley and Verso Books for offering me an ARC of this book in exchange for my honest thoughts:

"‘𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘣𝘭𝘶𝘦𝘴 𝘪𝘴 𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘢𝘣𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘰𝘣𝘷𝘪𝘰𝘶𝘴 𝘪𝘯 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘴𝘰𝘯𝘨𝘴,’ 𝘐 𝘵𝘰𝘭𝘥 𝘩𝘪𝘮."

As all debuts go, this one's imperfect, cluttered, and unfocussed, but Suzuki's brilliance shines through in her observant eye for the nuances in men and women in the underground rock scene of Japan in the 70s. She's looking at appetite and carnage. She's following the blues, the hues of it, how it's tracked in romance, lust, and desire.

Though it falls flat in direction, spurts of Suzuki's brilliance shine through, like rushing through the rough to find her odd glows and glimmers, diamonds in her sensitivity and awe for the universe, how vast it is and how small it crafts her world:

"..𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘱𝘦𝘳𝘪𝘰𝘥 𝘧𝘦𝘦𝘭𝘴 𝘭𝘪𝘬𝘦 𝘪𝘵 𝘣𝘦𝘭𝘰𝘯𝘨𝘴 𝘵𝘰 𝘢 𝘴𝘦𝘱𝘢𝘳𝘢𝘵𝘦 𝘵𝘦𝘮𝘱𝘰𝘳𝘢𝘭 𝘢𝘹𝘪𝘴. 𝘈𝘴 𝘪𝘧 𝘐’𝘥 𝘩𝘢𝘥 𝘢 𝘭𝘰𝘯𝘨 𝘣𝘢𝘥 𝘥𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘮. 𝘐𝘵 𝘰𝘤𝘤𝘶𝘳𝘳𝘦𝘥 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘤𝘭𝘶𝘥𝘦𝘥 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘱𝘭𝘦𝘵𝘦𝘭𝘺 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘱𝘢𝘳𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘦𝘭 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘭𝘥. 𝘔𝘦𝘢𝘯𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘪𝘵’𝘭𝘭 𝘭𝘢𝘴𝘵 𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳. 𝘙𝘦𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘯𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘰 𝘮𝘺𝘴𝘦𝘭𝘧 𝘭𝘪𝘬𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘯𝘰𝘸, 𝘐 𝘧𝘦𝘦𝘭 𝘐 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘵𝘳𝘪𝘤𝘬𝘦𝘥. 𝘕𝘰𝘵 𝘣𝘺 𝘑𝘶𝘯, 𝘣𝘶𝘵 𝘣𝘺 𝘴𝘰𝘮𝘦 𝘪𝘯𝘥𝘦𝘴𝘤𝘳𝘪𝘣𝘢𝘣𝘭𝘦 𝘨𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘵 𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘤𝘦. 𝘔𝘺 𝘵𝘪𝘮𝘦 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘴𝘵𝘰𝘭𝘦𝘯. 𝘐𝘵 𝘣𝘦𝘤𝘢𝘮𝘦 𝘴𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘦𝘭𝘴𝘦’𝘴 𝘭𝘪𝘧𝘦. 𝘐 𝘮𝘦𝘢𝘯, 𝘸𝘩𝘦𝘯 𝘐 𝘭𝘰𝘰𝘬 𝘣𝘢𝘤𝘬 𝘯𝘰𝘸 𝘪𝘵 𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘴𝘦𝘦𝘮𝘴 𝘭𝘪𝘬𝘦 𝘢 𝘭𝘪𝘦."

Examples like this set the stones for the soft sci-fi she writes into her later short stories.

*I regret the fact that I hadn't written more when I was younger. I think so much of it runs with a ferocity, a desire to live, or live a bit longer than we had hoped, to see its worth. Suzuki kept a gaze in worth's eyes, only to be left with hollow eyes, an unfocussed vision. But it's her writing that keeps the focus there.

"𝘞𝘦 𝘴𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥𝘯’𝘵 𝘨𝘳𝘪𝘦𝘷𝘦 𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘳 𝘸𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘳𝘦𝘨𝘳𝘦𝘵 𝘤𝘢𝘯’𝘵 𝘤𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘨𝘦."
"𝘐𝘵’𝘴 𝘢 𝘴𝘢𝘥 𝘴𝘵𝘰𝘳𝘺."

[Queralt✨ · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is my third time picking up Izumi Suzuki, and I’ve never quite enjoyed her short stories, but the sci-fi and gender themes she explores are always cool to read. In the past, I’ve said that reading her is like having a dry martini: you feel fancy, but there’s nothing enjoyable in the experience. Set My Heart on Fire is like a shot of Jäger. The type of thing you drink to feel like a shitty rockstar wannabe, and you have to stop yourself from grimacing at how disgusting it is.

I found this book to be very different from her short stories since it lacked the sci-fi aspect. There’s a lot to say about gender - about how women sometimes only see value in themselves when there’s a man/sex involved. It’s ugly and very sad. I felt dirty while reading it.

I think I need to digest it a bit more, but I do have to say I found the book very triggering. So, content warning: eating disorders and men commenting on having sex with underweight women.

[Howard · Rating 3 out of 5]

2.5 Stars for Set My Heart On Fire (audiobook) by Izumi Suzuki read by Cindy Kay.

How can the 1970’s underground music scene in Tokyo be so boring and the groupies are so jaded. This sounded promising but ultimately it missed its mark.

[Michelle Leung · Rating 4 out of 5]

Izumi Suzuki is a Japanese writer I discovered during the pandemic, as her work started to be translated and released through the verso books imprint. My first introduction to her writing was her collection of science fiction short stories TERMINAL BOREDOM, which I loved for all its dark and speculative wonder. Suzuki was once married to a prominent saxophone player (who later died from an overdose :( , worked as a model (the old photo shoots are beautiful ) and starred in Japanese “pink films” (erotic thrillers ). She seemed to have lived a fascinating , yet tragic life which ultimately ended at a young 36. SET MY HEART ON FIRE is her debut novel, and it has autobiographical elements with the protagonist sharing her same name. Told in short stories, vignettes (?) , scattered conversations - in the book, Izumi is a depressed young woman drifting in and out of the Tokyo rock scene in the 70s. She does a lot of drugs, has random hookups with strangers only to marry a musician in the second half. I found this a short, easy read and really captured the cultural music scene of shinjuku in the 70s really well- tons of American rock references abound.

[Ali Lloyd · Rating 4 out of 5]

hedonistic, dark, edgy, and deeply saddening. excited to read more by Suzuki. Thx June for the rec.

[Mel || mel.the.mood.reader · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 stars rounded up

As evidenced by the overall low rating for this book, Set My Heart on Fire is not for everyone. Early on, the book dives straight into the Tokyo underground scene, with drug addled rockstars, grimy bars and bleary eyed morning afters. But this Almost Famous edition of Groundhog Day quickly loses its lustre, monotony at its most hedonistic as our young and deeply insecure protagonist flits through a Rolodex of men and dive bars. The prose to those unfamiliar with Japanese works in translation may be turned off by the blunt, no-nonsense prose, but I found this to be consistent with my general experience reading Japanese authors in translation thus far. Suzuki’s voice feels biting, almost bored in its frank and unvarnished presentation.

Admittedly I got close to DNFing this one and completely resonated with the criticisms of Izumi’s parade of colourless dalliances… but then I got 2/3s of the way in and something shifted. The last portion was a difficult and undeniably haunting experience, as the Izumi depicted on the page withers away under the weight of a toxic, abusive marriage and a crippling eating disorder that sees her trying to starve herself into disappearing for good. The experience is all the more gut wrenching knowing that the author herself took her own life at 36. You can feel her malaise bleeding from the final pages of the book and my heart ached for the woman grappling with the road not taken, stumbling under the weight of her regrets. By no means a pleasant or easy reading experience, but one I am grateful for all the same. I’ve been 36 for all of 2 weeks but I felt a sense of kinship with Izumi in that final third of the book, that I wish I could have reached through the pages of history and changed the outcome.

[Meghin · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book follows the 70s rock scene in Japan. We follow a girl named Izumi in her 20s navigating life, relationships, friendships, and said music scene. It’s told in a series of short stories and seems to be….autofiction maybe? Overall I felt like for such a short book a lot of these stories dragged because they were just her having conversations with people and having copious amounts of sex. I thought the character was interesting and she had a lot of beautiful quotes and thoughts that were relatable but at the same time she did a lot of questionable things. I thought the ending was sad but the rest of this book kind of bored me. Especially the ongoing dialogue about music.

Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC!

[Tosh · Rating 4 out of 5]

I adore Izumi Suzuki's presence and her writing. She captures that sub-culture world of Shinjuku, circ—the 1970s, and with the mention of various Japanese music artists and bands of that period. In a funny way, this would be a great companion piece to the Julian Cope "Japrocksampler" book.

[Alison Fincher]

"...Set My Heart on Fire, recently translated by Helen O’Horan, is Suzuki’s first novel to appear in English. This novel is something new. Instead of stories about spaceships, witches, or dystopian societies, here Suzuki tells her own tale—the dark, semi-autobiographical narrative of a defiant, prescient voice from the fringes of Japanese society...

...Set My Heart on Fire is a moving, if bleak, read in its own right, particularly as a later example of a Japanese I-novel. It’s likely to appeal to anyone who reads gritty stories of people who make questionable choices, particularly because this story is more-or-less true. It’s also a fascinating example of autobiographical fiction from the 1970s, an era sadly underrepresented in Japanese fiction translated into English, particularly fiction by women. It is perhaps most likely to appeal to the reader already familiar with Suzuki’s work—to someone who can appreciate it as the fictionalized autobiography of a writer whose powerful stories still ring true almost four decades after she took her own life."

Full review published in the Asian Review of Books on December 29, 2024: https://asianreviewofbooks.com/conten...

[Simon Wang · Rating 3 out of 5]

i feel like this book evoked a sort of voyeuristic morbid curiosity in me. the protagonist, izumi, really reminds me of the narrator of 'my year of rest and relaxation'. they're both these beautiful young women who barely work, who numb themselves to the world through substance abuse, and who treat their friends terribly. i think the reason that izumi frustrates me as a protagonist is that she's so self-destructive and aimless-- while i do sort of understand being listless and just letting people do terrible things to you, i prefer characters who take a more active role in their ruin.
i did not care for joel at all. (the story is neither happy nor romantic so this isnt really a knock against the novel) i get that the appeal to izumi is more that he represents her youth before her abusive marriage but he sucks. this musician who became a rock star as a teen and never had to develop any social skills because he has a pretty face and a manager.
i think this book might appeal more to someone who is more familiar with the life of like... 1970s japanese punks and music enthusiasts.

i did like the part where she has a conversation with etsuko and they talk about the idea of deliberately making poor choices so that they can tally wrongs against them and convince themselves that the world is cruel.

[Chris · Rating 5 out of 5]

Izumi Suzuki is now an auto-buy author for me and will be purchasing her other books that have been translated into English IMMEDIATELY. Thank you so much to Netgalley and Verso for letting me get an ARC, and this is by far my favorite 2024 publication at the time of reviewing this title.

I wouldn't generally recommend this book to everyone, but for people who enjoy deep, raw, intimate looks into the human psyche and mind, there is so much to take in here. The book is a series of 13 vignettes at different stages in Izumi's life (I assume this is a kind of auto-fictional portrayal of the author herself) and the first half is definitely more whimsical in its approach as the MC is younger and more brash. As the story develops and she makes some life-changing decisions as she gets older, the tone gets significantly darker towards the end.

These are mostly conversations between Izumi and different people in her life, usually about love and music, relationships, men and women, sex, just the general human experience. I deeply related and connected to this novel and I was surprised how modern and relatable she was in some of her stances for a book published in the early 1980s.

Set My Heart on Fire is a truly breathtaking work of art, it isn't perfect entirely because some of the structuring and sequencing of the vignettes could have been more fleshed out or given more space to breathe, but the first half is phenomenal and the second half still had so many quotable lines and impressions that deeply resonated with me. For the right person, this book will be an absolute success.

[Bella Azam · Rating 4 out of 5]

When it comes to Izumi Suzuki, I have a particular affection towards her. Probably because she was such a fascinating person to begin with. Encountered her first work translated into English, Terminal Boredom in 2022, a collection of dystopian short stories filled with incredible ideas and feminism empowerment in each of her stories but there were lingering nostalgia and melancholy to her world. I remembered reading the opening story Woman and Woman during a heavy migraine episode post-withdrawal of medications that forced me to retire early to bed instead of reading and was left with a weird sense of amazement and fascination despite the buzzing pain in my head. Its her voice in that story that hooked me to her works since then and I'm always excited to read more of her work.

Then came the second collection of short stories released last year in 2023, Hit Parade of Tears which had some of my personal favourite but overall, a lacklustre completed work compared to Terminal Boredom. There are something unique about her world she created, the kind of alternate universe she perhaps imagined out of her mind to put the real life away from her, a utopia I might say. But this is just my personal opinion and assumption as we can never know how she created all of this as her life ended at such young age.

With this new upcoming novel tranlsated, we get glimpses of Izumi Suzuki as a person. Dubbed as autofiction, this story reflected or semi based on her life so its like reading a real life account of her as a struggling youthful woman in her 20s up to her terrible marriage to an addicted, troubled mind bassist called Jun. When I first read this, I was baffled because its different. Its way different than any of her works I have read. With 13 vignettes of personal account of a woman named Izumi, this novel highlighted her tumultous life in the 70s jazz music scene, filled with sex, drugs, relationships and the domestic affairs she fell into. The rawness of the whole stories with dialogues on her life, the thoughts of her own addiction, mental health, eating disorder, copious amounts of sex to feel fullfilled, the three men in her life, the troubled musicians with their substance abuse and the whole shitty underground music scenes, the dirty and dark world of theirs. Reading this was not a pleasant experience, its slow, meandering of monologues, with monotonous dialogues between Izumi and her friends, up to the point of her marriage with Jun, its all sounds boring to some people. But I was fascinated, enraptured albeit hated some of the actions done in here. This was a personal account of someone's life that I cannot judge entirely based on the narrative as it can be exaggerated for all I know.

In the end, I think this novel told us the reality of musicians and the industry they were in with the crooked nature of popularity and some fked up mentality. Its sad to see Izumi living in the kind of dictated by her pleasure of being used for sex as a way to feel loved or coping mechanism from drugs.

Thank you to Netgalley and Verso Books for the review copy.

2nd book #witmonth

[jason · Rating 3 out of 5]

going into this book, i wasn’t sure how much i was going to enjoy it. the only other thing i’ve read from suzuki is her short story collection “hit parade of tears” and a lot of those were very science fiction-y which, admittedly, isn’t my thing. “set my heart on fire," on the other hand, is a pretty standard lit fic, following a young woman named izumi as she lives her life, how she navigates the world, her friendships, and relationships.

i wasn’t sure how much i would understand culturally, just due to suzuki’s real-life interest in japanese musicians, and izumi’s similar interests. while the name drops of various japanese bands and artists acts as a cool feature for familiar readers, it wasn’t essential knowledge, which was reassuring.

i found i enjoyed the beginning of the novel more than the second half. i liked exploring izumi’s different relationships with men and her having pretty existential discussions with her friends. suzuki’s writing was so observant of the human condition and her writing was sharp. there were such interesting discussions on why people act the way they do, how people see the world, etc. and i always find those kinds of conversations fascinating.

izumi’s passivity as a character started off interesting but eventually got so hard to deal with. i don’t think i’ve ever read from a perspective quite like her.

i got very bogged down when jun’s character entered the story. i wasn’t anticipating the plot getting so heavy so suddenly, especially after getting into a certain rhythm for the first half of the novel. he seemed to appear out of nowhere and then he was just /there/, weighing down the atmosphere; but maybe that was suzuki’s intent—on how unhealthy/abusive people can show up one day, then drag one down like lead—because that storyline was so hard to read.

despite the heaviness, i’m happy i read this and got to see another side to suzuki’s writing. i’ll definitely be checking out “terminal boredom” and anything else of hers that gets translated.

3.5

[Bentley Jimmerson · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is by far one of my new favorite books of all time. It touches on young love, apathy, grief, hatred, abuse, and so much of what makes up the life of a girl in her twenties. I cannot give this book a higher rating. It is the Japanese love child of Sylvia Plath and Eve Babitz meets Daisy Jones and the Six. “We shouldn’t grieve over what regret can’t change.”

[Lulu · Rating 3 out of 5]

Yikes.
The beginning feels like it’s going somewhere and I’m not sure it really gets there.
The second half is bleak. Turns out dating musicians is fun until it’s not any more.
Kinda liked the ending though.

[Kaden]

I love her voice. Lots going on, which keeps it going. Somewhat tragic (tho I found the end hopeful!).

Youth...

[mia]

disappointing but discovered some cool music

[Anton Manfre]

Summer suits me because whatever will happen won't linger. Once the creaking light and humid air clears, it all seems like a lie. No matter how many summers have passed, summer three years ago feels no further away than summer two years ago, because nothing that happened in either has any relevance.

While the first Izumi Suzuki novel failed to make the impact I maybe imagined it would have, I am moved by the, what I would call the * punk terminal drone * that makes up her literary voice. The voice of the protagonist, Izumi, feels as though she is speaking after death. Everything is accepted with an almost terminal passivity and her voice fills the book like a gradual stirring fog. By no means, not dull or boring, but a much more shadowy passion. In the end, yeah, she definitely has her own voice, symbolic of 1970s Japanese underground art scene following the explosive counterculture 60s scene (Funeral Parade of Roses sighhhhhh) and the more I reflect on the novel the more I am very happy I had the opportunity to read it!

[Netanella · Rating 1 out of 5]

Shitty characters doing shitty things to each other is not my idea of a good time. Our main character is an addictive personality, doing drugs and young boy-bands in equal measure. She's not pleasant, endearing, or sympathetic in any way. The only pleasure I got out of this book is that she was able to predict her future when she said that she wants to conduct "psychological warfare" with the person she marries for love. So, I'm happy she got what she wished for.

[Akaash · Rating 3 out of 5]

An interesting, interesting read. Set My Heart On Fire follows our protagonist, Izumi, through her 20s in Japan. Spanning 10 years, Suzuki tells the story of a young woman who wants much out of life, without knowing how to get there. Through Izumi’s interactions with friends, one night stands, relationships, and marriage, Suzuki highlights the importance of being aware. Of being ready. And of being patient. Izumi’s story is not one of happiness, it is one of lessons learned through adversity, trauma, and grief.

I particularly enjoyed the way Izumi’s internal dialogue was presented, for it was a dialogue that evolved throughout the book and one that followed, so closely, that had by those living through their 20s now. As a reader, it was difficult to understand Izumi - her motivation, her decisions, and who she was - but I think the ambiguity made this a good read.

Overall, 3.5 stars.

[Kendall Phillips · Rating 4 out of 5]

When I saw this was set in the 1970s Tokyo club scene, I thought this was going to be a ~fun~ book. Man was I wrong. This was so sad that it was almost hard to enjoy, but the writing was absolutely captivating. The protagonist reminded me a lot of the one in “My Year of Rest and Relaxation”

[Laura · Rating 3 out of 5]

sex, drugs and music with an apathetic main character. the writing was ok, but it didn't do much for me

[Jasmine · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was not what I expected and unlike anything I’ve read before. It felt unfocused at times and it was harder to get into in the beginning, but I liked how raw and chaotic and intimate the vignettes were.

[June · Rating 5 out of 5]

omfg