I got through four chapters...or really they are short stories...mainly conversations or first person rants. But to be honest I was speed reading and not drawn in to the Tokyo buzz of the 1970s.
Maybe I am just to old???? Sorry.
Thanks to NetGalley and Izumi Suzuki for the chance to explore

**trigger warning: drug abuse, rape, mental health**

I really wish I loved this more. I read Suzuki's sf/fantasy short story collection and quite enjoyed it, and while her distinctive voice is still present in this novel, it is bogged down by some quite dark and triggering material. The main character, Izumi, is a 23 year old living in 70s Tokyo. She is beautiful and lives out her hedonistic youth embedded in the Japanese rock music scene. She sleeps around with rock stars, but becomes bored of them quickly: her one true love is the music and legacy that musicians create.

I was enjoying the first 25%: Izumi's attitude towards life was interesting and I liked her friendship with Etsuko. However, even for a short (192 page) book, the plot was wearing thin around the 50% mark. This pacing confused me as to if the book is semi-autobiographical or all fiction. Then Jun arrives, and Izumi's narrative takes an incredibly sad and extremely triggering turn. I know the author struggled with mental illness and took her own life at a young age, but some of the passages about mental health and especially sexual assault were so gratuitously dark that I couldn't read some of them. Unfortunately this book was not for me, and I don't think I could recommend this book to anyone unless they were a previous fan of Suzuki's work.