{"product_id":"weeb-1","title":"Weeb","description":"\u003cp\u003e'It's invigorating to read a debut this assured, this invested in the big questions - without forgetting the reader's delight... I loved it.' \u003cb\u003eKaveh Akbar\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e'Celebrates the way languages work, the way they project culture, identity, and our deepest desires. \u003ci\u003eWeeb\u003c\/i\u003e is terrific!'\u003cb\u003e Gary Shteyngart\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eweeb\u003c\/b\u003e (noun): \u003ci\u003eslang for a non-Japanese person who is excessively devoted to Japanese culture, even to the point of wishing to adopt a Japanese identity\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eA recent graduate calling herself 'Rina' moves to Tokyo, ostensibly to launch her academic career, but in truth to pursue something far more private: her obsession with Kagami, the enigmatic hero of her favourite anime.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eFluent in Japanese, a meticulous student and alert to every nuance, Rina begins to construct a version of herself that might almost pass as Japanese. She curates her name, her past and her ambitions, drawing ever closer to the industry that surrounds her idol - and to the voice that brings him to life: the middle-aged actor Fujimoto Fumitaka.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eAs she burrows deeper into Tokyo's entertainment world, Rina becomes entangled with a cast of performers and outsiders - her Taiwanese idol-in-training neighbour, the eerily perfect child influencer she tutors, her favourite fan artist and an astute hairdresser - and her carefully assembled identity begins to fracture.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eFrom the translator of the International Booker Prize-winning \u003c\/b\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eTaiwan Travelogue\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cb\u003e, \u003c\/b\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eWeeb\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cb\u003eis an unsettling, addictive novel about obsession, identity and the dangerous fictions we tell ourselves to belong.\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Gardners","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":57507675865461,"sku":"9781035931712","price":14.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"url":"https:\/\/backstory.london\/products\/weeb-1","provider":"Backstory","version":"1.0","type":"link"}