Sunday, June 22, 2014

Idolism by Marcus Herzig

(Image found on Goodreads)
"So, although Julian always claimed not to be religious himself, I didn't believe a single word of it." -Marcus Herzig, Idolism

Julian and his friends rise to fame is bumpy. Mostly because Julian just can't help but stir up controversy. But when the time comes to choose, will they give up who they are? or will the bonds of friendship hold true? Find the official description on  Goodreads.

Idolism deals with a topic almost guaranteed to stir up controversy; Religion. But Marcus Herzig handles the topic carefully and I didn't really find anything that could annoy people who are religious. It seemed to present the different believes of the characters as their own believes and didn't put down other religions in order to put one religion before the other. He handled the religious aspect carefully and with respect. Throughout the book, he presents character's opinions as just that, opinions, not fact. It kept things from becoming too harsh or frustrating to the readers.

The chapters were short and narrated by different characters. There were four or five who narrated the book and each chapter saw a different character from the previous chapter speaking. Strangely we never get a chapter from Julian. This made him much more mysterious and his actions much more unexplained and difficult to anticipate. It lent an air of surprise to the book and more specifically his actions. However because of the shortness of many of the chapters and the amount of characters I didn't feel as deep a connection with the characters as I usually would. I did enjoy hearing their different voices and things like that but I didn't feel as if I was in the book, more like I was reading it. If you get what I mean. One thing I didn't really like was that the chapters tended to start with a short reiteration of what had happened before but from a different point of view. While it gave readers a different outlook on things, it could also be annoying and redundant.

Julian was extremely intelligent and many times explained what he meant if he made a comment that people might be questioning. However as we get deeper into the book, it seemed as if his explanations were becoming more like lectures. Some of them were interesting but others I found myself wanting to skim over after a while because they seemed to be going too long or weren't keeping my attention.

Idolism seemed to draw connections between religion and fame, some more obvious, while others were less so. But reading the book, I could understand the reasoning behind these connections and in some ways they seem familiar at least when viewed within the context of this book.

Idolism is a solid book meant to make readers think. At times you'll find yourself wishing things were a bit more interesting but then it picks up a bit and you'll be reading on easily.

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