This is my first read from Louise O’Neill and I’m not sure whether it was the subject matter, the characters or the writing but something wasn’t quite right for me.

Firstly, the plot.. I think I’ve realised I just hate reading about faux social media stars to be honest. If find the characters to always be egotistical and dull so in hindsight, this perhaps wasn’t the storyline for me to begin with.

Secondly, the characters. Wow, I hated Sam and everything she stood for, I also didn’t particularly like Josh or Lisa either to be honest but Sam was off the chart. She was self absorbed and completely false and at the half way point i realised I genuinely did not care what happened in the rest of the book.

Finally, the writing. It wasn’t bad but it also wasn’t great. It was a bit meandering and I get that that’s a style and quite popular but it wasn’t really for me.

Don’t get me wrong, this wasn’t a bad book, but it fell flat from the expectations I’d got from all the glowing reviews. It was a 2.5 star for me.

Idol by Louise O'Neill

4 STARS

A thought-provoking read in the #MeToo era. This is a dark, compelling and claustrophobic story with an unreliable narrator. I can't say that any of the characters are particularly likable but in a story such as this, I don't think they necessarily need to be.

The role of social media, cancel culture, the wellness and guru movement alongside white women as saviours are also all covered. A book that will make you question your own moral stance.

Once again Louise O'Neill captures the zeitgeist in a novel with a commentary on the dangers of social media and cancel culture. Her main character in Idol is Samantha Miller who has built up millions of young women followers on social media with the dictum of always telling the truth. Her latest book, an essay telling her 'personal truth', flies off the shelves. But everyone has their own version of the truth and her old female best friend, Lisa, disputes Sam's version of a sexual assault. When Sam is in danger of being cast out and losing all her followers she resorts to desperate means, all the while believing her story is the true one.

Idol is very readable and of the moment. Who is really telling the truth? Will Sam get the comeuppance she may, or may not, deserve? It proves that we all remember events differently and maybe we shouldn't rush to publicise 'our truth'.

Ms. O'Neill's fans will love Idol. Many thanks to Bantam Press/Random House UK/Transworld and NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review this book.

Samantha Miller, a wellness guru on Instagram, encourages her fans to be authentic and speak their truth. Her career is flying: she’s hit three million followers, her new book has hit the bestseller list and her speaking events quickly sell out. When she decides to tell her truth, she writes an essay about her female best friend, Lisa, and the night they spent together as teenagers. The essay goes viral, but Lisa gets in touch to let Samantha know that she doesn’t remember it the same way. Rather than being a sexual awakening for Lisa, it was a night of sexual assault. Whose memory is correct?

Hot on the #MeToo movement, Idol by Louise O’Neill is a gripping page turner featuring the dark theme of sexual assault. It’s hard to tell at first whether our protagonist, Samantha, is an unreliable narrator, or in fact if any of the other characters are telling the truth. With this comes discussion on whether our memories can change so much over time that two people can remember one incident completely differently.

Compelling and enthralling, Idol is a commentary on social media, cancel culture and the unreliability of memory. I couldn’t read it fast enough!

“Was this what it meant to be an adult, everyone reframing their childhood experiences to paint themselves as the victim?”

Samantha Miller is a social media darling. More than an influencer, she is an icon with a best-selling book who speaks at sold out events. She is an oracle telling her millions of “girls” what to wear, how to live, and how to honour their ‘truth’. In the spirit of honouring her ‘truth’ she has just published a no-holds barred essay on her first sexual experience, with her schoolfriend Lisa – something she has never discussed with anyone before. But what if things aren’t quite how she remembers them? And what if the people from her past don’t want to be dragged into the limelight…?

***

On the one hand, Idol is just as readable as everything Louise O’Neill has done. It is pacy and compelling, rattling along gathering momentum as it goes and you’ll easily get swept up and finish it in a few sittings. It is interesting to draw attention to the difference between the presentation of influencers and who they actually are, and to see a “trail by social media” from the perspective of the person turned upon. On the other hand, this rings shallower than her earlier work – Samantha is sometimes more caricature than convincing, and she is by far the best drawn character in the book. Lisa – the best-friend/foil – remains completely 2D to the end, and the ending is a bit sudden. I have read every Louise O’Neill book, and while Idol is set in a different time and place there is also a sameness to the internal lives of all her characters that is really starting to grate on me. Just once it would be nice not to be trapped in the mindset of a woman obsessed with skeletal thinness, but this is the only worldview O’Neill allows. There’s more than one way of living in the world, and this book would be better if that was represented. I am getting pretty fatigued with detailed descriptions of the visibility of hip bones and scenes of the lead character binging and purging – Only Ever Yours needed them, this did not. Still worth a read, I still enjoyed it, but this author’s work is starting to come with caveats for me.

Samantha Miller is a wellness guru with three million followers on Instagram and a multi million dollar brand she built all by herself. When she writes an essay about a sexual encounter she had when she was a teenager the other person, her best friend, Lisa, claims it was non-consensual. Everything Samatha has worked for is about to be taken from her.
This book is incredible. Louise O Neill writes such an intriguing story with characters so unlikeable it's unbelievable.
She captured so well the nostalgic feeling of growing up in the nineties and how some friendships can be so toxic during such a turbulent time in one's life.
Everyone needs to read this book.

I will always read a book by Louise O'Neill. She's one of those authors whose books I always look forward to, even if they aren't all necessarily 5 star reads, they tend to always say something interesting, and they will always be written from a feminist perspective.

Idol is definitely Louise O'Neill to a T - very dark, with complicated characters who you aren't sure if you're meant to root for. Sam Miller, the protagonist (?) of Idol is an online "wellness" influencer - think Goop served up with an extra dosage of snake oil. Her life is pretty perfect with her millions of followers, new best selling book - until an accusation from an old friend threatens everything.

Idol was such a compelling read, I really enjoyed it but it also made my skin crawl (in a good way)!

Thanks to the publisher for providing me with a copy in exchange for an honest review.

I’ve enjoyed other books by this author and was delighted to be approved for this one. I like how she delves into sensitive subjects that are not only thought provoking but she gives you a different spin on a topic. This one focuses very much on current issues with social media, influencers and cancel culture along with other important themes. I found these topics to be very well written. Told from Sam’s perspective but in the form of a dual timeline with flashbacks to her childhood in the 90’s. Its a well paced page turner that keeps you reading to find out what’s coming. I wasn’t overly surprised at how it developed as you can see where it’s going but I still enjoyed the process of getting there. I didn’t find any of the characters overly endearing and at different times I found it hard to like anything about them. I was a little disappointed at how it ended as I felt I needed a bit more but overall I enjoyed it.

3.5/5 🌟🌟🌟/🌟

Thanks to Netgalley and Random House UK for the opportunity to read and review this ARC that’s due for release on the 12th of May.

Once again I find myself wrecked by Louise O’Neill’s ability to tell stories about how our society messes up women and girls. I expected this. I’ve pre-ordered this book but was delighted to receive an eARC on NetGalley because I could not wait. Shout out to the Sam Miller I knew when I taught in England (aside from being a blonde white woman, she was nothing like this Sam Miller).

Sam Miller is a wildly popular, successful influencer. Founder of a wellness brand, Shakti, Sam is riding high on the publication of her latest book. After she publishes a tell-all essay about her sexual experience with her female best friend in high school, however, that friend emails her manager, angry and accusing Sam of sexual assault. So Sam must venture back to her small New England hometown to reconnect with this friend. In so doing, she opens the floodgates of her memory for a deluge of disturbing propositions. Idol asks us to confront whether we really remember the past accurately—and what happens if we aren’t the person we remember being?

Pretty much from the first chapter, I did not like Sam. This is by design—O’Neill has a talent for creating unlikable protagonists, and I think they have their place. We so often label women “unlikable” (or even less polite terms) simply for being strident, forthright, assertive, etc. Sam is these things, yes, but that isn’t why she is unlikable—I don’t like her because she is self-absorbed and perhaps even narcissistic. However, she isn’t a shallow character. Based on the limited third-person narrator’s perspective, Sam seems to truly believe in much of her grift—she meditates, etc. (Note that I am not suggesting meditation itself is always a grift—rather, I’m pointing out that many wellness gurus do not practise what they preach.) Sam doesn’t have a public and a private persona: she generally believes in her reality, and that is fascinating.

One of the best moments in the book comes early on. Sam is having an emergency call with her therapist, who asks her, “What would it mean to you if this accusation were true?” The therapist does not let Sam dodge the question, despite much bluster from Sam that it isn’t and can’t be true, and I really liked the dynamic in this scene. It’s a great, albeit harrowing question: what if it were true that you did something awful to someone, even if you can’t believe it of yourself?

The whole theme of Idol revolves around this question: is Sam Miller a “good” person? Can any of us be good people? O’Neill leaves many of the details of the past up for interpretation. The book strongly hints that Sam’s version of events is unreliable. On the other hand, it seems clear that her former bestie, Lisa, has her own issues, has made her own mistakes, has her own traumas. There’s another character who is nominally the primary antagonist of the book—I won’t reveal their name, for spoiler reasons, though it’s pretty easy to figure out who they are given all the breadcrumbs. This character has it out for Sam. And I get why, even though I don’t condone their actions.

I think this is what makes Idol work so well for me: O’Neill spends time exploring the different angles of what it means to be a flawed social media influencer, encompassing the perspectives of Sam herself, her manager, this antagonist, Lisa, her mother, etc. There is a compelling scene later in the book where Sam is meeting with Shakti’s board of directors, mostly old, white guys. One of them is adorably “woke” because of his younger daughter’s influence. They are discussing how Sam can distance herself from Shakti, given the allegations against her, so Shakti can go public. Sam, of course, balks at the idea of stepping away from her baby when men who have similarly been accused of sexual assault haven’t fallen from grace.

It takes guts, I think, for O’Neill to examine these double standards in this way. It’s one thing to write books about women crusading against male abusers—and these books should be written. It’s another to write a book about a powerful woman who might be one of those abusers, to discuss how white women like Sam and myself are often complicit in propping up these abusive systems because we think we will be rewarded and think we will be safe as a result. At the same time, we can admit that when we as a society do hold women to account, we do so with a vociferousness and viciousness seldom seen for men.

But I keep coming back to the portrayal of Sam as an influencer and what the role of influencer culture plays in our society. We have a lot of conversations about cancel culture: whether it exists, whether it has gone too far, whether it only works on marginalized people. I think we need to reverse that. We need to talk more about promotion culture. We need to ask ourselves why it is that certain people keep being given a platform, only for them to be revealed as frauds, criminals, or abusers. O’Neill is asking us, gently but persistently: “are people like Sam Miller rotten from the start, and that is what draws them to influencing, or does the influencing rot them from within?” Has Sam’s entire life since living her hometown just been her running away from memories she doesn’t want to admit?

There are no easy answers to be found in this book. The climax and denouement are raw and jumbled and bitter; I had to go back and re-read to make sure I wasn’t missing something. The ending is a testament to O’Neill’s refusal to reassure us that everything will be OK. It won’t be. We’ve constructed this abusive society that loves to build up women only to tear them down and pits women against each other, generationally, sexually, and competitively. Whether or not we root out the Sam Millers of the game is immaterial so long as the game itself continues to exist. She may or may not be a product of the culture, but her power and privilege are a symptom of it. Idols fall from grace because we demand it—yet we are always willing to replace them with someone fresh, someone new, so the cycle can begin again.

well written, good plot, i enjoyed it would read again i really like the author

Influencer culture is a really hot topic at the moment, particularly when it comes to the Wellness Industry. Idol follows the story of Samantha Miller who has millions of young followers who pay to hear her speak and take her advice on how to best run their lives. However, when she posts an essay about an intimate experience she has with a childhood friend, that friend comes forward to dispute the memory and Samantha’s life and reputation starts to shatter around her.

Idol is a great twist on the topic of Me Too and really allows the reader to question how experiences are remembered from different character’s viewpoints. The book is really a slow-burn character study into Samantha’s decline in reputation and sanity. As this is the case it does feel a little repetitive at times and does drag a little more than needed – a ruthless edit could have helped this out. Samantha is not a particularly likeable character either and certainly not a reliable one as we start to piece together what happened on the night in question.

I liked the addition of the follower count at the beginning of chapters and how this declined as the story went along - it reminded me of the Black Mirror episode ‘Nosedive’ in places. However, I would have liked the social media element of this story to be a little more prevalent and perhaps a few more chapters included before the incident to really solidify Samantha’s life and create empathy with her before she started to unravel would have helped pique my interest later in the tale.

Overall, Idol is a solid story that builds upon the idea of an unreliable narrator but became a little repetitive and dragged in places. Thank you to NetGalley, Random House UK, Transworld Publishers and Bantam Press for a copy of the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I raced through the first third of this (when I was still wedded to the character of Samantha and her vulnerability) and then I got stuck as she started to unravel and it became obvious that she was an unreliable narrator. Her character was astonishingly well drawn but I found some of the others slightly less convincing as I was reading...although it all fitted together plausibly by the end. And I was stunned by the final few chapters. A very thought-provoking read, it will stay with me.

A friend mentioned that she had pre-ordered this book, as she loves the author; I remembered I had the ARC so decided to give it a go. I read it in a couple of hours....

This was my first book by this author so can‘t compare it to her others, but this was certainly compelling and suspenseful; I felt almost breathless at times.

Sam is a wellness guru who posts about a teenage relationship, that the other person remembers differently.

This feels very ‘now‘, being about cancel culture and is a slightly different spin on the unreliable narrator… whose memories are right, and do we have the right to challenge others‘ memories of events. The only thing I didn‘t much like was the ending… too sudden and no conclusion to some of the threads. (but I'm one of these people who likes everything tied up in a neat bow!)

Another thought provoking read by Louise O'Neill, which focuses on pertinent women's issues such as consent and female autonomy in an unflinching way- Idol is no different. Following the format of her other reads with a somewhat unlikeable main character whose world is upturned by an event, in this case a revelation, and which doesn't shy away from confronting bias and preconceived opinions. I would include a trigger warning for sexual assault, although dealt with in a sensitive way. The smug and self-absorbed "influencer/ guru" Sam is accused of sexual assaulting her childhood best friend, encourging exploration of consent and how the abuser may not see themselves that way, the ongoing impact of trauma and cancel culture. It feels incredibly timely with Sam's obsession with her social media followers and influencer culture. I wonder if it is aimed as YA like her other books, as I didn't read too much about it beforehand, but it's broad enough to appeal to a wide open-minded audience.

ol By Louise O’Neill
by Bronagh on April 22, 2022
Idol‘Idol’ is Louise’s first book with her new publisher Transworld and it’s just as gripping as her previous books.

For Samantha Miller’s young fans – her ‘girls’ – she’s everything they want to be. She’s an oracle, telling them how to live their lives, how to be happy, how to find and honour their ‘truth’. And her career is booming: she’s just hit three million followers, her new book Chaste has gone straight to the top of the bestseller lists and she’s appearing at sell-out events. Determined to speak her truth and bare all to her adoring fans, she’s written an essay about her sexual awakening as a teenager, with her female best friend, Lisa. She’s never told a soul but now she’s telling the world. The essay goes viral. But then – years since they last spoke – Lisa gets in touch to say that she doesn’t remember it that way at all. Her memory of that night is far darker. It’s Sam’s word against Lisa’s – so who gets to tell the story? Whose ‘truth’ is really a lie?

The story is seen through the perspective of Samantha and is written in the past and present tense. Samantha is an influencer with a legion of followers, who follow her way of life, obey her every word and most importantly believe every word she says.

But when Samantha releases an article about a lesbian encounter with a friend, her world turns upside when this friend replies with a different version of the story. Samantha finds her world falling apart and having to defend and justify her actions and past.

I absolutely love Louise’s books, her writing is sharp with deplorable characters that you instantly hate but you find their flawed personalities addictive and suddenly it’s 3 o’clock in the morning and you’re struggling to get up for work the following day.

In the typical style of Louise’s writing, she takes a complex subject of toxic female relationships as well as the contradictions of influencers and deliver a wonderfully, intricately weaved story with twists and drama along the way.

Samantha is a horrible character, a narcissist absorbed in her own world and sees everything through her own narrative. To her loyal followers, she’s a vision of purity when in-fact she’s a cruel and jealous person and when she lets the mask fall, it makes for fantastic reading.

Louise’s writing is sharp and she’s unapologetic for shining a light on the harsh reality of social media, where likes and engagement are considered more important than personal feelings and privacy. It gives a true account of the world that we live in and are all consumed with on a daily basis.

A gripping story with revelations that shook me to the core, ‘Idol’ is another thought provoking, brutal and compulsive book from Louise that reeled me in from the first page.

You can pre-order ‘Idol’ from Amazon and will be available to buy from good bookshops from 12th May 2022.

In 'Idol' by Louise O'Neill, Samantha Miller is a wellness guru. To packed audiences of girls she offers a way out of addiction and trauma, drawing on her own past experiences. Social media savvy, she is aware of her best angle at all times, communicates with her followers regularly on Instagram and has had a film made of her rags to riches biography. But then she makes a misstep and writes about a teenage sexual experience with her best friend. A story her friend disputes.

O'Neill writes compellingly about how people's pasts can be reshaped by others as well as by ourselves to fit with different agendas. All of the characters within this novel are complex and nuanced, leaving the reader uncertain if they can trust anyone's story. The premise of the novel is excellent, and fits brilliantly with current culture. I would certainly recommend this novel to others, both as an enjoyable read and one that leaves you thinking.

This is a very modern, of the moment novel, that I feel will work well for readers in their 20s especially- following Sam a very successful influencer, whose life is turned upside down when someone claims something she has written about is not true. This leads to Sam having to confront a lot of skeletons in her past. A good read, but in some parts a bit frothy for me- I’m not big on influencers so this may well be why!

I did not enjoy this novel. Which is sad because I thought I would. The plot fell flat for me as instead of a really interesting look into the current state of celebrity and their power over society it just felt really gossipy. It had its serious and dark moments but the whole thing felt very rushed and unfulfilling. I don’t think this book knows what it wants to be in the end. The writing style flits quite erratically and it feels very much like a first draft.

I don’t like writing bad reviews but there wasn’t much in this book that I enjoyed. It was a quick read and only took a day which shows that it definitely had something there which kept me hooked but in the end I just didn’t really enjoy the ride.

Wow, this is one dark and very addictive thriller. So much to unpack here and I don't want to give away spoilers. I read it in less than 24 hours, but there are themes that certainly did make me uncomfortable at times.

Samantha Miller has worked so hard to be where she is. She has 3 million followers on Instagram, a new book on the best sellers list and is adored by girls everywhere. Her message of "speak the truth" has helped so many of her fans. But that is all about to come crumbling down when her past comes back to haunt her. In order to fix her reputation she heads back to her hometown and her former best friend Lisa. She will have to confront her truth and a past that is less than happy.

The story of nothing is as it seems online, that celebrity you idolise - are they really what they say they are? There will be alot in this story that will be hard to read, themes of sexual assault, #metoo ., drug use and alcohol abuse to name just a few. Samantha is an interesting character, with many issues and failings, but I really felt for her. Really well done by the author.

Thanks to Random House UK and Netgalley for my advanced copy of this book to read. Publishes May 12th

Thank you for the opportunity to review this new novel.

Sam was a very complex character and so well written but I cringed so much that I had to put it down. I'm sorry and this is clearly a case of it's me, not the book 🙈