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.
