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Idol cover art

Idol

By: Louise O'Neill
Narrated by: Kate Handford
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Summary

Brought to you by Penguin. 

'Follow your heart, and speak your truth.'

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 best-seller 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?

'You put yourself on that pedestal, Samantha. You only have yourself to blame.'

Riveting, compulsive and bold, Idol interrogates our relationship with our heroes and explores the world of online influencers, asking how well we can ever really know those whose carefully curated profiles we follow online. And it asks us to consider how two memories of the same event can differ and how effortlessly we choose which stories to believe.

©2022 Louise O'Neill (P)2022 Penguin Audio

Critic reviews

"Idol is fresh, glamorous and surprising, taking an issue we all care about and with a deft twist, recalibrating our position. It dazzles us before revealing the darkness at its heart." (Marian Keyes)

"A literary tour de force." (Irish Independent)

 "A vital and necessary presence in contemporary literature." (Sarah Perry)

What listeners say about Idol

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  • Overall
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Excellent

Really enjoyed this title. Narration by Kate Hanford is one of the best of the 100s of Audiobooks I have listened to. Louise O'Neill has produced a tale which kept me intrigued until the end. in this era of wellness gurus, this story hits hard. 5 stars

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  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars

not very likeable charactors

loved the start of this book but found myself not caring how this book ended

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  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars

Over hyped

And I fell for it. Seeing this book being promoted by people who had it gifted to them.

I struggled to finish it, the story didn't grab me at all. It was sameish and drawn out unfortunately.

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

Entertaining

Not the greatest but still enjoyable. it was interesting for the story to be told from the pov of a v flawed and often unlikeable character. A great reminder that 'the truth' is often just life according to us or our own take on a situation and not fact.

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
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    2 out of 5 stars

I kept expecting more from the story

Promising start but characters lack depth. I felt like there would be more twists to the story but none came.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Brilliant from start to glorious finish

I used to be a mummy blogger. I have watched the rise and fall of people like Samantha Miller in real life, in real time. Louise O’Neill is so incredibly bang on the money here. Bravo 🎉🎉

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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Loved it!

Another compelling story by Louise O’ Neill, gripping from the start. My first audiobook and I couldn’t put it down.

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  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars

Infuriatingly addictive...?

I found myself frustrated with the main character's self-obsession and wondered when the realisation would come that she was a complete narcissist, but it never came. That said, it was an infuriatingly compelling read, or at least I found it so in my longing for the protagonist to come to terms with her life to date. I think I would have enjoyed it as a teenager.

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  • Overall
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Gripping

Really enjoyed this book. The characters spring out - I found myself constantly oscillating between judging them and relating to them. Gripping up to the very end. Hope this gets made into a film.

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  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars
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    1 out of 5 stars

Kept waiting for it to get better

A bit disappointing, I felt the story lacked depth, the main character really got on my last nerve, maybe that’s the point. Would have liked some sort of explanation at the end, what the heck is actually wrong with Sam, why did she remember things so inaccurately?!

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