Deconstructing the Shin-Gunzo New Writers Award Winner: Trends and Countermeasures #9 - Viewing Through Defamiliarization

Good morning. Well, I would like to hold our reading group again today. I will be the presenter, so thank you for your time. Have you ever been looking at social media and thought, 'Wait, what was I just reading?'
Akemi Ayaki's novel 'Azami' depicts that kind of 'information intoxication'.
When I picked up this 'Azami', the obi strip said something like this: 'Addicted to social media, incited by the comments of others, we are hearts fluttering in a circle. A "reverse" fandom novel that depicts the Reiwa-era daily life of living trapped in the net with high purity.' This gives you an idea of the plot, right? Unlike 'Oshi, Moyu', it uses a structure where she is positioned as an anti-fan.
Let's unravel how 'addiction to social media' is depicted. The technique I would like to introduce this time isdefamiliarizationThis is a concept proposed by Russian Formalism, a method of re-recognizing things that have become invisible due to being too accustomed to daily life by intentionally depicting them in a strange form, making'the familiar look unfamiliar'.
I will list this literature as a reference book.

Returning to this work. On the news ranking, Azami was 'curious' about the K-pop idol Michael Kaede and ended up reading the reader comments. To her male colleague's call, Azami says this: 'I'm not interested, seriously' (p. 022), and that it was 'just by chance' (ibid.).
That exchange was 'only for a brief moment' (ibid.), but it depicts his 'sharp gaze' (ibid.) as something different from usual. She is bothered by the surrounding noise (the sound of the phone) and 'not feeling like reading the article, I close the site window' (ibid.). However, the visual noise is 'abnormally bothersome' (p. 023) no matter what.
It becomes lunch break, and she tries to heat up her bento, but here too, 'the operating sound of the microwave that I hear every day sounds strangely grating' (p. 023). It is 'like the cry of a beast being dragged on the ground, and it makes me feel sick.'
What do you think? Even though she says she is 'not interested,' it depicts a scene where a landscape different from the usual rises up.
She 'sees a familiar proper noun (Author's note: Michael Kaede) (p. 024) and stops her finger' (p. 024). I won't go into every single comment posted here, but the fact that she becomes trapped only by anti-comments is something to keep in mind. It seems to shake her psychology, 'swallowing me whole' (p. 025), 'time and place become irrelevant' (ibid.), and even though her 'eyes seem to be following the letters,' she is 'not really reading them' (ibid.). Psychologically speaking, this description around here can also be calleddissociative immersion. We, too, melt away time before we know it while peering into the comment section. Azami might be speaking for that 'numbed sensation'.
Previously, I mentioned 'Show don't tell' as a golden rule of novels. Here, the author delves into her psychology through the depiction of the company, which appears to her differently than the usual daily life. Those who are not used to it tend to dig straight into the psychology, but unlike that, this is indeed an award-winning work.

The moment when everyday sounds suddenly sound strange one day.
At that time, we might be getting a little closer to the story.
What do you think? I made the tone a bit softer, but if you prefer this, please hit the 'Like' button. Thank you for reading until now.