Book Review: "Audition" by Katie Kitamura

So, here’s the thing: I’m a lazy reader. While I read to be entertained, to be moved, to see things from a different perspective, even to learn something new, I don’t want to have to work too hard. Books that are vague, when everything is left to interpretation, rarely resonate with me. I tend to enjoy books that are told in a more traditional fashion.

That being said, if you’re a fan of unorthodox storytelling, of finishing a book with your mind exploding with the possibilities a book raised, you might love this. There’s certainly no doubt that Katie Kitamura is a talented writer.

“What was a family if not a shared delusion, a mutual construction?”

Audition is a novel in two parts. The book opens in a New York City restaurant. Our narrator, a well-known actress, is eating with a much younger man. She is self-conscious because she perceives (or imagines) that people think she paid the man to dine with her. But the truth is, this young man, Xavier, mistakenly believed that he was the actress’ son that she gave up for adoption years ago. (He isn’t. I think.)

The narrator is struggling with a transformative scene in a play she is rehearsing. She cannot seem to grasp it and it causes a tremendous amount of anxiety. And then, suddenly, she gets it. But then in the second part of the novel, everything changes, and you don’t know which part is supposed to be true.

As you can tell, I’m even struggling to describe this book. The lines blur between performance and reality, what is and what could have been. And then, in the last 50 pages, everything is flipped on its head. I haven’t a clue what this really was about, and I hate feeling clueless when I read.