Audition

A Novel

De: Katie Kitamura

Narrado por: Traci Kato-Kiriyama

INSTANT NATIONAL BESTSELLER

“A tightly wound family drama that reads like a psychological thriller."—NPR

“Bold, stark, genre-bending, Audition will haunt your dreams.”—The Boston Globe

One woman, the performance of a lifetime. Or two. An exhilarating, destabilizing Möbius strip of a novel that asks whether we ever really know the people we love.

Two people meet for lunch in a Manhattan restaurant. She’s an accomplished actress in rehearsals for an upcoming premiere. He’s attractive, troubling, young—young enough to be her son. Who is he to her, and who is she to him? In this compulsively readable, brilliantly constructed novel, two competing narratives unspool, rewriting our understanding of the roles we play every day–partner, parent, creator, muse–and the truths every performance masks, especially from those who think they know us most intimately.

Taut and hypnotic, Audition is Katie Kitamura at her virtuosic best.

©2025 Katie Kitamura (P)2025 Penguin Audio

Reseñas de la Crítica

"[Kitamura's] most thrilling examination yet of the deceit inherent in human connection."—The New York Times

"[A] taut, keenly observed take on the roles we play. . . worthy of a standing ovation."—People

"A deftly crafted, slow-burn psychological thriller full of sly metafictional reflections on the nature of storytelling and identity.”—The Washington Post

Love reality shape-shifting

The talent of this writing is the detail of someone’s inner world —I would’ve thought you had to be inside the mind of someone with a mental disorder to understand what the experience must be like, but this was an impressive feat of relaying many possible realities coexisting & how confusing that must be…made so easy to understand when the world gives so much contradictory evidence. How amazing to find a way to relay what must be a reality(ies) for many. Knowing this story or experiencing one like it is a powerful experience, leaving me surprised and in deep compassion. I still don’t know who the crazy one is, but funny how we all agreed it still made most sense to put it on the mom.

Writing and story

Mispronunciation of a name used many times over and over again. Xavier was one of the main characters.

Though-provoking and uncomfortable in a good way

Once I started, I did not want to put it down. Interesting exploration of motherhood, young, adult, childhood, and the roles that we play.

I don’t know how books audiobooks can be produced without editing attention to something like the correct pronunciation of a very important name within the story. Strange.

An unsettling, fascinating portrait of a family.

If David Lynch ever wrote a novel, it might look something like this. Fascinating. Engaging. I’ll be thinking about it for a while.

great book, not-so-great narrator

the reader would have been fine- albeit somewhat robotic- had she not pronounced the silent “g” at the end of every word ending in “ing”, making either a hard “g” or a “k” sound. it was distracting and pretty goll dog annoying. i could understand if it were a first-person narrative about a quirky woman who pronounces the “g” at the end of every “ing”. we’ll wait for that book. unfortunately, this was not that.

Left up to the reader

I liked the dichotomy in the story. I thought the character development of the husband was really good. I was hoping to find out an explanation for the mother/son relationship but I understand the author not answering everything. Beautifully written. The exquisite details were very effective and not at all over the top or tiring. I listened to the book after hearing K.K.'s interview on NPR. I'm glad I caught that. Well done, Katie!!

Good

Something different than my usual, not bad . Thought it was going to be something different than it was overall.

First quarter is promising. And goes downhill thereafter

Do not waste your money. This book seems like it can’t decide what message it wants to convey. The plot is two parts. The first part starts off promising. (Hence 2 stars) but slowly deteriorates. And by the time you get to the second plot line it is at first confusing and then just plain bad character development and lots of “I looked into his eyes to see what he meant….”
Overall, couldn’t wait to finish.

Bizarre

There are MUCH better listens out there. Don’t waste your time or credits on this one.

Waste of time

I kept waiting for this to improve, to make sense, to reveal its purpose. But it was absurd and abstract in the most boring way. I guess this is only for highbrow society privy to higher thinking and interpretation. The narration was also sleepy and monotonous.