Audition Review — International Book Challenge (Japan) ~ 3.5/5 stars
If you were widowed would you hold an audition to find a new partner?
If you said yes. you would have something in common with Aoyama from Audition by Ryu Murakami. Aoyama is encouraged to run an audition for a new wife by his friend under the guise of a film production. Aoyama only has his eye for one applicant out of 4000: Yamaski Asami. She is 20 years younger, beautiful and odd. However Aoyama is so infatuated by her very presence that he doesn’t seem to notice the red flags until he loses something close to him.
Overall I would say the book is good, but feels lacking in some areas.
The story and concept was phenomenal, at first. The concept of an Audition being held and the “winner” being not what you expect or get from the Audition is interesting and exciting. The way Yamaski Asami conceals her true nature is interesting and keeps you wondering.
However, while this book did well to spark my imagination, the execution did not meet my expectations. It’s likely this is my fault. I chose to read this book expecting violence and cruelty and the book wasn’t elevated to my standards. If I would have went in blind, I may have been more surprised and had a different experience. I also felt that the beginning and ending were the weakest parts of the book, which is unfortunate. The excitement of the concept is what initially propelled me forward.
The characters are my favorite part of the story. Everyone was unique and had their own personalities and were well described. I could picture them in their environments and they felt an active part of it. The perspectives of each character added to the story and carried in a great way. I have no complaints about the characters as far as I know.
As I mentioned before I felt the writing in the beginning and ending were the weakest parts of the story. While it doesn’t not make up the majority of the prose they should be the most impactful to a certain point. I was particularly disappointed with the ending. There is a lot of anticipation built to the ending, which acts as the climax, but there is no true conclusion. Now this is a short book, so at only 190 pages it does well getting a lot of info across, but the ending felt a bit stilted. To counteract that statement I do think the ending is reflective of Aoyama and his perspective, which has been stilted, filtered and unreliable. Depending on your perspective, it’s either ok, lacking, or a bit humorous.
When I say the story has something to be desired, I largely form this opinion from the conclusion. When Yamaski reveals her violent affinity with cutting off feet it’s surprising, but not jarring as there is foreshadowing in the writing. It connects well with the rest of the prose, but doesn’t feel as much of a twist than a build up that concluded too fast. Once again I blame myself partly here, because of my high expectations going in.
Overall I would say I have no favorite characters, but I also have no complaints. Yamaski Asami’s character was interesting and dynamic. There were unanswered questions such as what about her backstory was true or exaggerated. While we did hear allusions to her past and her direct telling of it, there are too issues. One, it’s demonstrated already that Yamaski Asami is not a trustworthy character, seeing as she will plan to cut off your feet if she feels slighted and won’t even give you a heads up. Kinda Rude. Two, Aoyama is not a trustworthy narrator. Throughout the book the perspective is in 3rd person, but its limited to the perspective of Aoyama and the world is shaped that way. His infatuation actively gets in the way throughout the story so it’s hard to tell sometimes what is and isn’t deception on Yamasaki’s part. I actually really liked this. I left the book with answers, but no true confidence and still I find myself satisfied.
Whether intentioned or not the perspective of Aoyama brings an air of humor to the whole story. It is through this lens I believe the book can be viewed in a few ways, that I will talk about more in the prose section. While the red flags surrounding Yamaski Asami are at times obvious, because the story is viewed through the Rose-colored glasses of Aoyama it’s hard to discern what exactly is the problem. The ending when her true nature was revealed and the glasses broken, was interesting. Aoyama’s perspective is also very funny, and made me laugh a couple of times.
As mentioned a few times the ending left some things to be desired. I felt the perspective of Aoyama being elevated and semi-separate from story worked until we got to the end. When the weight of the situation is realized Aoyama doesn’t feel like he comes down to earth with the narrative. When the dog, Gangsta’s, legs are being cut off the separation is described well. There is fear and worry and sadness as he watches his son’s dog bleed out on to the floor. He can see it and hear it, but he can’t feel it, not yet. However when he gets his own foot cut off, the heaviness never feels like it arrives. I can say from the perspective of this book being funny I actually quite enjoy the ending. So I’m conflicted.
Conclusion(Contains mild spoilers)
One part in particular in Audition caught my eye and this is when Aoyama is talking to Yamasaki about food of all things. “[…]My theory is that sushi and kaiseki are dishes that evolved in peaceful, prosperous times, when eating well was the normal state of affairs. In his country[Japan] we have the illusion that there’s always this warm, loving community we belong to, but the other side of that is a sort of exclusiveness and xenophobia, and our food reflects this. Japanese cuisine isn’t inclusive at all — in fact it’s extremely inhospitable to outsiders, to people who don’t fit into the community.”
I like this quote a lot because I am a firm believer that horror and food is reflective of a societies thoughts, stresses, and culture of the time. Particularly when I look at my cultural food stuffs, soul food, there is a high number of fats, oils, and “unsavory” animal parts which is reflective of slavery. When it comes to overall US culture the popularity of “Invasion of the Body Snatchers” has parallels to the Red Scare of the time.
Overall my thoughts on the book is that it is a good read if you are looking for some suspense and some humor. Take this with a grain of salt however, as this may not be the type of humor that appeals to everyone and it’s possible it wasn’t intentioned.
Overall I give it a 3.5 out of 5.
