2025 Booker Longlist: Audition by Katie Kitamura

Our panel’s first longlist nominee is Audition by Katie Kitamura. Four of our panelists read this book, one panelist couldn’t finish it. Here are our panelists’ reviews…

Katie Kitamura is an American novelist who has received much critical acclaim for her novels. Audition is her fifth novel.

Book Synopsis from Booker website: 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.

Lisa’s Thoughts:  Audition is narrated by a character who is an actor, and the novel begins with a focus on her experience growing into a part that she plays on the stage. The story then moves into the parallels between inhabiting a character in a play and the role that we play in our family life. Essentially, we tell a story of who we are and our place in our family. A second theme is how well we can know our children, and even if a parent “knew” a child 10 years ago or 5 years ago or yesterday, that child grows and changes and is no longer the same. I will admit to thinking about that one a lot as my children become my “adult offspring.” This book got me thinking, including about the puzzle at its center, and I’d really like to discuss it with someone. This seems like Booker material to me.

Writing quality: 4/5
Originality: 4/5
Character development: 4/4
Plot development: 4/4
Overall enjoyment: 2/2
Total: 18/20

Jen’s Thoughts: Audition was one of the few booker nominees that I read before the list was released an I was pretty confident it would make the longlist and I’m almost equally certain that it will make the shortlist. It’s very well written, thought-provoking, and the sort of book that makes the reader work for it. For me, good literary fiction is the type of fiction that forces you to reflect, dig beneath the surface, and push the boundaries of conventional storytelling. Audition accomplishes all of those feats. You can read my full review, here.

Writing quality: 5/5
Originality: 5/5
Character development: 3/4
Plot development: 2.5/4
Overall enjoyment: 2/2
Total: 17.5/20

Nicole’s Thoughts:  I’m not rating this book because I didn’t finish. But I did make it 46% of the way through. I found the main character so vapid that I just didn’t care what happened. I think the only way I would force myself to finish this is if gets shortlisted.

Anita’s Thoughts:  This book has everything I want in literary fiction. It makes so much room for the reader, never spoon feeding them and leaving plenty of conclusions up for debate. The simple straightforward prose is also right up my alley. It stood up to a second read, and honestly I could read it a third time. But I know that some of what I love so much will just frustrate other readers.

Writing quality: 5/5
Originality: 5/5
Character development: 3/4
Plot development: 3/4
Overall enjoyment: 2/2
Total: 18/20

Tracy’s Thoughts:  So far, this is the most interesting and intriguing book on the list. Honestly, it’s one of my best of the year. I love, love, love an unreliable narrator, a story that keeps me guessing, and quirky side characters. I know I missed a lot the first time around, so I went out and bought the hardback for future rereads.

Writing quality: 5/5
Originality: 5/5
Character development: 3/4
Plot development: 3/4
Overall enjoyment: 2/2
Total: 18/20

Rankings

1. Audition: 17.88/20
   

Have you read it?  What do you think? Want to try it for yourself? You can purchase your copy here: Audition