In Katie Kitamura’s latest novel Audition, reality splits and doubles like light through a prism, creating a mesmerizing narrative that challenges our understanding of identity, performance, and the roles we inhabit in our closest relationships. Following her acclaimed novels Intimacies and A Separation, Kitamura delivers another sophisticated exploration of human psychology, this time focusing on the intricate dance between authenticity and performance in both art and life.
The Performance Begins
The story opens with a seemingly straightforward lunch meeting between an accomplished middle-aged actress and a mysteriously intense young man named Xavier. What initially appears to be a casual encounter quickly reveals itself as something far more complex when Xavier claims to be the actress’s long-lost son—a claim that’s impossible, as she’s never had a child. Yet despite the impossibility of his assertion, Xavier begins to integrate himself into her life, eventually moving into her Manhattan apartment with her husband Tomas, creating a strange simulacrum of family life.
The Choreography of Deception
Kitamura’s prose is characteristically precise and restrained, yet it thrums with underlying tension. She masterfully constructs a narrative that operates on multiple levels, much like the play-within-the-novel that the protagonist is rehearsing. The actress finds herself starring in a challenging new work by an acclaimed young playwright, struggling with a pivotal scene that requires a transformation she can’t quite access. This professional challenge mirrors her personal situation as she navigates Xavier’s increasing presence in her life and his effect on her marriage.
Critical Analysis: Layers of Performance
What makes Audition particularly compelling is how Katie Kitamura weaves together multiple threads about performance and authenticity:
- The protagonist’s work as an actress
- The performance of family roles
- The social performance required in everyday life
- The performance of youth versus aging
- The performance of desire and its absence
Masterful Technical Execution
The novel’s structure is impeccably crafted, with Kitamura demonstrating her considerable technical skill in several ways:
- Shifting perspectives that keep readers questioning what’s real
- Precise, measured prose that creates mounting tension
- Strategic use of ambiguity that serves the story rather than frustrating it
- Careful pacing that builds to a powerful climax
Thematic Richness
The novel explores several interconnected themes with remarkable depth:
Identity and Its Malleability
Kitamura examines how identity can be both fixed and fluid, particularly in the context of performance and family relationships. The protagonist’s identity as an actress bleeds into her personal life in ways that become increasingly difficult to separate.
The Nature of Truth in Performance
The book raises fascinating questions about the relationship between performance and truth. When does performance become reality? When does reality become performance?
Power Dynamics in Relationships
The shifting power dynamics between the protagonist, Xavier, and Tomas create a complex web of dependencies and manipulations that Kitamura handles with remarkable subtlety.
A Few Notable Critiques
While Audition by Katie Kitamura is largely successful in its ambitious aims, there are moments where the novel’s deliberate ambiguity might frustrate readers seeking more concrete resolution. Some may find the pace in the middle section slightly languid, though this serves the overall atmospheric tension. Additionally, certain supporting characters could have been more fully developed to provide greater contrast to the central triangle.
Comparative Context
Audition builds on themes Katie Kitamura explored in A Separation and Intimacies, particularly regarding identity and relationship dynamics. However, this new work pushes further into experimental territory while maintaining her characteristic control and precision. The novel brings to mind works like Siri Hustvedt’s The Blazing World and Rachel Cusk’s Outline trilogy in its exploration of identity and performance, though Kitamura’s approach is distinctly her own.
Final Curtain
Audition by Katie Kitamura is a sophisticated and challenging work that rewards careful reading. Kitamura has created a novel that functions as both a compelling narrative and a meditation on the nature of performance in life and art. While it may occasionally risk losing readers in its complexity, the payoff for staying with the performance is considerable.
Personal Note
As a reader fortunate enough to receive an advance reading copy of Audition by Katie Kitamura, I found myself performing my own role—that of the reviewer—with acute awareness of how this book makes us question every role we play. Like an actor preparing for an audition, I’ve attempted to give you my most honest performance of my reading experience, though Kitamura’s novel has made me question whether any review can be truly “honest” when we’re all, in some way, performing for an audience.