Audition
by Katie Kitamura · 2025
Buy on AmazonTwo people meet for lunch in a Manhattan restaurant. She’s an elegant and accomplished actress in rehearsals for an upcoming premiere. He’s attractive, troubling, and young—young enough to be her son. Who is he to her, and who is she to him? In Audition, 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 best.
Recommended by
"I guess I could explain the plot to you: An actress meets up with a man who is convinced she’s his mother. It turns out she’s not. I think? Maybe she is? Or, maybe she’s not but actually kind of is? What is a mother? The most impressive thing about this Booker Prize finalist is how Katie Kitamura plays with the narrative and toys with the reader without being overly clever about it all. She’s stingy with details and answers, but generous with intrigue and depth."
NPR Books We Love — 2025 · apps.npr.org
Publishers Weekly's Best Books — 2025 · publishersweekly.com
"I am right now midway through Katie Kitamura's riveting, eerily spare Audition."
By the Book: David Adjmi Stereophonic · nytimes.com