Reviews with content warning for Injury/Injury detail - Audition

I really wanted to enjoy this novel considering the movie adaptation is a cult classic. I have never seen the movie adaptation, though I understand there are some large changes from the book but I wanted to read it first. The concept was interesting enough but honestly 3/4 of this book was just a romance novel and even though I knew it was going to switch up I got pretty bored listening to this manipulative man talk about how in love with this young girl he was. Before the “plot twist”, if you can call it that, there was a sex scene that felt as if it was written by a teenage fan fiction author. In fact I’ve read fan fiction much less cringe worthy. The ending was lack luster, I saw it from a mile away even without having seen the movie. I still have a few books by Ryu Murakami on my TBR so I hope to enjoy those better. I’ll give the movie a try soon.

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cviii's review

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dark tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

2.25

i think this might be the worst book i’ve ever read. the only reason i didn’t rate it lower is that i can imagine ways it could have been worse. also there were a few bits of prose that i liked.

the antagonist had potential to be interesting and complex but she isn’t, she’s predictable and her motivations are explained via exposition from the narration. side characters hint at ways she might be more interesting (suggesting she’s lying about her background, describing her almost as if she’s a supernatural entity), but in the end she comes across like a very tired cliche.

the protagonist is also pretty boring. he’s not exactly likeable (going along with a plan to trick young, aspiring actresses into thinking they’re auditioning for a movie when they’re really auditioning to be the protagonist’s future wife is pretty messed up) but he does have some decent qualities. not really enough to make me concerned with whether he’ll live to see the end of the novel but enough to keep me from actively rooting for him to die.

the writing style didn’t work for me for the most part, aside from a couple lines of prose, as mentioned above. a lot of the book comes across as exposition which i didn’t enjoy much. i’m not sure how much of my issues with the writing can be explained by nuance getting lost in translation so i don’t hold this against the book too much.

one thing i’ll give the book credit for is that it can easily be read in one sitting, maybe two, so you’re not investing much effort in reading it only to be let down in the end. i wouldn’t recommend reading it but you won’t lose much by giving it a couple hours of your day.

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