Reviews

Audition by Ryū Murakami

arynapril's review against another edition

mysterious reflective slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.0

I was a fan of the prose and general vibe, but the pacing was very slow and the ramp up to the finale felt nonexistent, real 0 to 100 extremely fast. As a result the ending felt really unsatisfying, like where was the tension? 

lmtk113's review against another edition

dark funny fast-paced

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

Big lol vibes 

Seen the movie four years ago so I knew the twist but that also made this more fun seeing how delusional Aoyama was while talking to Yamazaki

Fun! 

radiohex's review against another edition

dark tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

1.0

radiohex's review against another edition

dark tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

1.0

trin's review

3.0

Ryu Murakami (who I always think of in my head as “the other Murakami”—sorry, dude) certainly has talent as a shock artist. This book is brutally effective—in an intrinsically ridiculous, Fatal Attraction kind of way. I can’t even bother getting offended as a woman or, well, a person because the concept is really so dumb—and yet, it’s expertly paced, with (the other) Murakami evoking a sense of dread even when nothing explicitly frightening had so far taken place. That’s some skillful storytelling. And maybe you can rightly claim that it’s wasted on this idiocy (women are crazy! they will seduce you with their beauty and then do freaky-ass shit to you with a saw!), but on the other hand, I can’t and don’t begrudge anyone the need for the occasional doofy horror novel. I mean, I even kind of liked it: I laughed, I shivered, I rolled my eyes. It served its purpose. Well played, other Murakami. Well played.

curiousintrovert's review

4.0

Another beloved movie that I read the book for this year. Although the pacing was a little all over the place I still enjoyed this. Like the movie the atmosphere is solid and even though we all know the ending... that 20 or so pages was still painful yet glorious to get through.

njdarkish's review against another edition

3.0

I really enjoyed about 80% of this book-- it was building suspense in exciting ways, and the prose was interesting and beautiful. The characters really came to life.
But the last 20% failed to deliver on the promises of the first 80%-- early in the novel it promises us unimaginable nightmares to follow, but instead we get a chapter or two of the infamous attack/torture scene (not really a big spoiler, I imagine almost everybody who picks up this book is aware of that) that tells us the villain's motivations without any subtlety and then everything gets tied up in a pretty neat bow with no denouement. Disappointing, when the build-up was so good. It honestly felt like the author got tired of writing this story so they just banged out the ending as quickly as possible so they wouldn't have to write this book any more. I've heard much better things about how the film version delivers on the ending, so I'll have to check that out sooner than later.

llyan's review against another edition

dark funny slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

yamasaki asami said all men do is lie so they should die and that's why we stan this book and her

Japanese men named murakami who writes women terribly and absurdly might be my soulmate. I'm sorry to say queens but internalised misogyny might've won

Overall a great fun and easy read, this book was chosen for me when my local book guy did a "blind date with a book" and i have to say it's perfect!

Absolutely hilarious how aoyama was so delusional and how yamasaki was so insane! Good for her! 
Personally, aoyama was only good for his commentary on Japanese culture and food and a lil on how he treats his woman to really nice meals not so much the lying part. We do not stan him
The only good people in this book are rie-san, shige-kun, and yamasaki-san I'm afraid 

My only few problems i had with this book was the dog gore, that was not very nice :( also that it felt like

yamsaki was written just to be psycho? The deus ex machina from aoyama at the end was horrid. I would've preferred it if she was just psycho for funsies instead of the oh step daddy was abusive so me too

it was a very easy and light read so really, i don't even really want to complain 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Gore, and Animal death

Moderate: Physical abuse and Child abuse

frogggyyyyy's review

2.0

skip this if animal death/abuse is at all a trigger for you. it’s intense 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death

marxmane's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-paced

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

4.0