Audition

Title: Audition

Author: Ryu Murakami

Genre: horror

Shout out to Devin from the Book in the Freezer podcast for this recommendation! I don’t read a lot of Japanese books. I know a lot of people like Haruki Murakami, but he’s not really up my alley. A little too out there for my taste. But when Devin recommended this one, it sounded really interesting. Clocking in at under 200 pages, I flew through this book in one day. And oddly enough, the horror doesn’t happen until the very end, and then BOOM. completely, utterly, terribly horrifying.

From Goodreads: In this gloriously over-the-top tale, Aoyama, a widower who has lived alone with his son ever since his wife died seven years before, finally decides it is time to remarry. Since Aoyama is a bit rusty when it comes to dating, a filmmaker friend proposes that, in order to attract the perfect wife, they do a casting call for a movie they don’t intend to produce. As the resumes pile up, only one of the applicants catches Aoyama’s attention–Yamasaki Asami–a striking young former ballerina with a mysterious past. Blinded by his instant and total infatuation, Aoyama is too late in discovering that she is a far cry from the innocent young woman he imagines her to be. The novel’s fast-paced, thriller conclusion doesn’t spare the reader as Yamasaki takes off her angelic mask and reveals what lies beneath.

I got to page 168 before anything awful happened. The book is mostly about the auditions and Aoyama falling for this woman, which is still a really captivating story in and of itself. I had no problem getting hooked into his thoughts and their relationship. But when the horror hits, be prepared. It’s intense and graphic. I had to skim a bit, honestly, because it was just a bit too much for me. Murakami has a handful of other books, all of them around 200 pages, and I will definitely be checking them out. This one was great and will be one I remember for awhile.