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Audition Kindle Edition
The long-awaited translation of the novel behind the cult classic Japanese movie.
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 résumés 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.
- LanguageEnglish
- PublisherW. W. Norton & Company
- Publication dateJune 7, 2010
- File size320 KB
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Editorial Reviews
From Publishers Weekly
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
Review
― Irvine Welsh, The Guardian
About the Author
Ralph McCarthy has lived in Japan for almost two decades. He is the translator of many short stories by Osamu Dazai and of Ryu Murakami’s novel 69.
Ryu Murakami is the best-selling author of more than a dozen novels and the winner of Japan’s prestigious literary award, the Akutagawa Prize. Many of his novels have been made into movies, including Audition. He lives in Japan.
Product details
- ASIN : B003R7L908
- Publisher : W. W. Norton & Company; Media tie-in edition (June 7, 2010)
- Publication date : June 7, 2010
- Language : English
- File size : 320 KB
- Text-to-Speech : Enabled
- Screen Reader : Supported
- Enhanced typesetting : Enabled
- X-Ray : Not Enabled
- Word Wise : Enabled
- Sticky notes : On Kindle Scribe
- Print length : 193 pages
- Best Sellers Rank: #507,044 in Kindle Store (See Top 100 in Kindle Store)
- #1,203 in Dark Humor
- #2,407 in Espionage Thrillers (Kindle Store)
- #5,737 in Psychological Thrillers (Kindle Store)
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Basically I went into it expecting one thing, but was completely surprised and happy with something else that I wasn't expecting at all!
This is definitely a book I'd buy some more copies of to give to friends.
I was excited too read this and then watch the movie. The movie is on all the best horror lists and the book was also listed on many... But it was mainly a boring read mostly about business, day dreaming & Japan locations...I read it for the horror aspect which didn't really show up till pg169 out of 190 ... Plus i had a problem with the issue that the author didn't take the time to describe the situations well enough so he had to go back and tell you what/why the characters did/ didn't do things when it should have been an understood thing to begin with... There are no plot twists, no suspense, no horror, no anything that this book had promised... Some gore at the end but at animal cruelty I draw the line... even though I am a huge horror fan and watch and read it all the time I still stand by animal cruelty and child porn/torture not being ok even though the later was not involved in this book. So for the the gore it wasn't anything to bad at all not over the top for me just done in a unnecessary way. There was so many other things that could have been done to the man and son that would have made the horror... Even the ending of the book was a let down... You wait and wait and think since you waited so long that the ending must be this awesome dramatic... why else would it be taken till the very end... but no... read the reviews or the synopsis and you will know pretty much the who story ...
Not sure how I feel about seeing the movie now... Sooner or later im sure I will... As long as there isn't any dog torture...
The book starts out slow, looking like a love story.. you know how it goes, wife dies, old guy wants to re-marry, and of course meet a young girl. So he holds a fake audition, they fall in love, and live happily ever after... yea not this time around, the consequence of lying to this girl are intense, and brutal, but she still gains her elegance and poise.. I am not going to ruin it, but definately read it and more importantly definately see the movie! If you have a queasy stomach the book is better.
Definately get this one. Also I have read In The Miso Soup as well as Piercing, this author is a great writer. He blends the dark human psyche, with criminality, and toss in some black humor and social commentaries for good mesure!
READ IT!
I would definetly recommend.
I guess I did read it in more or less one sitting, but I was quite bored throughout the whole sit. I kept expecting the promised horror to unfold, for some unseen plot twist, or SOMETHING, but for the vast majority of the book, nothing creepy really happens at all, unless you count some foreshadowing that is totally lacking in creativity or subtlety. Of course, there's some gore there at the end, but the way it was done was distasteful in my opinion. Not scary, not suspenseful, just unnecessarily gruesome. The truth is, you could read any plot summary of this book and you'd basically have the experience of having read the whole thing. There's nothing unexpected, nothing that complicates the plot, and nothing that is likely to quicken your heartbeat or keep you rooted in place until you're done. The writing was also nothing special in my opinion.
In conclusion: Not terrible. Boring.
I haven't seen the movie yet; now I don't really want to spend money to see the movie. I'm afraid it's just as over-hyped and lame as this book.
Top reviews from other countries
O escritor japonês Ryu Murakami (que não tem qualquer parentesco com o conterrâneo mais famoso Haruki Murakami) investe em sua literatura no que há de sombrio sob a superfície civilizada da sociedade. Ele se interessa em expor os monstros que nós mesmos criamos.
Em Audition, acompanhamos a estória de Aoyama, um tranquilo viúvo de meia-idade, dono de uma produtora de vídeo. Ele decide se casar pela segunda vez, incentivado pelo filho adolescente, Shige. Como ele não tem mais paciência para namorar, concorda em ser cúmplice do amigo Yoshikawa numa ideia maluca: entrevistar candidatas à noiva por meio de uma seleção falsa para um filme.
Depois de analisar pessoalmente vários perfis de mulheres, ele se encanta pela tímida e jovem, Yamasaki. Para Aoyama, ela é tudo que um homem como ele procura como segunda esposa: ela é bonita, elegante, comedida, delicada, inteligente... e ex-bailarina.
O amigo Yoshikawa, um cara despachado e vivido, não gosta dela. Acha Yamasaki uma garota estranha. Mas Ayoama não quer saber, e mesmo contra sua própria intuição, decide entrar de cabeça num compromisso cheio de respeito e expectativa.
A partir daí, sua vida na surperfície se torna um sonho, mas, sob esse verniz de normalidade, esconde-se um pesadelo cada vez mais aterrador à medida que a relação dos dois se aprofunda.
É um livro curto, praticamente uma novela, com um prosa bem direta, em 3ª pessoa. O ponto de vista de Aoyama é dominante. É por meio de suas ações e pensamentos que sabemos como são os outros personagens, como é o mundo à sua volta.
Temos aqui a visão do homem de meia-idade japonês. Apesar de sua retidão de caráter e até ternura, em relação às mulheres, Ayoama não pensa muito diferente do homem médio japonês, que possui uma relação mal resolvida com o sexo oposto. Homens de outras culturas acabam, muitas vezes, externando esse problema com violência, em discussões, espancamentos e mortes. Na cultura japonesa, em geral, o homem procura resolver isso de maneira mais discreta, transformando a mulher em objeto, para dominá-la, secretamente.
Ryu Murakami transformou a traumática relação do homem japonês com as mulheres numa história de terror com uma tensão crescente até o clímax chocante.
A personagem de Yamasaki é a maior escorregada do livro, por ser bidimensional demais para nos importarmos com ela.
Em 1999, foi lançado um filme que virou cult. Ele é bom justamente por não ser tão fiel ao livro. A essência está lá. Mas pequenas mudanças tornaram a história ainda mais assustadora.
No filme, também acompanhamos a trama pelos olhos da ora doce, ora macabra Yamasaki. O livro ganha no melhor desenvolvimento dos personagens ao redor de Ayoama, o filho, o amigo, a dona de um bar. O filme ganha em seu terceiro ato, que soube intensificar ainda mais uma sequência que já era perturbadora no papel.