Katie Kitamura's 'Audition' is a puzzle, but she says it's not meant to be solved

Summary

NPR's Book of the Day: A Deep Dive into Katie Kitamura's 'Audition'

Release Date: April 29, 2025

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Introduction

In this episode of NPR's Book of the Day, host Ari Shapiro engages in an insightful conversation with acclaimed author Katie Kitamura about her latest novel, 'Audition'. The discussion delves into the novel's intricate narrative structure, thematic depth, and Kitamura's creative inspirations, offering listeners a comprehensive understanding of the book's multifaceted nature.

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Overview of 'Audition'

'Audition' is portrayed as a compelling family drama that intertwines tension and ambiguity, challenging readers to reassess early narratives as the story unfolds. Andrew Limbong, the podcast's presenter, sets the stage by highlighting the novel's ability to alter perceptions upon subsequent readings:

"It's one of those books where the information you learn throughout the novel changes your perception of what is actually going on in the beginning."
– Andrew Limbong [00:02]

Ari Shapiro elaborates on the novel's opening scene, emphasizing the deliberate ambiguity that Kitamura employs to engage readers:

"Everyone has a different understanding of their relationship. [...] She might be paying him for a date. This sort of ambiguity is at the heart of Katie Kitamura's novel."
– Ari Shapiro [01:38]

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Themes and Narrative Structure

Kitamura discusses the novel's exploration of universal experiences such as parenthood, marriage, and love, highlighting the inherent contradictions within these relationships:

"At the heart of some very, very universal experiences [...] are these kind of inherent contradictions that can't really be resolved."
– Katie Kitamura [02:03]

The narrative structure of 'Audition' is described as disorienting and puzzle-like, intentionally avoiding a conventional resolution. Kitamura compares the novel's form to a "hall of mirrors," creating a sense of destabilization that mirrors the characters' internal conflicts:

"The book is, I think, quite disorienting. It's a little bit like a hall of mirrors, in a way."
– Katie Kitamura [03:32]

A significant structural element is the novel's split narrative, which Kitamura crafted to reflect moments of revelation and changed perceptions. Drawing inspiration from films like Hitchcock's Vertigo and Kore Hirokazu's Shoplifters, she aimed to enact narrative shifts through form rather than traditional plot devices:

"I thought, with this book, I wonder if enact that kind of change through form."
– Katie Kitamura [04:27]

The novel also features a metafictional layer where the narrator is an actress rehearsing a play divided into two disjointed parts, symbolizing the fragmented identities within:

"I'm really interested in the idea that in all of us are irreconcilable, incommensurate parts of ourselves that can't be turned into a single unified identity."
– Katie Kitamura [05:19]

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Author's Intent and Inspiration

Kitamura articulates her intention to move away from storytelling that seeks to solve a puzzle, contrasting her approach with that of mystery writers like Agatha Christie. Instead of providing clear answers, she designed 'Audition' to invite multiple interpretations, allowing the novel to be read in various ways akin to a "rabbit duck" illusion:

"It's very much a kind of book that's meant to be interpreted, it's been designed so that it can be read in two or three or maybe even four different ways."
– Katie Kitamura [06:10]

Reflecting on her childhood affinity for mystery novels, Kitamura acknowledges the influence of form over content in her writing, emphasizing that the novel's ambiguity is intentional and central to its impact:

"I didn't want it to be like the reader had to figure out something that I was withholding from them."
– Katie Kitamura [06:13]

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Reader Interpretations and Engagement

Shapiro shares his personal interpretation of the novel, describing it as teetering on the edge of a horror narrative without fully committing to the genre. Kitamura relates this feeling to her deliberate incorporation of horror elements, aiming to evoke moments where the familiar becomes unrecognizable, thereby unsettling the reader:

"The real moment of horror [...] is when you look at something you think you know, and it looks unrecognizable."
– Katie Kitamura [08:11]

This approach aligns with Kitamura's goal of creating a space where both she and the reader can explore the novel's dual narratives, fostering a dynamic and interactive reading experience:

"I really thought of it as an invitation to the reader. [...] make this book alongside me."
– Katie Kitamura [07:23]

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Conclusion

Katie Kitamura's 'Audition' emerges as a thoughtfully constructed novel that challenges conventional storytelling through its fragmented structure and thematic complexity. The conversation on NPR's Book of the Day underscores the novel's capacity to engage readers in a multifaceted dialogue, inviting diverse interpretations and reflections on the inherent contradictions within personal relationships and self-identity.

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For those intrigued by the intricate layers of 'Audition', Katie Kitamura's exploration of narrative form and thematic depth offers a rich and compelling reading experience.

Transcript

[Andrew Limbong]

Hey, it's NPR's Book of the Day. I'm Andrew Limbong. The second I finish Katy Kitamura's new novel Audition, I immediately flipped back to page one and started reading the first chapter again. It's one of those books where the information you learn throughout the novel changes your perception of what is actually going on in the beginning. At the end of the day, it's a family drama, but the writing is so, I don't know, tense that I wasn't surprised when in this interview with NPR's Ari Shapiro, Kitamura says she was thinking a lot about horror when writing it. It's an interesting talk about narrative and structure, and it's coming up after the break.

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[Ari Shapiro]

Opens with a scene in a Manhattan restaurant. The narrator is meeting a young man for lunch, and everybody has a different understanding of their relationship. The woman, the man, the waiter, the they might be parent and child. He could be her admirer. She might be paying him for a date. This sort of ambiguity is at the heart of Katie Kitamura's novel. She told me she got the idea for the book from a headline she saw years ago.

[Katie Kitamura]

The headline said, a stranger told me he was my son. And I actually never read the article because I almost immediately knew that I wanted to write a novel on this premise. I was completely captivated by the idea that in a single encounter, in a single moment, everything you understand about yourself and your place in the world could be overturned. But I was also fascinated by the kind of opposition between stranger and son. Those are two words that we think of as diametrically opposed, kind of mutually exclusive. And I was interested in that tension. And for a long Time, I couldn't really figure it out. I kept thinking, what is it about this that interests me? And finally, I was speaking to a friend of mine who has a older child, a kind of college age son, and she said, but that's just a description of parenthood. That's what it's like every single time my son comes home. And so that was when I kind of cracked the idea open. You know, I had this sense, I wanted to write about how at the heart of some very, very universal experiences of parenthood, of marriage, of love, of making art, are these kind of inherent contradictions that can't really be resolved.

[Ari Shapiro]

Others have explored the idea that you don't really know the people closest to you. But this book explores in a really. The word that I keep seeing, that I think is very accurate is a very destabilizing way. It's hard to find your footing in this book.

[Katie Kitamura]

Yeah, I mean, I wanted to find a kind of mode of storytelling, a form for the novel that would convey that destabilization you're talking about when you feel that somebody you should know very, very well, whether it's your partner or your mother or your child, suddenly does appear to you as a str. And I thought there has to be a form of storytelling that will convey some of that. So the book is, I think, quite disorienting. It's a little bit like a hall of mirrors, in a way.

[Ari Shapiro]

Let's talk about the form, because it's very startling. Halfway through the narrative, there is a hard break. And when the story picks up again, the relationships have changed in a way that is unnerving, disorienting. Choose your word. Did you always know this would be a narrative split in two?

[Katie Kitamura]

I mean, I'm fascinated by stories that are cut in half.

[Ari Shapiro]

Why?

[Katie Kitamura]

I mean, I. I don't know. I think about something like Vertigo. The Hitchcock movie is kind of sliced right in half. There are other examples. There's a wonderful Japanese film by the director Kore Hirokazu called Shoplifters, which in the middle of the movie, there's a kind of revelation and suddenly you understand everything about the characters differently. And I think, I thought, with this book, I wonder if enact that kind of change through form. And so what I did instead is I just took a leap of faith and I made a big running jump and hopefully landed on the other side.

[Ari Shapiro]

There's also another layer to this story split in two because your narrator is an actress who is rehearsing a play that is also divided into two disjointed. Parts, two parts that the narrator struggles to reconcile. Tell me about the kind of nesting dolls aspect of this.

[Katie Kitamura]

Yeah, I mean, I'm really interested in the idea that in all of us are irreconcilable, incommensurate parts of ourselves that can't be turned into a single unified identity. That's very much the struggle that the character is facing in the play that she's rehearsing at some point. She says there's not a kind of unifying identity for this character. The arc of this character isn't there. And that's the puzzle of the play. But in a lot of ways, it's also the puzzle of the book, which is. It's two parts, but they're not meant to fit together. They're meant to just sit alongside each other.

[Ari Shapiro]

As I read it, as I finished reading it, I wondered whether I was supposed to be able to solve this puzzle. And from what you're saying, it sounds like, no, a solution is not the point.

[Katie Kitamura]

No, I mean, that's a kind of way of storytelling I love as a reader, but it's not something I'm interested in. I think as a writer, you don't.

[Ari Shapiro]

Want the Agatha Christie mystery that at the end you find out who done it.

[Katie Kitamura]

Well, I did grow up on mysteries. You know, I actually, it's funny you mentioned Agatha Christie, because I read those books compulsively as a child. I read them over and over and over again. And the thing is that it didn't matter if I knew the solution or not. I loved the form of it. And I think it's in my DNA as a writer in some way, the form of the mystery. But again, it's not a puzzle to be solved. I think I. I didn't like the idea of having an answer and knowing something that the reader didn't know. I didn't want it to be like the reader had to figure out something that I was withholding from them. It's very much a kind of book that' to interpretation, it's been designed so that it can be read in two or three or maybe even four different ways. And I sometimes describe it a little bit as a kind of rabbit duck book. You know, those.

[Ari Shapiro]

Like the image that you can see as a rabbit or a duck.

[Katie Kitamura]

Yes.

[Ari Shapiro]

And so are readers, now that it's out in the world, coming up to you and saying, specifically, I believed your book was about this. I read your book in that way, and they're irreconcilable.

[Katie Kitamura]

Yes.

[Ari Shapiro]

I think what you're describing is universal. This idea. It's not my idea. I forget where it came from that the writer and the reader climb opposite sides of the mountain and meet at the top. But it feels much more true of this book than most that I've read.

[Katie Kitamura]

That's so lovely, because that's really what I was hoping to do with this book. I really thought of it as an invitation to the reader. I felt when I was writing the book, I thought, I'm trying to just make a structure that is big enough to hold both me and the reader so that I can kind of invite the reader inside and say, make this book alongside me.

[Ari Shapiro]

You said that different readers have approached you with different feelings or reactions or interpretations, and I would love to tell you mine.

[Katie Kitamura]

Oh, I would love to hear it.

[Ari Shapiro]

Which was, to me, the book gave me the experience of at any minute it could become a horror novel, but it never does. And it feels like a bizarre question to ask you, but I wonder if you can explain why I felt that way, because I don't know why.

[Katie Kitamura]

I mean, I was thinking about horror a lot when I was writing this book, and the book that I had in mind was Rosemary's Baby by Ira Levin, which is a novel about, I think, postpartum depression. On one level, it's a novel about a family. It's a novel about real estate in New York. And in a lot of ways, Audition is all of those things. It feels a little bit like a haunted house story, I think. It's set more or less in one place, and all the characters are trapped in that space and things start to unfurl a little bit. I also think the real moment of horror in any of these films or books is when you look at something you think you know, and it looks unrecognizable. So there's a wonderful moment in Shirley Jackson's A Haunting of Hill House when the character looks out the window and she can see a part of the house she shouldn't be able to see. And. And it's something about the space itself has changed. The location that she knew very well is suddenly unrecognizable. And that I hope happens again and again in this book. Whether it's the physical space of the apartment, the man the central character, is married to, the younger man who enters her life.

[Ari Shapiro]

Thank you for explaining why I felt that way. It's very, very helpful. I appreciate it. Katie Kitamura, it's been so great talking with you. Thank you.

[Katie Kitamura]

Thank you.

[Ari Shapiro]

Her new novel is called Audition.

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[Andrew Limbong]

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