Audition

Description

Documentary-maker Aoyama hasn't dated anyone in the seven years since the death of his beloved wife, Ryoko. Now even his teenage son Shige has suggested he think about remarrying. So when his best friend Yoshikawa comes up with a plan to hold fake film auditions so that Aoyama can choose a new bride, he decides to go along with the idea. Of the thousands who apply, Aoyama only has eyes for Yamasaki Asami, a young, beautiful, delicate and talented ballerina with a turbulent past. But there is more to her than Aoyama, blinded by his infatuation, can see, and by the time he discovers the terrifying truth it may be too late Ryu Murakami delivers his most subtle and disturbing novel yet, confirming him as Japan's master of the psycho-thriller.

Promotion info

The novel behind the acclaimed cult movie Ryu Murakami has a loyal fanbase, and Audition joins In the Miso Soup and Piercing in the striking branded style

Reviews

'The prose in these passages is elegiac and affecting, but it has the sharp, visceral feel of the butcher's knife or surgeons scalpel ...a highly compulsive, one-sitting read, and Audition should add to the Renaissance Man's growing fanbase in the English speaking world' Irvine Welsh, Guardian 'Sex, blood and the media (shaken violently) ... in the Bret Easton Ellis/Chuck Palahniuk mode' Daily Telegraph 'A serious shocker - an inside-out romance' Independent 'A haunting Japanese version of a David Lynch nightmare' (for PIERCING) Guardian

Author description

Renaissance man for the modern age, Ryu Murakami has played drums for a rock group, made movies and hosted a TV talk show. His first novel, Almost Transparent Blue, written while he was still a student, was awarded Japan's most coveted literary prize and went on to sell over a million copies. He is also the author of In the Miso Soup and Piercing, both published in English by Bloomsbury. Ralph McCarthy is the translator of 69, In The Miso Soup and Piercing by Ryu Murakami and two collections of stories by Osamu Dazai.