The Mookse and the Gripes discussion

Audition by Katie Kitamura

Would have been a crime to leave this off the list

Although they managed to omit say Endling.

I just realized they left off Endling! That was my favorite book this last year and MUCH better than Flash Light - technically and narratively. Woof.

Maybe the judges felt like they could only have one or two unconventional narratives? If that is the case, even though I loved Endling, I think Audition is the most worthy experimental fiction crossover from the Booker. Are there any other narrative oddities that Paul is pumped for on this list?

I thought this was great - I love meta stories in this vein. I’m still thinking about it

I was surprised to see it, simply because I assumed the womens prize went for more standard narratives. Seems like I need to confront my biases with the prize - maybe I'll like this years selection better than the last one.

I really liked this book despite not knowing which version was the "real" version. I still think about this book from time to time.

I certainly think this was one of the compelling and well-written books on last year's Booker longlist, and I am delighted to see it here. Of the novels on that longlist written by women, this is the one that has stood the test of time for me.

I think this year is a bit of a welcome return to the WP including some more unconventional books. So Anna if you are thinking of the last few years you are judging correctly but before that the WP was much more experimental - I quote this often but the first two winners of the Goldsmith Prize (set up in response to fears the Booker might be too commercial) both won the Women’s Prize - A Girl is a Half Formed Thing (which even Paul found too hard to read at first) and How To Be Both

I really disliked this the first time I read it, but that's because I didn't get it. Second read, I thought it was brilliant.

I do wonder if the others on this list I liked a lot would stand up as well to a second read.

Definitely stood up the best of the 13 on the Booker (having re-read them all)

Meh.

Well, I really started following the prize two years ago and had half decided it wasnt for me. Great to see that the tide might be turning!

I finished this last week and it was a solid 4.5 stars for me. I loved reading the previous thread from the 2025 booker folder which I'll cross post here. It was delightfully divisive :D

https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...

I came to this having already read and loved Kitamura's 'Intimacies' and I enjoyed the discomfort of reading 'Seperation', for me, a highly claustrophobic read. I suppose I appreciate what others here describe as "cold" prose.

The disorientation of part 2 brought to mind the unsettling experience of watching Lynch's 'Mulholland Drive', as well as another novel with two parts, White Tears by Kitamura's partner, Hari Kunzru.

I highlighted so many lines that seemed liked breadcrumbs to the central mystery. I was impressed by where Kitamura decided to take the story. The end brought to mind a loosely related documentary I saw years ago at a film fest....(view spoiler)[

'The Imposter'
https://letterboxd.com/film/the-impos...

It gave me a sense of why family might choose to join in a performance such as this.

(hide spoiler)]

This novel reminded me of Borges' short story, The Garden of Forking Paths, in which a philosopher withdraws from the world to undertake two projects: the writing of a book and the construction of an intricate labyrinth. Both projects are believed to be unfinished, even failed.

Generations later discover that the book and the labyrinth are one and the same object – the book is a labyrinth in time, exploring infinite possible courses of action. It is a “huge riddle, or parable, whose subject is time.”

This line in particular, from Audition, reminded me of Borges:

“When I breathed in and stepped forward into the light, countless paths seemed to unfurl before me, forking and then forking again, so that I was dazzled each time by the scene’s infinite contingency, the range of possibility laid out in front of me.” (page 99)

But_i_thought_ wrote: "This novel reminded me of Borges' short story, The Garden of Forking Paths, in which a philosopher withdraws from the world to undertake two projects: the writing of a book and the construction of ..."

That is such a good analogy.

Agreed

I much disliked the second half of this book, but I can recognize that it is well written. This group's discussion of the book in various threads has given me a better appreciation of what the author was doing but not enough for me to reread.