Audition by Katie Kitamura

 

Everyone in the bookish realm in France right now seems to read Audition by Katie Kitamura right now. No matter how much I love reading in French - more than words can say - I rather wanted to read the original English version, but I can understand why the book may have been so successful there: the poetry of the language and the fluidity of the prose are suited very well for certain literary preferences in the Hexagon.

Like in Intimacies, the main storyteller, a woman, is not named. This time, she is an actress, on an audition, and her profession invites to ambiguity. There is a young man, Xavier, she mets at the beginning, ´half her age´, without letting her husband know, who ends up - through a seizure of the narrative - as the son writing a play for his mother. 

This ambiguity however is diffusing the scene, as almost every single episode and encounter in the book can be read from at least two perspectives. More than a story, Audition is an intellectual approach: as a literary/intellectual encouter it provokes the reaction of the reader, requests our intellectual involvement. We are lost in so many details, but the meaning, as well as the chain of events escape us completely. As a reader, you feel amnesiac, unable to trace the events and their cause. After all, it´s an audition.

Audition is under 200 pages, but I needed more than a week to read this book. The writing is so dense that every few paragraphs requested time for thinking and dissecting. 

The book is maybe too experiemental as I expected, but nevertheless chiselled in the smallest details. 

Rating: 3.5 stars

Deutscher Buchpreis 2026: Memories of Heidelberg by Heinz Strunk

Heinz Strunk was back this year on the Deutscher Buchpreis longlist with a short book about an old age love story.

In Memories of Heidelberg, Bertram and Isolde - thanks Gd but in my 20+ years in Germany I never met or heard about someone bearing such names - are spending time in the city. Both are seniors, no physical attraction is left between them and especially for Bertram he is slowly losing the control of some of his body functions. Mostly, they spend their time separately, except for the dinner time, where they often go to an Italian restaurant situated on a boat.

The back and forth of their daily contacts, with the 1968 hit of Peggy March, Memories of Heidelberg, in the background. As expected, the leitmotiv is a reminder of the good, youthful times, obviously gone for ever.

I had the chance to read all the books from the Deutscher Bucher list this year - more about it in the next months posts - but this book touched the lowest level for me. The writing is focused on the moment, describing scenes and emotions in detail but it doesn´t go too far neither in terms of story development or character development. 

The ending is grotesque, but for me was the best moment in the book, waking me up from the long sleep of reading 150 pages leading to it. 

Some books, and authors, are just not meant to be for me, and this is perfectly fine to acknowledge it. 

Rating: 2.5 stars

Disclaimer: Book offered by the publisher in exchange for an honest review

Das schönste aller Leben by Betty Boras

Once upon a time, Central and Eastern Europe used to be very diverse culturally and linguistically. But dictatorships, of all kinds, do not accomodate diversity. Most of those things past belong to stories now, as the memories are fading and the places where the ancestors were born are just images on worned out sepia photos.

The German minority in Romania used to play an important cultural and economic role - including as role model - for the majority. But faced with an oppressive system - see what happened to Aktionsgruppe Banat - many left the country indefinitely, not before the German authorities paid roughly 2 billion DM to the corrupt communist thugs. (It happened the same for the Jews) 

Since living in Germany, was curious to read more about the stories of people I used to know very well. As facts, I knew the struggle some had for anpassen - adapt to a slightly new language (the dialects spoken for generations needed a modern upgrade) and economic and educational system.

Personalities like Herta Müller and her late ex-husband Richard Wagner belonging to the Banat Swabians - mostly of Austrian origin, who settled here in the 18th century when Banat was a province of the Austrian Empire, out of which around maximum 20,000 remain nowadays, from 170,000 post WWII population - maintained the cultural memories of this minority - both in Romania and in Germany - in the public space but I still struggle to find more meaningful connections. 

However, new German authors within the German literary realm joined recently those proeminent voices. Das schönste aller Leben - The most beautiful life of all, in my own translation - by Betty Boras - herself born in Romania and relocated to Germany as a child with her family - made such a difference in the understanding and maintaining the memories of the Banat Swabians.

A transgenerational story of two women, Das schönste aller Leben is a complex journey of becoming stronger than the randomness of the destiny. Theresia and Vio, through centuries, share the same Herkunft/Origin rooted in the earth of Banat, who in the book wisely connects the two characters and their struggles - with their destinies and their general condition.  

The voice is very authentic, with no remorse and anger for what was left behind and why. As Vio in the end, it´s the wise acknowledgment of fate and the effort towards building ´the most beautiful life of all´ that may prevail. Specifically about the writing, I loved how the small scenes are written with love for detail and focus on all the small things that do make our life beautiful, although at first we may not be aware of it.

I just wish this book will be one day translated into Romanian as well.

Rating: 4 stars

Theft by Abdulrazak Gurnah

In my literary quest to explore as many as possible realms, Theft by 2021 Nobel Prize laureate Abdulrazak Gurnah took me to the postcolonial Zanzibar following the destinies of three young people - Karim, Fauzia and Badar - as they are coming of age, while experiencing betrayal and personal changes in a society changing itself at the beginning of the 1990s.

The very detailed prose is following not only the turmoil of the inner lives of the characters, but also the changing social context, affecting the personal circumstances of the characters. For instance, Karim´s relationship with his mother, who moved with her new husband to Zanzibar. Karim is left with his other relatives, and will be hosted by her, but will also prefer being more with the other students on campus during his studies. Badar, who is accused of theft, but saved by Karim and offered a new job in a hotel, is learning to use the computer and is able to search for places all over the world via Google Street images. 

The characters are well acquainted with the power of knowledge that they are pursuing in different ways and with different aims, and clearly with different consequences: Karim will end up separating from the traditional world, Fauzia will follow his dream of becoming a teacher, Badar will use it to explore the world through his mind but moderately keen to break the rules.

The shadow of a theft - as appropriation of something that doesn´t belong, symbolically or factually, is the thin thread crossing the individual stories shared by the three main characters, who are nevertheless intertwinning. 

It is hard to resist the flow of the story and the immersion into the life of the characters. We are privy to their decisions but left on ourselves as for a judgement.

Theft was Gurnah´s first book after winning the Nobel Prize and was published the last year. 

I don´t know why did it took so long to read this author, but I am definitely inspired to continue the literary exploration of his work. 

Rating: 4.5 stars

Random Things Tours: The Inheritance by Kate Horan

How does is feel to receive a DNA kit as a Christmas present, that you are supposed to use together with other guests taking part at the celebrations? I have my own thoughts about DNA tests and their use, but one thing is clear: scientifically they confirm or reveal family connections that for some, may be really shocking.

The Inheritance by Australian author Kate Horan is built around such an occurrence, using the family ties and a potentially generous legacy as a main element of a plot built mostly around two interesting women: Isobel Ashworth, the potential heir of a rich family who is alone against everyone who either doesn´t take her seriously or openly lied to her; and Meg Hunter, a journalist aiming at uplifting her career, who is trying to investigate Ashworth family. 

The life of the two women may connect not only while Meg is tracing the corruption and the secrets hiding behind the wealth, but also through some secrets their families tried to burry. Both are two well defined strong characters I enjoyed spending time with in the virtual realm of this book.

The Inheritance has a versatile plot idea that grows in the most unexpected ways, with bold takes of legacies, including genetic ones, and how they shape our life and chances.

Rating: 4 stars

Disclaimer: Book offered as part of the book tour but the opinions are, as usual, my own

Rachel´s Random Resources: I Was Watching You by Chris Westlake

Faye, Zara and Heidi booked a detox weekend away in the beautiful Wales. Busy with their personal and professional lives, they want to try to slow down and enjoy their lives differently. Then, they allow a stranger in their cottage. As they returned back home, they are going on with their usual lives. Until they received some worrisome signals that someone watched them that evening. And their dark secret they wanted burried would be probably exposed.

I Was Watching You by Chris Westlake is a psychological thriller hard to put down until the story is over. It starts so matter of factly, so ´normal´ that it´s hard to imagine what it will happen next. And this is exactly what keeps the readers - me included - literally glued to this story. 

The race to understand who exactly wants to reveal their secret and what is hiding behind this attempt. It is a gripping search for the truth while exploring the fine line where guilt and shame intersect with the need of privacy and protection.

The story has so many layers and takes which adds more interest for the reader in addition to the gripping psychological challenge. 

If you are looking for a book to keep you busy at night and the most of the day, this book is a recommended read.

Rating: 4 stars

Disclaimer: Book offered as part of the book tour but the opinions are, as usual, my own

The Lovers by Yumna Kassab

Amir and Jamila may be lovers, but aren´t in love. Education, money, age, social status separate them. They are in a situationship and the shards of their stories are shared in a monologue unfolding over months, into short installments that are touching upon topics beyond their dating. She used to live abroad, they are now in the same place, probably Lebanon, or maybe Jordan.

The Lovers by Australian-based author Yumna Kassab has a dual construction, with the two lovers mostly antithetically exploring their thoughts and feelings. There are some circumstances when it is relatively hard to identitfy at first who is talking, and their thoughts may be completely separated from the love story, adding humanity and context to the characters. 

The Lovers is a relatively short read. Sometimes it shares something very interesting about love and relationships, but the thought is abandoned shortly after for taking a different turn. The short format is limitative in this respect and I wished it had more literary space to explain and extend the thoughts,

A special note for the Art Nouveau-style of the cover.

Rating: 3.5 stars

Disclaimer: Book offered by the publisher in exchange for an honest review