
Audition
ABOUT
THE BOOK
Audition is hurtling through space towards the event horizon. Squashed immobile into its rooms are three giants: Alba, Stanley and Drew. If they talk, the spaceship keeps moving; if they are silent, they resume growing. Talk they must, and as they do, Alba, Stanley and Drew recover their shared memory of what has been done to their incarcerated former selves. Part science fiction, part social realism, Audition asks what happens when systems of power decide someone takes up too much room – and about how we live with each other’s violences – and imagines a new kind of justice.
NOMINATING LIBRARY COMMENTS
Audition is a deeply political social commentary that leaves the reader questioning their pre-conceived ideas about modern justice systems. Three giants: Alba, Stanley, and Drew are jammed into the spaceship Audition. If they are silent, they grow, and if they speak, the spaceship keeps moving, so talk they must. Telling their stories affords them freedom to move, but it also keeps them subdued. As Alba disentangles her own story from the collective, she must wrestle with the consequences of her choices, good and bad. This novel grapples with questions about our systems of power and what happens if society decides you take up too much space. In this gripping and often claustrophobic read, Pip Adam re-imagines incarceration and ideas of responsibility and control. (Auckland Council Libraries) Audition is bold, daring, unexpected and sometimes challenging novel. It is an exceptional piece of writing that is deliberately written so that it can be read in a multitude of ways, a literary powerhouse of a book brimming with big ideas and concepts. (Wellington City Libraries Te Matapihi Ki Te Ao Nui)