Pip Adam, Audition

 

- New Zealand author Pip Adam's new novel just blew me away. It's an often confusing, meandering tale of three prison escapees who are captured, sent to a 'classroom', and then launched into space on a spaceship called Audition, and god knows where they are going. They certainly don't. ‘It is better to be stupid and it is better to not try and work out things' says the main character Alba at one point.

- Adam sucks us into a profound metaphysical parable. Alba, Drew and Stanley are 'growing giants', not just physically but also intellectually, morally and spiritually. Their conversations are mostly inconsequential, but they are also becoming increasingly aware and questioning. 

- On the spaceship if they talk it keeps moving; if they don’t they keep growing. Their sexual identities are confusing at first but become clear as the story unfolds. Adam's prose is clean but often deliberately unclear. Passages require frequent re-reading. The ship shakes and makes loud grinding noises. The Carpenters' song ‘Calling Occupants of Interplanetary Craft' is heard. They feel good and safe, after lives of abuse and violence. 

- As giants the three eventually escape from the ship and land on a new planet. They are welcomed by the friendly locals despite being considered 'aliens'. They begin work in a factory where it's all harmony and kindness. Or so it seems. They realise 'they don’t belong where they have come from and they don’t belong here'. 

- Suddenly they are submerged in a world of water, followed by a new strange land with trees that walk with them, oceans that move sideways, and a natural world where everything is alive and not at risk by human presence. It's like the Garden of Eden.

- Alba still feels alone however. Stanley, her former lover, whom she offended, ignores her and is attracted to Drew. ‘She looks at Stanley and Drew again. They can’t trust her’. 

- But in this new harmonious world love, peace and sexual intimacy prevail and personal relationships are healed. As we travel on this journey with Alba, Drew and Stanley, we deeply bond with them and celebrate their eventual salvation. 

- We also come to appreciate the uniqueness and depth of Adam's vision. Audition is a novel of absolute originality and brilliance.