I read "Killing Commendatore" because I read an intriguing review of it in the New York Times and having read Haruki Murakami’s After Dark eons ago and enjoyed it, but I didn’t realize what a treat I was in for reading Killing Commendatore. Before I get into the actual review of this book let me dispense with the requisite ritual of relating the plot, it’s pretty simply actually, an unnamed portrait artist in Japan is asked by his wife for a divorce and he takes off on a cross country journey and lands at the house of Tomohiko Amada, a famous painter, whose son is a friend of. In the attic of the house he finds a painting titled “Killing Commendatore,” which refers to Mozart’s opera Don Giovanni which has a character called the Commendatore. means “knight commander” (at least when translated from Japanese) and sets off a set of circumstances that draw him in. There is no hero only the protagonist, no villain or even major conflict that pits the characters against each other, no dense action, only a little sex, and if I gave you a blow by blow description of the plot it would seem pedestrian or uninteresting. If the end of the last paragraph puts you off the book or if it seems I’m about to give "Killing Commendatore" a bad review, stop thinking that! I don’t think I can adequately put into words how much I enjoyed this book, as a matter of fact I savored reading it! It’s so well written that the plot kept me turning the pages and I couldn’t once guess what was going to happen, so much so, that I stopped trying and let the book unfold without my interjecting any of my own bias of what should or shouldn’t happen. For the most part I’ve told you what "Killing Commendatore" isn’t, to discover what it is you have to read it for yourself. Read more

"Today when I woke from a nap the faceless man was there before me. " I finished Killing Commendatory almost 10 days back and till now I was struggling to decide how to share my opinion and review on the same. In one line, Killing Commendatore was a weird and bizarre yet beautiful read. Killing Commendatore is story of our unnamed narrator, a gifted portrait painter who can capture essence of people! He is recently separated from his wife and after aimlessly drifting for weeks, settles in mountains in Tomohiko Amada’s (a famous painter) house as a caretaker. In a pursuit of re-inventing himself, he wants to quit commercial portrait painting and want to explore something new in paintings. He settles in a solo life where he has a married girlfriend to give him company and painting classes on weekends. But things change when he stumbles upon a mysterious painting – Killing Commendatore. Discovery of this painting leads to many mysterious and bizarre events and this is where the plot becomes more complicated where everything revolves around this painting. As I am still new to Murakami world, I was desperately trying to get into a full-fledged magical realism novel and this happened to be the quintessential Murakami for me. - A mysterious man with unusual name - A faceless man - Unusual Teenager - Cats (Vanished before any action) and Owl - Someone Vanishes - A bell ringing in the middle of the night - Historical flashbacks - Music, Food and Books - Dried up well/Dark pit - Secret Passageway - Unexpected Phonecall - Weird Sex, Dream Sequences He talks (writes) in length on painting; various elements, feels and essence of portraits and painting in general. He also talks about Japanese vs western paintings. I loved the concept of Idea, its visual manifestation in the form of a little person and the fact that they travel without any constraint of time and place. Things and people disappear to reach other places in real and surreal world. It’s a roller coaster driving at breakneck speed between real and magical world. Starts with “normal” and turns more and more surreal as the plot progresses. Even protagonist wonders what’s real and what’s not! The writing is wonderful. You will be amazed how intricately different narratives have been woven. Murakami leaves a lot of dots to be connected with reader’s imagination. He doesn’t try to answer all questions and leaves it up to us how we interpret it. We might not know what’s happening still it feels good to devour his writing. Also, it’s kind of light as compared to his other work. All in all, this one is slightly easy Murakami with a Happy Ending. Yes a mellowed down, close looped, happy ENDING! Read more

⛩️🏣🎨Killing Commendatore 🎨🏣⛩️ A thirty-something portrait painter in Tokyo is abandoned by his wife and finds himself holed up in the mountain home of a famous artist, Tomohiko Amada. When he discovers a strange painting in the attic, he unintentionally opens a circle of mysterious circumstances. To close it, he must complete a journey that involves a mysterious ringing bell, a two-foot-high physical manifestation of an Idea, a dapper businessman who lives across the valley, a precocious thirteen-year-old girl, a Nazi assassination attempt during World War II in Vienna, a pit in the woods behind the artist’s home, and an underworld haunted by Double Metaphors. I am out of words so I would just start with BRILLIANT. I never felt satisfied or you can say fulfilled with the works of Haruki Murakami. This doesn't mean that they weren't good, it's just that they left me with questions which was kinda good kinda bad because few of those questions literally took my sleep away. Killing Commendatore left me at peace and made me feel satisfied. The story is completely perfect, starts with a character who has lost his soul(or you could say soul of an artist), which leads in a break in his marriage, he travels and finally lands in a place where a great artist lived and worked most of his life. He grew with time, regained his soul, started learning a new form of art, built many interesting relationships with the people there and last but not the least improved his character. He learnt how listening is the most important thing in a conversation. Besides him the character or you could say the Idea I loved the most was "The Commendatore". He was a supernatural being, his imperfections were so cute, he was always there when his friends needed him, he knew everything and most importantly he knew how much information must be passed on to one individual at a certain point of time. The story was engrossing and so beautifully written that the reader could make up paintings that the narrator made in his/her mind without having any visuals. I can still see the beautiful *KILLING COMMENDATORE* painting that the author painted with his words inside this masterpiece of a book. At last I would recommend this book to every individual who loves magical realism, get ready for an exciting and engrossing adventure with Murakami!!!!! Read more

Not the best, not the worst. Despite its 700-page length, Killing Commendatore is a readable work, but it is not on the same level as “Kafka on the Shore,” “Wild Sheep Chase,” or “IQ84.” The narrator, a portrait artist, is going through a separation as well as being at a mid-career crisis. Art and music play important roles in the story. Murakami readers know that the author is an aficionado of jazz and classical music. In past works, the classical music in the background has been Prokofiev, Beethoven, Liszt, and Schubert. This time, it is Richard Strauss’ Der Rosenkavalier playing, but it is the fans of Mozart who will be most intrigued. The title refers to the Mozart opera, Don Giovanni, a painting of which is discovered in the attic of a house the narrator is renting. The painting depicts the opening scene, which is the killing of the character Commendatore. Not surprisingly, with Murakami’s use of altered reality, the characters of Commendatore and Donna Anna eventually come to life just two-feet tall. Many of the characters are “mysterious,” e.g. Menshiki, the neighbor; and the "Man with the White Suburu Forester." Even objects, such as the dry well (ala “The Wind-up Bird Chronicle”), the knife and the bell are of uncertain realities. Overall, there is a lot to enjoy, e.g. the underground adventure, and the depiction of an artist at work. My own love of art, Mozart, and Strauss may have influenced my enjoyment of this work. On the minus side, there is too much repetitive writing, and some of the story elements seem superfluous, e.g. Mariye’s intrusion into Menshiki’s house and the narrator’s multiple, unemotional sexual encounters. Has Murakami actually made sex boring? You decide. But did I like the book? Yes, indeed. ["Mental" ladder is a typo on page 194 of the hardcover edition; the word should have been "metal," but Murakami probably would like the error.] Read more

The picture of Tomohiko Amada is the focus of the story. Five persons, as they appear in Don Giovanni, Mozart's opera, are depicted. Don Giovanni, Leporello, Donna Anna and the Commendatore. Don Giovanni stabs the Commendatore with a sword. Tomohiko Amada's brother Tsuguhiko was forced to kill innocent people in Nanjing (China) in 1937 and later committed suicide. National Socialism in Vienna after the annexation of Austria to Germany under Hitler in 1938 brought torture and death for a group of young students in Vienna who, like Tomohiko Amada, were engaged in a resistance group. The brutal, merciless action, the helplessness not to be able to do anything against it, and the loss of his great love, shaped his later life.Silence and inner retreat were the result. The picture "Killing Commendatore" becomes the metaphor. He paints it in Japanese style and sets it back to the late Middle Ages. The picture remains hidden from the public. Art becomes a means of expressing the truth. The composition of the figures in the picture demands interpretation. This is achieved through the discovery of the picture and the slow processing of the biography of Tomohiko Amada by the portrait painter who tells the story. He is 30 years old and is changing his life. His marriage has failed. He signs the divorce papers because his wife does not want to live with him after six years of marriage and demands the divorce. Without realizing what it means for his future, he agrees and faces the divorce with no way out. A dream brings him back to reality. He has sex with his wife without her consent. He is dreaming. Later it could be the procreation of his child, at least in the temporal dimension. He now knows that he loves her and wants to do everything he can to win her back. He takes the courage to meet her and demand a pronunciation. Reading a book means wanting to understand the author. To love a book means to succeed in entering into a dialogue with oneself and to reflect on the story. To ask oneself the questions and to perceive the answers in the book as a possibility. Identification and empathy also succeed with the described everyday routines, such as preparing food, driving a car, putting on vinyl records and listening to classical music, making appointments with friends and accepting invitations. The story is exciting. It begins with the new situation in which he gets involved through the announced divorce and the search for a new place to stay. New story-lines are added all the time. Unexplained things happen, in the course of time the connections become clearer. But questions also remain unanswered. Repetitions are used to depict what has happened from a different perspective or to recall what has already been said. This is sometimes disturbing, because one wants to see the riddles solved and does not want to allow unnecessary reading passages because of the tension. The book demands to take the time to stay with oneself and to reflect on what is happening. The portrait painter has existential fears, like many artists. He allows himself to be distracted from his artistic ideal by accepting commissions and painting portraits mechanically, as he has to earn a living. In the new situation he finds himself in a creative crisis. By chance, he discovers a painting in Tomohiko Amada's attic that captivates him and he wants to explore the background of the painting. The figures in the picture come to life. A journey between idea and reality begins. In the real world he meets a twelve-year-old student who has to be rescued. He receives the instructions and applies intelligence and ruse, interprets the things, and in the end comes back to life from the depths of the underworld. He saves the girl and can give a new direction to her future. He must fulfill a mystical mission and master difficult situations. The painting is the key to the story. The five characters Don Giovanni, Leporello, Donna Anna, Commendatore and Long Face all play a role in the plot. Commendatore moves from the pictorial to the real. He becomes the adviser for him and for the pupil. The connection to the creation of the picture lies in the biography of Tomohiko Amada. During the time of the annexation of Austria to Hitler's Germany, his great love was tortured and murdered. There is nothing he can do about it. He returns to Japan and falls into isolation. In addition, the younger brother commits suicide. Traumatized until shortly before his death, released from him by the deed that would have changed everything. He dies in peace. The book is a political book. Murakami is directed against the violence perpetrated by the Japanese against the Chinese population in the 1937 Nanjing massacre and against the violence perpetrated in Austria by the Nazis in Vienna after the annexation of Austria to Germany under Hitler's rule. The cruel events and forced act of execution destroy the life of the brother. After he had to kill innocent people with the sword at the command of his commander, he could no longer live and committed suicide. Tomohiko Amada cannot find a way to overcome both events and turn to other people. Numerous metaphors give us clues to the painter's state of mind. The deep, dark pit as imagination of the standstill of life. The comparison of entering and the gate to the underworld with the opening to salvation. The bell ringing to initiate the liberation around the persons from their present situations. The help of other powers, ideas and phenomena that come from the past and have gifts that go beyond comprehension in the real world lead to the dissolution of tensions and lead to a happy end. This is a Japanese novel with a mixture of reality and imagination. The book gives an insight into the nature of Japan. His landscapes with high mountains, impassable terrain, heat, humidity, cold in winter, storms and wildlife, birds, insects, are in the background and also determine the actions. The chirping of birds and the humming and buzzing of insects, which can be beautiful and dangerous at the same time. To understand the descriptions is most possible for the Japanese. Buddhism and Shinto (Shintoism) shape the spiritual world of the Japanese. Myths, spirits and stories are present. The boundaries between dream and reality disappear. Myths, ideas, concepts and metaphors accompany the events in the novel. Therefore, this work by Murakami is an exciting Japanese developmental novel that I can highly recommend. Read more

Such an amazing book. Just as expected from Haruki. Definite read for a Murakami fan. Read more

Excellent livre livré en parfait état en quelques jours. Je recommande cet achat. Read more

If anyone wants to read or collect all of Murakami’s novels, I’d definitely recommend buying this version. But honestly, I wouldn’t recommend anyone reading it. Read The Wind-up Bird Chronicles. It’s very similar but more well written. Read more

Beautiful reflection on the art of creation Read more

It's like reading an odd dream. Read more