Sometimes we are caught off guard, even when we think we might know someone or something. I’ve enjoyed everything I’ve read from author Haruki Murakami but none of these prior books really prepared me for Killing Commendatore.
This book starts off as an oddly pleasing story of a youngish person separating from his wife. The story moves along, Tokyo to the countryside, adding strange details about strange things but for some reason, it really works. I found myself enjoying the seemingly simple story until it suddenly wasn’t so simple.
I feel this book will resonate with artists and those with an open mind, perhaps VERY open. This was originally published in two volumes but I landed the single, the novel. Metaphor, idea, and the mindset of a painter dancing between commercial work and the unknown. I can’t reveal too much.
Get it, read it.
Comments 10
A great book, as is almost everything Murakami has written over the last 40 years.
I love fiction and easily suspend belief to enter into that fictional world, as long as the rules of that world are based in reality. I know, a good therapist might help. I can almost get into the magic realism of the great Latin American authors but only just. With Murakami, however, it is different. He writes, with the help of a couple of great translators/collaborators, in such a way that I have no difficulty believing in sheep with magic powers, portals to another parallel world, to people being separated from their shadows, and on and on. Over the years I have often been tempted to dig a deep hole in my backyard and sink down into it in the hope of finding a Murakami inspired other world – or perhaps find myself.
On another note, I took your recommendation and am now reading ‘Deep South’. The first ten pages alone are worth reading by anyone who has ever thought seriously about what it is to travel. Thanks. I would suggest that anyone who enjoys this book and who hasn’t already done so, pick up a copy of Jonathan Raban’s ‘Bad Land’. One of the best travel/history/social documentary books I have read. This one is about Montana. I love the fact that I have seen this book in three different sections of three different libraries. Impossible to categorize as one simple genre. Not surprising that Theroux and Raban are good friends.
Keep reading and passing your recommendations on. Much appreciated.
Author
Wow, Paul. Great data. Thank you my friend. The Montana book sounds dreamy. I’m headed there in September if the pandemic doesn’t overtake us all. I too allow Murakami to do what he does. I go along because every time I do I am rewarded….
I just started it. Love it. Thanks for sharing, Dan. Cheers!
Author
Carrie,
Prepare to dream.
Just got it this morning too!
Author
MC,
Let me know if you like it! All his stuff makes one think.
Just read the prologue and part of the first chapter, feels like the kind of story I’ll enjoy. Love the stuff that makes you think.
Author
MC,
It is about to take a right turn…
I don’t read as much as I used to.
I believe the reason is quite simple. Social media, Netflix and HBO steal too much of my time. The recipe is simple – spend less time on the net and more time reading.
But it is not that easy, something has changed. My focus span has shortened. I used to be able to read for one, two maybe more hours in a stretch. And it is not just somehting I am imagening. Reading the book “The Shallows: What the Internet Is Doing to Our Brains” confirms it all.
So – my ambition for the time to come must be to get out of this negative spiral.
I once read Kafka on the shore by Murakami. A great book as I remember. I will put Killing Commendatore on my reading list. Thanks.
Author
You should read “The Shallows,” what the internet is doing to our brain. CAme out a decade ago. And watch “The Social Dilemma” on Netflix. Just came out, it’s horrifying. And a roadmap to where we are and what comes next.