Killing Commendatore Kindle Edition

"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 SequencesHe 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!

The book makes an awesome reading. The moment it came, it became obvious who will be reading it, me or my wife. Of course, if your wife wants to read it first, you take the next best decision, you decide to become the first reader since your wife has completed the reading.Every few pages, my wife would tell me how the experience has been, what her expectations, and what she anticipates. Everything fell in line and she completed the reading with a single mind. The book makes a Murakamingly confusing reading.

If I have to pick one author who has never failed me as a reader it has to be Haruki Murakami.Killing Commendatore is the story of an artist who comes across a painting called "Killing Commendatore" painted by his friend's father. The protagonist sails through some life changing experiences after he stumbles upon the said painting. He comes across an "Idea" who talks, guides and liberates the strangled plus a "Metaphor" leads him to a mysterious world to fight his fears.The plot is mysterious yet comfortable, the calm narrative has some interesting mentions of timeless and classic cars, books, music, art and the aftermath of war on human life. To talk about the characters- this book has our un-named narrator, his estranged wife, a mysterious cum meticulous businessman, a beautiful thirteen year old girl and her gorgeous aunt, the narrator's supportive friend and his father who created the painting. They all make great contributions to make this book a great read.Murakami is extremely real with his characters, their temperament and his story is a masterpiece. Not once have I felt bored while reading this tome, every page got me craving for more!❤️

Specially like the cover design.. language is as expected awsome flows.. skill writing ..this is my first time with Murakami.. Yet to reveal. Get it really at low price..but should be included in prime... Have to pay delivery charges for this price above 500... I m almost at the end of this book... Just wow.. if u want a flawless reading, you want to take all pleasure of a simple alone but exiting life, somewhere suspense , somewhere realisation, somewhere pleasure of love and life... deeply passionate about something, ..I can relate this fiction rather characters maybe correct choice, so the way of fiction story it's like u r there being invisible with the author and watching whole thing, that simple language,... My first time with Murakami and I want to explore more his stories.

Book came in damaged condition, spine broken, dust jacket torn. Placed a return request. Feeling sad because now will have to wait more to read this.

As always, Murakami wrote a book that was highly interesting the writing style was such that you cannot stop reading it. However, unlike his previous books the ending was hasty and a big disappointment. It was as if you are watching a dream and just in the time of climax your alarm bell rings. There are several unanswered questions which will be discussed in fan forums.

Another book from Murakami stable. With similar plot of non working male protagonist, strong female characters. Usual loss of the loved ones and their search. Dream like characters, classical music, cats, wells. All this is good.But I seriously think this novel could have been shorter with tighter editing.Anyways if you give a miss to this novel you won't regret.

Another signature Murakami. Another great read.Considering the world of The Nobel is getting smaller, it will not be a great surprise to see Murakami getting one in the coming years. As far as surrealism is concerned and living novelists/poets, no one painted a more colorfully dark picture than Murakami. Stunning.S!

Truth is, Killing Commendatore is an excellent novel, if you are a Murakami fan. I have never before encountered an author whose works feel so personal, they are almost entities that generate moods and an atmosphere of total immersion. With this book, as with all the others, my life was put on hold, and I was able to think of little else than wanting to return into the story’s soft embrace. Yes, it’s confirmed, I suppose, that Murakami isn’t quite able to comprehend women as equal beings with humanity that parallels that of men. For a 70 year old Japanese man, that’s perhaps not so unusual, but considering the depth of understanding he shows for male (his own?) psyche, it is terribly disappointing. Literally every female character is set in a sexual context in this novel, and judging by his previous works, I suppose sexuality is the only context Murakami can set women into, even if they are blatantly asexual, or their sexualisation is barly concealed due to their too young an age, or most commonly they are primarily sexual providers, then carers, supporters, cheerleaders, for the main character. I’m a feminist (not the kind that thinks pole dancing is “empowering” btw) but even though I rage at the patriarchy, Murakami doesn’t anger me. He writes what he knows as honestly as he can, and he isn’t trying to hide his shortcomings too much. It’s easy to see how the range of emotions and rich inner life he describes is equally applicable to men and women, it’s just sad that Murakami isn’t able to appreciate it himself. Still, this novel delivers in the way fans have come to expect, and despite many reviews claiming a scattered and meandering narrative, to my eyes this is nothing of the sort. It is beautifully and deliberately crafted, and apart from some repetition, it’s a tightly written story whose world you won’t want to leave. If you are just about to pick up your first Murakami novel, leave this page and search for Wind Up Bird Chronicle. Or Colourless Tsukuru Tazaki and His Years of Pilgrimage. I think it’s best to explore his earlier works first and then come back and read this novel. But if you are a fan, you are in for a treat. Even if within his body of work this novel doesn’t score as highly as some others, it’s a work unlike that of any other author, and for that reason it gets five stars from me.ps. I collect Murakami hardcovers and this one did not disappoint. It’s a gorgeous looking book, if a little tough to read lying down, due to its size, but I just can’t get into Murakami stories in ebook format for some reason..

I love Murakami novels, always have. This one is up their with his better ones for me. I only down graded it because in almost all his books he’s invariably demonstrating his obsession with sex. I’m really not coming at this from the prudish point of view....My problem is that his handling of sex is not only gratuitous- certainly does not add anything to the storyline - but it’s soooooo deadly dull. Yes - people have sex. Can we get on with the story now? It’s like he’s not managed to find too much sex in his own life, so has to give up a third of every novel to the characters in his stories. At least with 1Q84 the sex/violence played a role in the characters’ tale - particularly the woman who would get murdered by someone she picked up. Shame he can’t put a lid on this problem and just tell stories. Ive reaches a point that I just skip through till I get by the latest round of sex, so I suppose it doesn’t have to be a major issue.... Good storyteller other than that...

my friends are maybe thinking there's something wrong with this book! well, stab me with a tiny sword i don't know what my friends want - surely not another 'kafka on the shore' or another '1Q84'? negative! murakami has already written those books, and as brilliant as they are, he doesn't need to write them again! affirmative! i have read virtually all his books, certainly all the fiction, and for me, this slots easily into the top five. like most of his fiction the story stays with you long after you finish reading, and not just because you are trying to figure out the whys and wherefores of an elusive explanation to the ending. that bothers me little and seems to be deliberate anyway.it's a different kind of narrative, the magical elements subtly dropped in, and as with his best works, a journey. one where the un-named protagonist goes a long way before he can go a short way, and then another way altogether! my friends also make reference to the inclusion of repetitive elements such as cooking, classical music, cats (to be fair the cat appears very late in the story), but if it's what you know and what you're interested in, what's the problem? - it adds to the feeling of belonging the reader experiences and the writer generates!the actual story is detailed well enough in my friends' reviews, i don't feel a need to add anything other than that murakami continues to create fiction that is unique, haunting, creative, compelling and you need to get a read of this!

I am a huge fan of Murakami's books and had been waiting impatiently for the translation and publication in English. Now, Murakami usually conjures up alternative worlds, and there are usually cats, ear lobes, jazz, and lonely men, cooking alone, and with a little sex thrown in for good measure. This book has few of the tropes - the music is classical, there is barely a cat in it, and the sex is spurious to the story. There is nothing about ear lobes either.What there is is a strange world, associated with a strange painting, and other unfinished art works - and there there are lots of loose ends by the end of the nearly 700 pages - lots of unfinished story lines. The book touches on ideas and metaphors. The ideas don't quite last, and the metaphors can be dangerous - and i'm still trying to decide if the book is a metaphor - and if so for what - the general aimlessness of life, the strange help that we seem to receive when we most need it? I don't know, but I do know i found the book a little aimless, and strangely unconcluded .Not for me one of Murakami's best - and I have read them all and loved most of them, but it is still enjoyable and in parts page turningly compulsive

After months of anticipation, the first thing that infuriated me about Killing Commendatore was the sheer size and weight of the book. It was even too tall to fit on my bookshelf alongside all my other Murakami novels – by the same publisher. Why make it so huge?! Just in the same of cover design and fanfare? All of Harvil Secker's previous hardback editions are of a consistent size. This cumbersome, unwieldy size and weight make for uncomfortable and inconvenient bedtime reading. An awful, un-useable format.Then there's the content. Whether pressured by the publisher to put out another "hit" book, or an author simply resting on his laurels, Killing Commendatore contains every overly-familiar Murakami trope, but with none of the magic of I484 or Kafka on the Shore, nor any of the intellect of Norwegian Wood or Colourless Tsukuru Tazaki.The pace is achingly slow (to go with the weight of the book) and it takes such a long time for anything remotely curious to happen, you're left wondering if anything will even happen at all. My final complaint is with regards to the translation itself, which has been left littered with American spellings and grammar. Although it has its moments of potential, Killing Commendatore feels more like an unsuccessful Murakami clone. A drab and frustrating read; very disappointing.