Killing Commendatore

A Novel

By: Haruki Murakami, Philip Gabriel - translator, Ted Goossen - translator

Narrated by: Kirby Heyborne

Length: 28 hrs and 27 mins

Publisher's summary

A Washington Post, San Francisco Chronicle, Financial Times, Library Journal, LitHub, and Kirkus Reviews Best Book of the Year

The epic new novel from the internationally acclaimed and best-selling author of 1Q84

In Killing Commendatore, a 30-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 previously unseen 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 13-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.

A tour de force of love and loneliness, war and art - as well as a loving homage to The Great Gatsby - Killing Commendatore is a stunning work of imagination from one of our greatest writers.

“A spellbinding parable of art, history, and human loneliness.” (O, The Oprah Magazine)

“Expansive and intricate...touches on many of the themes familiar in Mr. Murakami’s novels: the mystery of romantic love, the weight of history, the transcendence of art, the search for elusive things just outside our grasp.” (The New York Times)

“Eccentric and intriguing, Killing Commendatore is the product of a singular imagination.... Murakami is a wiz at melding the mundane with the surreal.... He has a way of imbuing the supernatural with uncommon urgency. His placid narrative voice belies the utter strangeness of his plot.... The worldview of Murakami’s novels is consistent, and it’s invigorating. In this book and many that came before it, he urges us to embrace the unusual, accept the unpredictable." (San Francisco Chronicle)

“Exhilarating.... Only in the calm madness of his magical realism can Murakami truly capture one of his obsessions, the usually ineffable yearning that drives a person to make art.” (The Washington Post)

©2018 Haruki Murakami (P)2018 Random House Audio

Critic reviews

"Expansive and intricate...touches on many of the themes familiar in Mr. Murakami's novels: The mystery of romantic love, the weight of history, the transcendence of art, the search for elusive things just outside our grasp." (The New York Times)

Eccentric and intriguing, Killing Commendatore is the product of a singular imagination.... Murakami is a wiz at melding the mundane with the surreal.... He has a way of imbuing the supernatural with uncommon urgency. His placid narrative voice belies the utter strangeness of his plot.... The worldview of Murakami's novels is consistent, and it's invigorating. In this book and many that came before it, he urges us to embrace the unusual, accept the unpredictable." (San Francisco Chronicle)

"No other author mixes domestic, fantastic and esoteric elements into such weirdly bewitching shades.... Just as he straddles barriers dividing high art from mass entertainment, so he suspends borders between east and west." (Financial Times)

use of time and space

As with his other books, Murakami brings interesting light into the vagaries of this world.

A long and winding story

of life love faith and everything in between. beautifully written. complicated like life itself. idealistic yet at the same time deeply moving and thought provoking.

Good Story Mediocre Narration

As far as Murakami work goes, this one surely does not disappoint. One thing that is holding it back is the narration.

Not as good as his other works!

He didn't seem to pay as much attention to detail as he usually does. Some things weren't related to the story. It's an ok book, just not his normal level.

Wonderful new Murakami Novel . . .

Interesting underlying story full of fantasy and lessons about Creativity, Ideas, and Human Emotions. Highly recommend.

Ultra detailed hyper realism

A fascinating and in depth book about a painter. This is my 8 or 9th murakami novel, and they are all this way. He really puts you there with all his descriptions. I imagined if this film would me a movie I cast George takei as mr manshiki in my mind. Sometimes it was a little misogynist and characters were a tad obsessed with breasts, that’s the only thing keeping me from recommending it to friends of mine who are women. I noticed many similarities to his other books including obsessions and people looking at other people (or other versions of
themselves) from a distance away with binoculars. It was neat that so much of this book described the process of painting and what goes through a creative persons mind and their struggles with making their own art and fulfilling commercial demand. I happened to work on hundreds of drawings and paintings for an animation project while I listened to this.

I LIKE IT

I had read almost all the books from Haruki Murakami, I love his style, his stories. I know that in almost all his books he has a mystery or phenomenon like cat taking, or passing to another dimension, or a personage from a picture to came to life, this books is not different. Haruki for me is an amazing writer.

Tasting the first novel.

My first Haruki Murakami novel. Story seems simple yet bizarre. But realizing that the bizarre part is the deeper layer of the novel. There's layers to be peeled. Metaphorically, I would say that reading Mr Murakami novels is like trying a new food. you must develop a taste for it to have more of it. But they are good in deeper thought sense. Looking forward to the next Murakami novel.

a masterpiece

enough said, It is a masterpiece..
what else should I say? just try it yourself.

usual Murakami with unusual disappointment

very similar in style to his other works. this one however lacks resolution to a lot of the themes he had set up, waving them away as if a dream. pretty disappointed as a long time Murakami fan.