Killing Commendatore Book Review

Book title: Killing Commendatore

Author: Haruki Murakami

In his latest novel, Killing Commendatore, best selling Japanese author Haruki Murakami weaves together seven hundred pages of outlandish, bizarre and utterly breathtaking storytelling. Simply rendered, Murakami’s story fixates on an unnamed portrait painter whose wife of six years has just revealed her intention to divorce him. Discouraged, the painter rejects the city for a nine-months journey of self-discovery, eventually landing in a tranquil mountain condo where he may pursue his artistic visions.

Yet before long, strange occurrences begin happening. Or rather, urges Murakami, the strangeness was always there to begin with. As a subtle hand brushes in more details —an  owl in the attic, a mysterious white-haired millionaire, an ancient pile of stones, and a failed wartime assassination attempt, and a fantastic, transcendent voyage into the underworld—it becomes apparent that when the “realness” holding together one’s life disintegrates, it is ever more vital to embrace the absurd.

Verdict: Walking the tightrope between the literal and the sublime, Killing Commendatore is a masterful exploration of art, and suitable for readers who wish to escape mundanity, immersing themselves in a musical, vibrant dreamscape.

Reviewed by: Anya Miksovsky'20