Staff Pick
Killing Commendatore is a Gatsby-esque novel that meditates on art, death, the spirit world, fate, and free will. I loved the experience of slowly losing myself to the surreal, magical world of Murakami’s imagination. This novel may have finally pushed me into the camp of devoted Harukists. Recommended By Mary S., Powells.com
Synopses & Reviews
When a thirty-something portrait painter is abandoned by his wife, he secludes himself in the mountain home of a world famous artist. One day, the young painter hears a noise from the attic, and upon investigation, he discovers a previously unseen painting. By unearthing this hidden work of art, he unintentionally opens a circle of mysterious circumstances; and to close it, he must undertake a perilous journey into a netherworld that only Haruki Murakami could conjure. A tour de force of love and loneliness, war and art, Killing Commendatore is a stunning work of imagination from one of our greatest writers.
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"The product of a singular imagination." San Francisco Chronicle
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"Murakami beautifully captures the evanescence of inspiration." Vulture
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"[A] sprawling, uncanny epic. . . . A time-traveling tale of loss, longing, and the creation of art — with an ample dash of Murakami's trademark deadpan humor." Vanity Fair
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"A spellbinding parable of art, history, and human loneliness." O, The Oprah Magazine
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"Wild, thrilling. . . . Murakami is a master storyteller and he knows how to keep us hooked. . . . What makes his voice so distinctive, and so captivating, is the mix of precise observation, clarity and deadpan humour." The Sunday Times (London)
About the Author
Haruki Murakami was born in Kyoto in 1949 and now lives near Tokyo. His work has been translated into more than fifty languages, and the most recent of his many international honors is the Hans Christian Andersen Literature Award, whose previous recipients include J. K. Rowling, Isabel Allende, and Salman Rushdie.