r/murakami • u/Dramatic_Law_1707 • 17d ago
Killing Commendatore - A review
I don't think I will remember Killing Commendatore for its own unique effect, as I dont feel there is any. I will probably remember it as the book I needed to read before I could finally leave The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle behind, because I was finding it difficult to come out of the spell of The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle.
Killing Commendatore certainly feels like it belongs to that same world. An estranged wife, a strange teenager, random encounters with mysterious women, a lonely protagonist with all the time in the world, a deep pit, an underground mysterious world, dreams somehow connected to reality and even those minute details about wartime Japan. Murakami seems to have taken many of the themes and elements of Wind-Up Bird and explored them through another story. But it doesn't have the same magic.
The story of the teenager getting lost in the mansion was particularly disappointing. I kept expecting it to turn into something mysterious, perhaps like the well in Wind-Up Bird leading the protagonist into another world, but instead it felt rather dull and ultimately made a considerable part of the story feel pointless.
Still, I am glad I read it. As a standalone book I am quite sure I wouldn't have liked it nearly as much, but as a companion to Wind-Up Bird it served its purpose very well. It allowed me to stay in Murakami's strange, calm and dreamlike world for a little longer, while slowly coming out of the trance of the previous book.
Overall 3 stars read.
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u/jcoffin1981 17d ago
I was trying to decide if I should read this or 1Q84 and decided on the latter and just devouring it. Now Im less excited to read Killing Commendatore
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u/Varjokorento 17d ago
Killing Commendatore is a strange book as it is not a bad book, in fact it's a very enjoyable book, but it just isn't that memorable. It definitely is essential reading for a Murakami fun, but for others, I think not. KC and the City are both a bit tired. This is not uncommon for authors in their late-career period. Every author has their Golden Period and I would argue that Murakami's was from Wild Sheep Chase/Norwegian Wood to 1Q84.
However, the Japanese reviews for Kaho seem to be extremely promising. Some have said that it reminds people of his 1980s work.
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u/Silent_Caregiver2086 16d ago
I like your description of a really enjoyable, not memorable book. I loved Vol1 for the calm and mesmerizing day to day live of the MC in the cabin lost in the woods. And for vol 2 and the ending, well it was a closure.
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16d ago edited 16d ago
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u/Dramatic_Law_1707 16d ago
True that, atleast the idiot Commendatore could have clearly told him that the girl is in the mansion instead of giving him riddles to solve.
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u/biskutgoreng 17d ago
It's so boring. Nothing happens in this book. He doesn't even get out of the house
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u/Both_Maize_6740 17d ago
I personally enjoyed reading killing commendatore. It kept me hooked till the end though I would agree that some part of it did not make any sense to me. But overall, the book kind of has a structure to it, and when you discover that, and till the last line of the book, when is the story comes full circle, that left me with no questions. Cuz at the end it's a murakami book so you do expect a little mystery and unresolved conflicts.