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3.76 AVERAGE
3.76 AVERAGE
adventurous
challenging
inspiring
mysterious
reflective
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
⛩️🏣🎨Killing Commendatore 🎨🏣⛩️
How would you react if an idea of a fictional character turned into a reality but is visible only to you?
A thirty-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 strange 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 thirteen-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.
I am out of words so I would just start with BRILLIANT.
I never felt satisfied or you can say fulfilled with the works of Haruki Murakami. This doesn't mean that they weren't good, it's just that they left me with questions which was kinda good kinda bad because few of those questions literally took my sleep away. Killing Commendatore left me at peace and made me feel satisfied.
The story is completely perfect, starts with a character who has lost his soul(or you could say soul of an artist), which leads in a break in his marriage, he travels and finally lands in a place where a great artist lived and worked most of his life. He grew with time, regained his soul, started learning a new form of art, built many interesting relationships with the people there and last but not the least improved his character. He learnt how listening is the most important thing in a conversation.
Besides him the character or you could say the Idea I loved the most was "The Commendatore". He was a supernatural being, his imperfections were so cute, he was always there when his friends needed him, he knew everything and most importantly he knew how much information must be passed on to one individual at a certain point of time.
The story was engrossing and so beautifully written that the reader could make up paintings that the narrator made in his/her mind without having any visuals. I can still see the beautiful *KILLING COMMENDATORE* painting that the author painted with his words inside this masterpiece of a book.
At last I would recommend this book to every individual who loves magical realism, get ready for an exciting and engrossing adventure with Murakami!!!!!
How would you react if an idea of a fictional character turned into a reality but is visible only to you?
A thirty-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 strange 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 thirteen-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.
I am out of words so I would just start with BRILLIANT.
I never felt satisfied or you can say fulfilled with the works of Haruki Murakami. This doesn't mean that they weren't good, it's just that they left me with questions which was kinda good kinda bad because few of those questions literally took my sleep away. Killing Commendatore left me at peace and made me feel satisfied.
The story is completely perfect, starts with a character who has lost his soul(or you could say soul of an artist), which leads in a break in his marriage, he travels and finally lands in a place where a great artist lived and worked most of his life. He grew with time, regained his soul, started learning a new form of art, built many interesting relationships with the people there and last but not the least improved his character. He learnt how listening is the most important thing in a conversation.
Besides him the character or you could say the Idea I loved the most was "The Commendatore". He was a supernatural being, his imperfections were so cute, he was always there when his friends needed him, he knew everything and most importantly he knew how much information must be passed on to one individual at a certain point of time.
The story was engrossing and so beautifully written that the reader could make up paintings that the narrator made in his/her mind without having any visuals. I can still see the beautiful *KILLING COMMENDATORE* painting that the author painted with his words inside this masterpiece of a book.
At last I would recommend this book to every individual who loves magical realism, get ready for an exciting and engrossing adventure with Murakami!!!!!
I usually enjoy the unpredictability and strangeness of Murakami's novels and this is certainly no exception. While a lot of the story is set in the real world, especially towards the end of the book it gets a very Studio Ghibli vibe. The many mysterious and surreal characters contribute to this, such as the Commendatore and Long Face out of a painting, and a faceless man and a dead sister, as well as strange events such as physically impossible underground quests, and remote impregnations. The (unnamed) main character is an artist and portrait painter who holes up on a remote Japanese mountain after breaking up with his wife, and discovers a strange circular pit behind his house. He and his eccentric neighbour Menshiki excavate and explore it while Menshiki sits for his portrait. The owner of the house was also a famous artist, and both he and Menshiki's possible biological daughter weave into the plot. I found the ending disappointing with too many things left unresolved, including the identity and purpose of the 'man in the white subaru forester' and the faceless man introduced at the beginning of the book, whose desire was to have his portrait painted. The focus on the circular pit reminded me of [b:The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle|11275|The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle|Haruki Murakami|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1327872639l/11275._SY75_.jpg|2531376] and is apparently a particular fascination of the author. Strange, unpredictable, enjoyable and never boring.
adventurous
mysterious
reflective
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
slow-paced
I started this on an absolute whim without knowing anything about the book but that it was written by Murakami. Though I haven't read anything by Murakami, yet, I figured that his name would be enough to warrant my decision. Well. No, unfortunately not. Although there were a couple of interesting concepts, the book itself was pretty boring with a lot of repetitions and altogether too much discussions about how hot girls will look once they've grown up (as well as their breast-size). I'm mentioning this last bit mostly because it was a pretty predominant aspect of the last 20-ish% of the book; the repetition was a constant throughout. The language was not beautiful enough to entice me, the weirdness not weird enough, nor particularly enticing, and the ending entirely too ordinary for this book to leave much of an impression on me.
I'll have to give Murakami another shot, but maybe not this randomly.
I'll have to give Murakami another shot, but maybe not this randomly.
adventurous
challenging
inspiring
mysterious
reflective
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Murakami, Murakami. Si bien este es uno de esos textos que parecen largos y densos de leer, debo decir que es todo lo contrario, la prosa del autor se mueve y cambia de tal forma que el ritmo del libro es extremadamente bueno, disfruto de sus cambios de tema impertinentes, de su capacidad para hacerte reir, llorar o entrar a esos lugares semi-penumbrosos donde nos quiere llevar con su capacidad imaginativa. Definitivamente lo recomiendo.
adventurous
dark
mysterious
mysterious
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
This book had the potential to be great, there are some really interesting ideas but there's too much repetition and it just feels unfinished, like it's in need of a good editor. I almost DNF but kept going because there were some good ideas and I wanted to see where it went but I found the ending disappointing.
The obsession with a 13 year olds breasts is off-putting too. It has nothing to do with the plot. In general, the depictions of women are really quite bad.
The obsession with a 13 year olds breasts is off-putting too. It has nothing to do with the plot. In general, the depictions of women are really quite bad.
adventurous
dark
mysterious
reflective
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I really hope this book has a sequel despite how long it took me to read it... Really interesting but there are so many plot holes.