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3.76 AVERAGE
3.76 AVERAGE
This is the best Murakami book I've read thus far. There was an actual plot in this one! That said, the true plot didn't really come in until the last 200-300 pages. As always, the book could've been far shorter than it is, and there was a lot of pointless narration. I also found many similarities to his other books which was a bit frustrating because his ideas are becoming very repetitive and tired. Finally, as always, I have a lot of issues with his constant mention of breasts, especially when talking to underage girls. I guess you can argue that because the age of consent is 13 in Japan, Murakami may not find these descriptions odd, but regardless of that fact, it's really gross and I wish he would stop doing it. I liked the characters in this book, particularly the Commendatore. I also thought the plot was rather unique and interesting. 4 stars.
Murakami, Murakami, Murakami. Mate, I love your work, I really do. But sometimes you ramble on for far too long. This story was a perfect example of that, and didn’t need to be spread out over 700 or so pages. I admire your intention to capture the process of making art, and I thank you for your interesting characters, who, paradoxically, are quite strictly archetypal at first but are then shown to have more insight and depth to them. Your verbose writing (in Killing Commendatore, that is) staggered the already stretched out plot, so I wish you had written more succinctly. I can’t believe I actually managed to finish this book of yours after giving up on The Wild Sheep Chase. Yet, it’s quality is unparalleled to that of your brilliant, witty short stories.
dark
emotional
mysterious
relaxing
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
N/A
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
adventurous
challenging
emotional
mysterious
reflective
relaxing
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
I give a lot of three star reviews, because I could see the potential in the book, but the execution just wasn't that good. e.g with this book, I think it was way too long, maybe that's the writers unique style and that's what I haven't fallen in love with, but some descriptions and parts I think were too detailed, the narrator at the same time seemed a little bit unreliable and I think there was a story line (the cult) which wasn't really used, or used enough, it felt a little bit unfinished, it might be a metaphor given the end of the book, but I wasn't really satisfied with it..
adventurous
challenging
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Una semana me ha durado este novelón de casi 500 páginas. Señal de que me ha gustado (mucho!) y de que me ha enganchado (mucho también!) :)
Es una historia "rara", muy al estilo de este autor, con algún que otro toque de miedo que por momentos recuerda a Stephen King. O no me digas que no has pasado un poco de miedo con el tema de la dichosa campanilla xD
Pero sí, me ha gustado mucho, con personajes atractivos, tramas misteriosas, relaciones personales, reflexiones sobre el amor, la soledad... y detalles de la sociedad y la cultura japonesas :)
Hacía mucho que no leía a Murakami, y esta novela entra directa en el top de las que más me gustan de él. De hecho lo único que criticaría es la decisión de la editorial de partirla en dos porque sí. Porque no es que el libro 1 acabe cerrando una trama y dando pie a una continuación, sino que simplemente cortan en un capítulo y listo. Como cuando cortan un programa para ir a publicidad. Pura acción de marketing para sacar más pasta.
Suerte que justo hace dos días compré la segunda parte, que por supuesto va a ser mi siguiente libro y va a inaugurar por tanto mi lista de Goodreads de 2021 :)
Es una historia "rara", muy al estilo de este autor, con algún que otro toque de miedo que por momentos recuerda a Stephen King. O no me digas que no has pasado un poco de miedo con el tema de la dichosa campanilla xD
Pero sí, me ha gustado mucho, con personajes atractivos, tramas misteriosas, relaciones personales, reflexiones sobre el amor, la soledad... y detalles de la sociedad y la cultura japonesas :)
Hacía mucho que no leía a Murakami, y esta novela entra directa en el top de las que más me gustan de él. De hecho lo único que criticaría es la decisión de la editorial de partirla en dos porque sí. Porque no es que el libro 1 acabe cerrando una trama y dando pie a una continuación, sino que simplemente cortan en un capítulo y listo. Como cuando cortan un programa para ir a publicidad. Pura acción de marketing para sacar más pasta.
Suerte que justo hace dos días compré la segunda parte, que por supuesto va a ser mi siguiente libro y va a inaugurar por tanto mi lista de Goodreads de 2021 :)
adventurous
emotional
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
premise:
Honestly, still don't really know. It focuses on a guy after he and his wife divorce. He's a painter and eventually takes residence at the home a former painter where he finds the titled painting 'Killing Commendatore' wrapped and hidden in the attic. Then it gets wild. It's part midlife crisis, part fantasy just so everybody is aware.
spoilers/personal reaction:
This is a long ass book. Kindle reading can be so misleading, but, it took forever to read this book. And I went through so many phases. Like I absolutely love this book, to this is way too weird for me, to do want to finish it, to that was something. Beautifully written, just not what you would expect or maybe you should (I've never read from this author before).
At it's core it's really just a story of a man having a midlife crisis. His wife cheats on him and they separate. He's a painter but only of self-portraits because that pays the bills. Now he's a bit more free, he can paint whatever; he can find himself. This is the normal story. It's even more normal when you take into account the roadtrip to nowhere he took before settling at the house of the former painter. Just a lost man trying to find himself.
Then there's two main sub-stories that make this book crazy, yet, not unbelievable crazy, just this is fantasy so it's not real... if that makes sense. The first has to do with the painting Killing Commendatore. It basically comes to life. It's carrying the past of the original painter (who is more or less in a vegetative state in a care facility); it's a dark past at that too. This being comes to life in short spurts to help guide the crisis guy (his name is never mentioned). He appears as the commendatore as seen in the painting. Yup... it really started to take a weird turn when he appear. I think I was kinda really digging this book until that happened. It lost a lot of realism and started to weird me out.
This commendatore becomes more critical in relation to the second sub-story which is with his neighbour (neighbour used generally as he is on a hill so remote that it's basically a hike to see anybody) commissions the crisis guy to paint his portrait. The guy eventually does but it's unlike any other portrait and its revealing deeper secrets. Again, this is a long ass book and it would basically be a short book to actually summarize the book... so let's just bullet point the summary of the summary. The crisis guy's inner hold stopping him to paint what he wants is gone and can now paint but it reveals he feels too much and eventually will stop... but lets get to that. The reason his neighbour seemed shady was because he is, and only moved their to spy on the only other house on this remote hill where is most likely daughter lives with her aunt. He knew the crisis guy taught art classes to her and wants him to paint a portrait of her. The crisis guy eventually agrees but learns that this girl knows this land quite well. Oh yeah, completely out of order, the commendatore first appeared after the crisis guy and the neighbour dig up this well in the ground because the crisis guy had been hearing a bell ringing in the middle of night. When they dig up the well nothing, until the commendatore appears, for just the crisis guy, not the neighbour and reveals it was him ringing the bell. Back to the girl, she knows they disrupted the land and is very suspicious of the neighbour (she doesn't know that he's more than likely her real father as she has an actual father and the neighbour was just a long term fling of her now deceased mother).
This leads to a bunch of crazy fantasy shit that can never happen where the commendatore saves the day but sacrifices himself in the process (again it's a weird being that only materializes for small periods of time, that not everybody can see and into different things), the painter of Killing Commendatore dies but he is absolved of his secrets and guilt (that part was weird too), the neighbour falls in love with the aunt and they continue to date and what not (the little girl again doesn't know that her father) and the crisis man wraps Killing Commendatore again back in the attic as well as one of his paintings (it carries secrets during the roadtrip he took immediately after leaving his wife) to keep them away from the public.
The crisis man finds out his wife is pregnant with the man she cheated on him with, however, she doesn't want to have the baby with him. Instead she wants to give the crisis man another shot and he decides to go back to his life prior this crazy mess of events. Further, he puts aside his new found painting style, as it carries too much, and goes back to portrait painting. Mid-life crisis over.
So yeah I stand by it's a book about a man going through a mid-life crisis, it's just one of the weirdest ones I've ever read about.
Honestly, still don't really know. It focuses on a guy after he and his wife divorce. He's a painter and eventually takes residence at the home a former painter where he finds the titled painting 'Killing Commendatore' wrapped and hidden in the attic. Then it gets wild. It's part midlife crisis, part fantasy just so everybody is aware.
Spoiler
spoilers/personal reaction:
This is a long ass book. Kindle reading can be so misleading, but, it took forever to read this book. And I went through so many phases. Like I absolutely love this book, to this is way too weird for me, to do want to finish it, to that was something. Beautifully written, just not what you would expect or maybe you should (I've never read from this author before).
At it's core it's really just a story of a man having a midlife crisis. His wife cheats on him and they separate. He's a painter but only of self-portraits because that pays the bills. Now he's a bit more free, he can paint whatever; he can find himself. This is the normal story. It's even more normal when you take into account the roadtrip to nowhere he took before settling at the house of the former painter. Just a lost man trying to find himself.
Then there's two main sub-stories that make this book crazy, yet, not unbelievable crazy, just this is fantasy so it's not real... if that makes sense. The first has to do with the painting Killing Commendatore. It basically comes to life. It's carrying the past of the original painter (who is more or less in a vegetative state in a care facility); it's a dark past at that too. This being comes to life in short spurts to help guide the crisis guy (his name is never mentioned). He appears as the commendatore as seen in the painting. Yup... it really started to take a weird turn when he appear. I think I was kinda really digging this book until that happened. It lost a lot of realism and started to weird me out.
This commendatore becomes more critical in relation to the second sub-story which is with his neighbour (neighbour used generally as he is on a hill so remote that it's basically a hike to see anybody) commissions the crisis guy to paint his portrait. The guy eventually does but it's unlike any other portrait and its revealing deeper secrets. Again, this is a long ass book and it would basically be a short book to actually summarize the book... so let's just bullet point the summary of the summary. The crisis guy's inner hold stopping him to paint what he wants is gone and can now paint but it reveals he feels too much and eventually will stop... but lets get to that. The reason his neighbour seemed shady was because he is, and only moved their to spy on the only other house on this remote hill where is most likely daughter lives with her aunt. He knew the crisis guy taught art classes to her and wants him to paint a portrait of her. The crisis guy eventually agrees but learns that this girl knows this land quite well. Oh yeah, completely out of order, the commendatore first appeared after the crisis guy and the neighbour dig up this well in the ground because the crisis guy had been hearing a bell ringing in the middle of night. When they dig up the well nothing, until the commendatore appears, for just the crisis guy, not the neighbour and reveals it was him ringing the bell. Back to the girl, she knows they disrupted the land and is very suspicious of the neighbour (she doesn't know that he's more than likely her real father as she has an actual father and the neighbour was just a long term fling of her now deceased mother).
This leads to a bunch of crazy fantasy shit that can never happen where the commendatore saves the day but sacrifices himself in the process (again it's a weird being that only materializes for small periods of time, that not everybody can see and into different things), the painter of Killing Commendatore dies but he is absolved of his secrets and guilt (that part was weird too), the neighbour falls in love with the aunt and they continue to date and what not (the little girl again doesn't know that her father) and the crisis man wraps Killing Commendatore again back in the attic as well as one of his paintings (it carries secrets during the roadtrip he took immediately after leaving his wife) to keep them away from the public.
The crisis man finds out his wife is pregnant with the man she cheated on him with, however, she doesn't want to have the baby with him. Instead she wants to give the crisis man another shot and he decides to go back to his life prior this crazy mess of events. Further, he puts aside his new found painting style, as it carries too much, and goes back to portrait painting. Mid-life crisis over.
So yeah I stand by it's a book about a man going through a mid-life crisis, it's just one of the weirdest ones I've ever read about.
I'm finding this so hard to get into. It's just not that interesting so far, which is a shame because the cover itself is gorgeous. Will probably pick it up again later.