kchiappone 's review for:

Killing Commendatore by Haruki Murakami

4.0

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I've read reviews that this book didn't have the magic of Murakami's other works, which is an assessment I might agree with. This is certainly one of his quietest books. As the Commendatore describes Menshiki, everything is so carefully calculated that there just seems like something is off. We see similar themes as we had in the past--the sexual tension between an older man and a young girl (I can't imagine a 12 year old feeling comfortable talking to an older man about her prepubescent breasts, and I can't imagine an older man like the narrator feeling comfortable taking part in that conversation either). The narrator also spends an uncomfortable amount of time talking about his dead 12 year old sister's breasts and how big they may have been if she hadn't died so young. As with his previous books, there is, too, the nocturnal, dream-world sex/insemination. There's cooking, jazz, classical music, alcohol, cars, and a pit in the ground, just as one would expect from a Murakami novel.

I think my main problem with Murakami's protagonists is their lack of care for things that they should care about--they become colorless, or exist in a permanent state of shock that doesn't allow them to express the ways in which they care.

Despite these flaws or all too commonalities, existing solely by itself, it is a good book. I enjoyed the Commendatore, and I enjoyed the interactions between characters. I would spend the time to read it again if my list of books to read weren't so long.