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diana_eveline 's review for:
Killing Commendatore
by Haruki Murakami
“Memory can give warmth to time.”
A painter loses his wife and his inspiration to paint. A dear friends offers him to reside in his father's mountain house, who also happened to be a famous painter. After many peaceful and recovering days of painting go by, he becomes wrapped up in the complicated and mysterious story of Menshiki, his neighbour, and the ghosts of the past that still seem to haunt the mountain house.
I am very much in two minds about this book. Some of the symbolism certainly was not lost on me. However, it took about 400 pages for the story to really take off and that is far too long. There were some interesting pieces here and there before that but very little. It could be at least 200 pages shorter, in my opinion. Another thing that annoyed me more than anything was the constant repetition of plot elements and historical events. Some were explained over and over again, as if we had not read about them before. What was most disappointing was that Murakami at some point felt the need to use such an insultingly basic plot device. He had Menshiki relate something about a historical event on the phone to the painter who clearly had already acknowledged that he was aware of this event and what it was about. I really do not expect that type of exposition from someone like Murakami and it baffled me a bit.
Sure, there is a great deal of symbolism going on in the book. An insane amount if you know where to look. But it really just was not my thing. Some parts were written so well, I felt myself sucked into the scene and it felt like I was there. Other parts, I struggled so much to even continue to read it. I normally fly through a Murakami book but this one was tough. Perhaps I read it at the wrong time or took to long inbetween readings that I muddled things? Either way, not an overly positive response from me at this time. Perhap I will try it again in the future.
A painter loses his wife and his inspiration to paint. A dear friends offers him to reside in his father's mountain house, who also happened to be a famous painter. After many peaceful and recovering days of painting go by, he becomes wrapped up in the complicated and mysterious story of Menshiki, his neighbour, and the ghosts of the past that still seem to haunt the mountain house.
I am very much in two minds about this book. Some of the symbolism certainly was not lost on me. However, it took about 400 pages for the story to really take off and that is far too long. There were some interesting pieces here and there before that but very little. It could be at least 200 pages shorter, in my opinion. Another thing that annoyed me more than anything was the constant repetition of plot elements and historical events. Some were explained over and over again, as if we had not read about them before. What was most disappointing was that Murakami at some point felt the need to use such an insultingly basic plot device. He had Menshiki relate something about a historical event on the phone to the painter who clearly had already acknowledged that he was aware of this event and what it was about. I really do not expect that type of exposition from someone like Murakami and it baffled me a bit.
Sure, there is a great deal of symbolism going on in the book. An insane amount if you know where to look. But it really just was not my thing. Some parts were written so well, I felt myself sucked into the scene and it felt like I was there. Other parts, I struggled so much to even continue to read it. I normally fly through a Murakami book but this one was tough. Perhaps I read it at the wrong time or took to long inbetween readings that I muddled things? Either way, not an overly positive response from me at this time. Perhap I will try it again in the future.