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Killing Commendatore
- A Novel
- Narrated by: Kirby Heyborne
- Length: 28 hrs and 27 mins
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Killing Commendatore
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Publisher's Summary
A Washington Post, San Francisco Chronicle, Financial Times, Library Journal, LitHub, and Kirkus Reviews Best Book of the Year
The epic new novel from the internationally acclaimed and best-selling author of 1Q84
In Killing Commendatore, a 30-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 previously unseen 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 13-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.
A tour de force of love and loneliness, war and art - as well as a loving homage to The Great Gatsby - Killing Commendatore is a stunning work of imagination from one of our greatest writers.
“A spellbinding parable of art, history, and human loneliness.” (O, The Oprah Magazine)
“Expansive and intricate...touches on many of the themes familiar in Mr. Murakami’s novels: the mystery of romantic love, the weight of history, the transcendence of art, the search for elusive things just outside our grasp.” (The New York Times)
“Eccentric and intriguing, Killing Commendatore is the product of a singular imagination.... Murakami is a wiz at melding the mundane with the surreal.... He has a way of imbuing the supernatural with uncommon urgency. His placid narrative voice belies the utter strangeness of his plot.... The worldview of Murakami’s novels is consistent, and it’s invigorating. In this book and many that came before it, he urges us to embrace the unusual, accept the unpredictable." (San Francisco Chronicle)
“Exhilarating.... Only in the calm madness of his magical realism can Murakami truly capture one of his obsessions, the usually ineffable yearning that drives a person to make art.” (The Washington Post)
What the critics say
“Some novelists hold a mirror up to the world and some, like Haruki Murakami, use the mirror as a portal to a universe hidden beyond it.... What can't be denied is Mr. Murakami's irresistible storytelling ability. He builds his self-contained world deliberately and faithfully, developing intrigue and suspense and even taking care to give each chapter a cliffhanger ending as in an old-fashioned serialized novel.” (The Wall Street Journal)
“More of Murakami’s magical mist, but its size, beauty, and concerns with lust and war bring us back to the vividness and scale of his 1997 epic, The Wind-up Bird Chronicle.’’ (The Boston Globe)
“Beguiling.... Murakami is brilliant at folding the humdrum alongside the supernatural; finding the magic that’s nested in life’s quotidian details.... His prose is warm, conversational, and studded with quiet profundities. He’s eminently good company; that most precious of qualities that we look for in an author. We trust him to get us entertainingly lost, just as we trust that he’ll eventually get us home.” (The Guardian)
More from the same
What listeners say about Killing Commendatore
Average Customer RatingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance4 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- S Shaw
- 2023-05-28
Another great attention keeper
My first audio for Haruki, read most of his stuff. I loved it! Kept me interested all the time. And those girly voices Kirby unfounded talent! LOL
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Ari
- 2022-06-01
Good book, even better narrator!
Amazing book to listen to.
Loved the narrator performance and voice. Kirby is really a talented narrator.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance4 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- andrew
- 2020-04-22
Charted territory
Menshiki was the unanswered question for me in this one. The man in the White Subaru Forester somewhat less so. The protagonist, his wife, his friend, his boss, Mariye, her aunt and Tomohiko Amada were all either familiar characters from prior books or reasonably understandable. Loved the back story on Tomohiko and the whole schtick about the actual painting and the magical realism unleashed in true Murakami style. A little disappointed by the ending which seemed to fizzle out a little, especially as the author had telegraphed part of it at the beginning (why did he put his own spoilers in?).
The narrator for me was not the best, certainly not as good as the team in 1Q84. He was not good on female characters, not very good on clearly defining the lead characters e.g. protagonist has an American accent, Menshiki speaks like a Japanese person using English as second language but other than that they didn't feel inhabited and it just felt like a reading out loud. The thing, above all, that really drove me nuts though, was his pronunciation of the word shone (as in rhymes with gone) as "shown".
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance4 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- rampancy
- 2021-01-31
Another head-tripper in the Murakami tradition...
Fans of The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle and A Wild Sheep Chase will easily find themselves at home with Killing Commendatore, a head-tripping tale that's a lot more subtle and subdued than some of his other work that relies on magical realism.
The relationship between the Narrator and Menshiki is really, for me, the core of this story, with the third figure - Tomohiko Amada - lurking in the background. There's a wonderful circularity in the story too, with the plot arcs generally being resolved in a satisfying way. I realize I'm being vague and general, but it's hard for me to say anything more without delving into spoilers. Again, if you've loved any of Murakami's other work, especially the two other novels of his that I've mentioned earlier -- this is something you can't miss.
Some words on Heyborne's reading: at first I found it a little jarring to hear his voice narrating the story - but I ended up really liking the way he performs the narrator, The Commendatore, and Menshiki, especially in the middle part of the book where you see them doing the most of their interactions in the story. Towards the end though, his performative reading delved into melodrama to the point where it almost sounded over the top. Still, despite that, Heyborne does a good job with the material, especially in the first half of the book where we get to know the rut that the narrator's been living in.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Anonymous User
- 2021-04-10
thoroughly enjoyed!
loved it! this is my 2nd novel by Murakami. I was drawn to reading something else by him after discoveriing 1Q84. And enjoyed this novel even more!
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance4 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Anonymous User
- 2021-11-20
Crushed it in 5 days
I thoroughly enjoyed this Novel by Murakami. It’s the first title I have listened to on audio and I have read most of his other work. Not my favourite book of his, but it’s in the top 5 for sure. It took me about 6 chapters or so to get into the book, but then I was hooked into the worlds woven by Murakami. On to the next ..
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Anonymous User
- 2020-07-08
Stunning
Another page Turner from the master. I am so sad it's over now. can't wait to read more of his novels.
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Overall3 out of 5 stars
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Performance1 out of 5 stars
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Story4 out of 5 stars
- Team Awesomeness
- 2019-09-09
Adore Murakami but Kirby was annoying
I have all of Murakami's audio books and also alot of his short stories. I understand he is not a traditional writer but this narrator OVER DID IT. You don't need to add the mellow drama he did like you're telling a scary story over a campfire. I am barely getting through this book because I just cant stand his air, overly dramatic acting. I know it's not just his voice because in times he's just stating facts or even being someone else other than the protagonist, he's fine. But I would now avoid any book he narrates.
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1 person found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Adriano Pereira
- 2021-04-30
Fantastic!
Another amazing book by Murakami. His common themes are there, as well as his amazing writing.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Andrew
- 2022-10-23
Incredible
So beautiful written. The narration by Kirby Heyborne really encapsulates you and does justice to the story. As a painter, the story delves deep into the artist psyche. Super poetic, highly recommend
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