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Killing Commendatore
- Narrated by: Kirby Heyborne
- Length: 28 hrs and 27 mins
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Summary
Random House presents the audiobook edition of Killing Commendatore by Haruki Murakami, read by Kirby Heyborne.
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 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 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.
Please note: new audio available as of November 2018.
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What listeners say about Killing Commendatore
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- Pest of Buda
- 15-11-18
Great for a Murakami virgin
To be fair, all of the reviews I have read this far have been on the nose. Murakami has not really tapped into anything new here, most of this is classic and trademark his style. I don't necessarily think this is a bad thing, especially if you are new to Murakami, but it would have been fun to read something totally different.
I was sucked in to the story, it kept me wanting more, even though for most of the time nothing was even happening. This could be down to the fantastic narration, or perhaps the depth of the characters. My favourite being Mr Mancheeki (spelling?) who I think gets a hard time in this book.
Positives: kept me wanting more, excellent narration, descriptive and trippy.
Negatives: is it just me? Or does anyone else feel a bit uncomfortable when Murakami writes about prepubescent girls in this way?
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13 people found this helpful
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- Nibor
- 29-11-18
Usual Murakami but
Why is there always a 13 yo girl obsessed with her breasts?? Enough already. Who is really obsessed with 13 yo breasts?
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9 people found this helpful
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- Solaire
- 11-11-18
Good but deja-vu
I liked it and Kirby Heybourne is a top narrator. However... if you're a Murakami fan it may feel like a remix of previous works. There are themes that he has explored before. I suspect if it was my first Murakami novel I may have enjoyed it more.
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9 people found this helpful
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- Lk1984
- 24-11-18
Struggling to get through this one...
I do like Murakami's books in general, but this one is far too slow to get going. It also feels like a bit of a re-hash of old ideas, with themes from other novels appearing in this one. And therefore, the appearance of the commendatore isn't really that much of a surprise.
The narrator here doesn't add much to the story. It sometimes feels like listening to someone reading aloud from a non-fiction book....
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8 people found this helpful
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- Mr Vertigo
- 11-11-18
It's a bit like a computer algorithm wrote it.
I love the general atmosphere of Murakami worlds and am generally quite happy to just cruise around his stream of consciousness for a few hundred pages, but this story, sadly for me, didn't offer anything new or original that hadn't been already explored in his other stories. Little magic people, other worlds opening up, young mysterious girls, a solo guy who can cook and likes jazz and classical music - it really was like someone fed all of Murakami's past work into a new AI novelist program and this is what it came up with. Lots of great scenes and interesting characters and fun tangents as usual, but I don't find I care that much what happens as we approach the end.
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5 people found this helpful
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- Catherine
- 06-11-18
intriguing - the revelation wasn't in the story
You can't dismiss Murakami - nobody else quite weaves reality and 'reality' as well as he does.
But for me by far the biggest revelation after 28+ hours of being drawn into the Japanese male gaze is how fortunate I am not to be a Japanese woman!
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5 people found this helpful
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- Amazon Customer
- 18-11-18
Chapters are out of sequence! - NOW SORTED OUT
OK, now that Audible sorted out the chapter order issue, I can update my review.
If you are a Murakami fan, you will not be disappointed.
I will not pretend that this is his greatest, but it is still good. It goes without saying that this is beautifully written. It has all of the traits of Murakami that has gained him such an enormous global fanbase, and is very enjoyable as a result. Does it explare a new side to his writing? No. Will I listen to it again? Possibly. Would I recommend it to a friend? Yes, but I shall caveat that answer and note that if they were not already a Murakami fan, I will recommend a few of his others first before this one. Am I awaiting Murakami's next book? Absolutely, and as soon as it is announced, I will pre-order it just like this one.
Original review:
Come on Audible, sort out the chapter order! The book
Does not open with Chapter 22 (I checked this with The “look inside” on Amazon to confirm)
Sort it please and let everybody who ordered it know that it has been sorted so they can re-download and immerse themselves in Murakami Haruki’s latest masterpiece. Thank you
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3 people found this helpful
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- M. Y. Mim
- 10-11-18
All Murakami is wonderful, but this is not Murakami at his best.
I’ve read or listened to all of Murakami’s novels. Immediately I was struck in hearing this one by odd linguistic anomalies, awkward word choices, jarring language usages. So I checked translators. Indeed, Killing Commendatore has been translated by someone who has not translated the author before. He’s done a clunky job, so poor than even someone who doesn’t read Japanese, as I don’t, can tell. Don’t judge the master by this example.
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3 people found this helpful
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- Furniture and your home
- 04-06-20
Was really enjoying it THEN Pedophilla
Sorry this is the second murakami to feature graphic sexual content between miners and a adults. Used to love his books but I am not listening to that anymore.
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2 people found this helpful
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- Nic
- 18-12-18
a complex and unfolding storyline
I love Murakami and his stories. Gotta stick with this one, but it's beautifully written
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2 people found this helpful