Killing Commendatore (Part 1)

Killing Commendatore (Part 1)
Haruki Murakami
Philip Gabriel, Ted Goosen (Translators)
704pp


This monster of a book landed in my mailbox late Sunday evening. Though I have so many more books that I need to read and that deserve my attention... I dug into the beginning of this one.

And, since it is a monster, I think I might do reviews bit by bit along the way. This might also add to the freshness of my feelings and make the reviews a little bit better than some others that I write with too much distance between myself and the words on the pages.

First impressions:

1) This is Murakami. We are immediately introduced to a time and place that take us to a different dimension. In Sheep Chase, it was Hokkaido, so far up in the north, that worked at a part of the characters mind. This time we travel a winding road, twisting and turning away from the divorce left back in Tokyo, up to the top of a secluded mountain.

2) So much of the story is given out immediately, and then doubled and trippled back on. I think this is common of Murakami, but I've taken deep notice of it this time. For me, it makes this a mystery though it has yet to show me that is really is or what that mystery might actually be. Often Murakami goes searching for a lost character and it wouldn't surprise me if that theme came back out again in this book.

3) Murakami's sex alwasy seems pleasant and tempting. He tends to focus on certain body parts (I've seen some early reviews even compain that he speaks about breasts too much) but in other books it has been the ears, legs, and so far it appears to be the eyes.

I'm not far in, and I don't think I'll be dragging this weight with me on the train, so maybe just 50pp a time in the evenings will slowly get me to my end in a few weeks.

Hope to do a few more random update posts as I work my way through and have different ideas.