My previous review was a reread of A Wild Sheep Chase by Haruki Murakami and admittedly I did not enjoy my reading experience the second time around for one of my favorite novelists and a book that introduced me to the Murakami fictional universe. However, I had been wanting to read Killing Commendatore for awhile and thought I would have a different reading experience than my reread of A Wild Sheep Chase. My hunch was correct, and it has shown me that reading experiences from a favorite author vary from novel to novel.

Killing Commendatore tells the story of a mid 30s portrait painter whose wife leaves him and he moves into a mountain home of a famous artist as he rebuilds his life. He discovers a hidden painting left by the famous artist never to be seen by the public. The discovery takes the portrait painter into a surrealistic underworld where art meets everyday life and changes our protagonist in unexpected ways.

Murakami’s narrative appears to explore art’s transformative potential, while also illustrating how such dedication can engender both solitude and a vocation incomprehensible to those closest to the artist. The considerable length of Killing Commendatore did not detract from its compelling nature; the novel’s greatest asset was Murakami’s vivid imagination.

However, I believe the portrait painter’s affair with a married woman felt gratuitous. That relationship added nothing to the story and could have been removed without affecting it. Also, I thought the ending came across as a little too neat. I was expecting the story to end in an entirely different direction after Murakami took me into a world that was fascinating and disturbing simultaneously. I wished for a more nuanced conclusion, rather than the neat resolution provided.

However, I thought Killing Commendatore was a very strong novel and a wonderful example of magical realism. I highly recommend this novel to readers who appreciate either Murakami’s work or magical realism.