ABOUT
THE BOOK

Translated from the Japanese by Philip Gabriel and Ted Goossen

2020 Longlist

When a thirty-something portrait painter is abandoned by his wife, he secludes himself in the mountain home of a world-famous artist, Tomohiko Amada. One day, the young painter hears a noise from the attic, and upon investigation, he discovers a previously unseen painting. By unearthing this hidden work of art, he unintentionally opens a circle of mysterious circumstances; and to close it, he must undertake a perilous journey into a netherworld that only Haruki Murakami could conjure.

A tour de force of love and loneliness, war and art as well as a loving homage to The Great Gatsby.

About the Author

Haruki Murakami was born in Kyoto in 1949 and now lives near Tokyo. His work has been translated into more than fifty languages, and the most recent of his many international honours is the Hans Christian Andersen Literature Award, whose previous recipients include J. K. Rowling, Isabel Allende, and Salman Rushdie.

Librarian’s Comments

An epic tour de force of love and loneliness, war and art and a stunning work of imagination. Eccentric and intriguing, Murakami builds a self-contained world that has a hidden universe beyond it. Biblioteca Nazionale di Napoli “Vittorio Emanuele III, Italy

Killing Commendatore deals with a universal theme, the search for our place in the world and the formation of our self. Japanese perspective and sensibility give the work a special character.  Biblioteca de Andalucía, Spain