Killing Commendatore
by Haruki Murakami,
Harvill Secker, 702pp, £20/$30
Isolation is central to the work of Japanese novelist Haruki Murakami. A familiar scene in his books and stories is a character finding himself utterly alone, often at the bottom of a well (Murakami once told an interviewer this was an actual dream of his). But in his latest novel, Killing Commendatore, he considers the religious dimension of this isolation.
The unnamed protagonist, a portrait painter in his 30s, has lucked out: a friend’s father, and famous artist, is nearing the end of his life and his apartment lies empty. The portrait painter can move into the apartment, which is well-stocked not just with artist’s materials but also with tens of thousands of classical music LPs. The only thing that disturbs his peace is a strange ringing coming from a covered-over hole in the back garden in the early hours of the morning.
