I recently read and reviewed Killing Commendatore for Books on Asia, a wonderful reference site that describes itself as a âguide to finding quality books on Japan and Asia from new releases to enduring classics, that deserve to be read, discovered and discussed.â
If youâre thinking about reading Murakamiâs latest book and you want to know whether itâs worth your time or if youâve already read it and youâre interested in an in-depth discussion on all the themes and symbolism in this epic novel then head on over to Books on Asia to read the review. While youâre there youâll definitely find a lot of other Japan-related books to pique your interest.
Below are 20 awe-inspiring quotes from Killing Commendatore by Haruki Murakami. Some of them are beautifully written similes, but Iâve also included some deeply philosophical quotes. Iâm a writer so I tend to judge a book from a novelistâs point of view but it doesnât matter whether youâre a reader or a writer like myself, Iâm sure youâll be equally impressed by Murakamiâs clear and elegant prose and the way he makes us think more laterally, broadening our perceptions and perspectives on life and the people around us:
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1. âLook deep enough into any person and you will find something shining within. My job was to uncover this and, if the surface is fogged up (which was more often the case), polish it with a cloth to make it shine again.â (p. 15)
2. âOur lives really do seem strange and mysterious when you look back on them. Filled with unbelievably bizarre coincidences and unpredictable, zigzagging developments. While they are unfolding, itâs hard to see anything weird about them, no matter how closely you pay attention to your surroundings. In the midst of the everyday, these things may strike you as simply ordinary things, a matter of course. They might not be logical, but time has to pass before you can see if something is logical.â (p. 58)
3. âIf he lived with someone he knew he would end up detesting them. Whether it was his parents, a wife, or children. He feared that above all. He wasnât afraid of loving someone. What he feared was growing to hate someone. For all that, he had loved her very deeply. Heâd never loved any other woman so deeply, and probably never would again. âEven now thereâs a special spot inside me just for her,â Menshiki said. âA very real spot. You might even call it a shrine.ââ (P.145)
4. ââNirvana is found beyond life and death. You could see it as the idea that even if the flesh dies and disappears, the soul goes over to a place beyond life and death. Worldly flesh is nothing more than a temporary dwelling.ââ (p. 165)
5. âEven after we broke up, it felt like my wife and I were still connected by a single living tube. An invisible tube, but one that was still beating slightly, sending something like hot blood traveling back and forth between our two souls. I still had that sort of organic sensation. But before long, that tube would be severed.â (p. 186)
6. âThe longer I looked at the painting, the less clear was the threshold between reality and unreality, flat and solid, substance and image. Like Van Goghâs mailman, who, the longer you looked, seemed to take on a life of his own. Same with the crows that he paintedânothing but rough black lines, but they really did seem to be soaring through the sky.â (p. 240)
7. âWhen people try to use a method other than the truth to follow along the path of understanding, it is like trying to use a sieve to hold water.â (p. 302)
8. âthis woman, Yuzu, refused to love this man, me, and chose instead to be loved by someone else. It felt terribly absurd, a horribly ugly way to be treated. There wasnât any anger involved (I think). I mean, what was I supposed to be angry with? What I was feeling was a fundamental numbness. The numbness your heart automatically activates to lessen the awful pain when you want somebody desperately and they reject you. A kind of emotional morphine.â (p. 315)
9. âI mean, itâs the first time I ever got divorced.â âWhat does it feel like?â âA bit bizarre, I guess. Like youâre walking along as always, sure youâre on the right path, when the path suddenly vanishes, and youâre facing an empty space, no sense of direction, no clue where to go, and you just keep trudging along. Thatâs what it feels like.ââ (p. 326)
10. ââYouâre saying thereâs something similar in our eyes?â
âMaybe itâs because they reflect your true feelings. Curiosity, enthusiasm, surprise, suspicion, reluctanceâI can see those subtle emotions in both your eyes and hers. Your faces arenât all that expressive, but your eyes really are the windows to your hearts. Most people are the opposite. Their faces are expressive, but their eyes arenât nearly so lively.ââ (pp. 362â363)
11. âI had taken a nap, but my head was muddled. It felt like a ball of yarn had been crammed into the back of a narrow desk drawer, and now the drawer wouldnât close properly.â (p. 364)
12. âToday we talk about post-traumatic stress disorder, but that phraseâeven that conceptâwas unknown then. In that deeply militaristic society, people like my uncle were dismissed as lacking courage, or patriotism, or strength of character. In wartime Japan, such âweaknessâ was neither understood nor accepted.â (p. 397)
13. âMariye was silent, her eyes fixed on the teapot on the table. She looked like a lone night heron motionless on the shore, glaring at the waterâs surface for hours on end.â (p. 410)
14. âOnce Mariye made up her mind not to speak, trying to reach her was like ladling water onto a parched desert.â (p. 419)
15. âYet the thought of the two of them together left me bereft. As if I were standing in a station watching a long, empty train pass by.â (p. 474)
16. âPerhaps time really had stopped. Then again, maybe it kept nudging forward despite the fact that evolution, or anything resembling it, had ended. Like a restaurant approaching closing time that has stopped taking orders. And I was the only one who hadnât figured it out.â (p. 478)
17. ââWalls were originally erected to protect people. From external enemies, storms, and floods. Sometimes, though, they were used to keep people in. People are powerless before a sturdy, towering wall. Visually and psychologically. Some walls were constructed for that specific purpose.ââ (p. 487)
18. âBut it went without saying that his life was bounded by time, space, and probability. Like everyone elseâs in this world. None of us could escape those constraints, as long as we lived. Each of us was enclosed by sturdy walls that stretched high in the air, surrounding us on all sides. Probably.â (p. 501)
19. âYet what was time, when you got right down to it? We measured its passage with the hands of a clock for convenienceâs sake. But was that appropriate? Did time really flow in such a steady and linear way? Couldnât this be a mistaken way of thinking, an error of major proportions?â (p. 583)
20. âWhen it came down to it, though, could anything be completely correct, or completely incorrect? We lived in a world where rain might fall thirty percent, or seventy percent, of the time. Truth was probably no different. There could be thirty percent or seventy percent truth. Crows had it a lot easier. For them, it was either raining or not raining, one or the other. Percentages never crossed their minds.â (p. 609)
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Iâd like to say a BIG thank you to Haruki Murakamiâs publisher in the UK, Harvill Secker, for sending me a review copy of Killing Commendatore. I thoroughly enjoyed this book and I hope my review on Books on Asia reflects this.
I’d also like to thank Amy Chavez, the Editor of Books on Asia, for including my review on her marvellous website.
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