Just try to make a
movie out of “Killing Commendatore.” It cannot help but be a lesser product
than the original: the novel, any more than you can do justice to what Marlon
James does in his novel, “A Brief History of Seven Killings,” of what George
Saunders manages in “Lincoln in the Bardo,” or Richard Powers in “The
Overstory.”
Murakami, the
marathoner, is in for the long haul. What informs a work of art, the painting?
If the world is
unknowable what risk is the reach of the fantastic in literature? Especially as
it relates to that which we have not words: horrors of war; depths of romanic love;
the power of empathy; the inevitability of evil intent.
Sit down with this
book and savor it all. You won’t be sorry.
Next: Running for Your Life: Cars and Manners
