A literary triumph of love and loneliness, war and art, but also a loving tribute to The Great Gatsby, Killing Commendatore is a stunning work of fiction by one of the greatest writers of our time.

I was ready to paint the portrait of Wataru Menshiki. Wataru Menshiki who lived in the white mansion, at the top of the mountain, on the other side of the valley. 

This white-haired man about whom various rumors were heard in the neighborhood, an undoubtedly fascinating individual. He had chosen me, hired me to paint his portrait for an immense amount of money. But what I realized was that at this moment I was not even capable of painting a portrait. 

Even this conventional, utilitarian form of art was beyond my abilities. I was truly empty, a hollow shell. The first volume of an epic by the author who, according to the New York Times, invented twenty-first-century fiction.