Silence by Shusaku Endo - #BookReview

 

"News reached the Church in Rome. Christovao Ferreira, sent to Japan by the Society of Jesus in Portugal, after undergoing the torture of 'the pit' at Nagasaki had apostatized. An experienced missionary held in the highest respect he had spent thirty-three years in Japan, had occupied the high position of provincial and had been a source of inspiration to priests and faithful alike."

It is 1640 and Father Sebastian Rodrigues, an idealistic Jesuit priest, sets sail for Japan determined to help the brutally oppressed Christians there. He is also desperate to discover the truth about his former mentor, rumoured to have renounced his faith under torture. Rodrigues cannot believe the stories about a man he so revered, but as his journey takes him deeper into Japan and then into the hands of those who would crush his faith, he finds himself forced to make an impossible choice: to abandon his flock or his God.

The recipient of the 1966 Tanizaki Prize, Silence, is Shusaku Endo's most highly acclaimed work and has been called one of the twentieth century's finest novels. As empathetic as it is powerful, it is an astonishing exploration of faith and suffering.

***

I can honestly say that I have never read a book quite like this one and I am finding it difficult to find the words with which to review it as it is so different to my usual reading fare. I probably would never have picked this up in a bookshop or library but it came to me on loan from my son who had read and enjoyed it.

It was originally published in 1966 in Japanese and it has been excellently translated by William Johnston. 

It is an interesting consideration of the early days of Christian missionary work in Japan. Although fictionalised, it is based on 17th century accounts of such work when missionaries secretly entered Japan in order to minister to a hidden Christian community.

Although this book is based within a Christian perspective, I believe that it is much more about humanity than faith. We see the lengths which the Japanese are prepared to go to in order to protect their own culture and belief system. Equally, we witness the similar extent of the Christian missionaries in their attempt to introduce and progress their own beliefs to a people whose authority does not seek any such religious or cultural change.

There are several occasions in which the main character, Father Rodrigues, aligns his own situation with that of both Christ and Judas. However, reading this book as a non Christian it raised some very thought provoking questions in my mind. 

Rodrigues was expecting to suffer and to be tortured for his attempts to support the Christian community. However, what struck me as shocking in this book was that he was able to stand by his beliefs whilst watching others being brutally tortured or executed in his name.

As always, I will not be giving any spoilers here but suffice to say that the book has an interesting conclusion.  I am very glad that I read this book and even though it was not a comfortable read, I do recommend it.

ISBN@ 978 1447299851

Publisher: Picador Classic

About the Author:

Shusaku Endo was  born in Tokyo in 1923 and was raised by his mother and an aunt in Kobe where he converted to Roman Catholicism at the age of eleven. At Tokyo's Keio University he majored in French literature, graduating with a BA in 1949, before furthering his studies in French Catholic literature at the University of Lyon in France between 1950 and 1953. 

A major theme running through his books, which have been translated into many languages, including English, French, Russian and Swedish, is the failure of Japanese soil to nurture the growth of Christianity. 

Before his death in 1996, Endo was the recipient of a number of outstanding Japanese literary awards: the Akutagawa Prize, Mainichi Cultural Prize, Shincho Prize, and Tanizaki Prize.