Mr. Endo is a rarity: a Japanese Catholic novelist, a literary Sadao Watanabe. His Catholicism and literary studies in Europe have made him the most accessible of Japanese novelists to the western reader. Those who know and appreciate his work will welcome these five short stories, and will recognize his usual style and typical concerns. A novelist retraces the steps of the Christian martyrs of Shimabara, but he is more interested in and identified with the apostate who agonizes spiritually because he did not have the faith to suffer physically. Japanese tourists on the make and their impassive guide wander Warsaw and find in the strangest of places St. Maximilian Kolbe, a Polish missionary to Japan who died in Auschwitz. A box of old postcards uncovers the secret life of a missionary's daughter during wartime Japan. A fifty-year old man takes dancing lessons amid intimations of mortality. A man who could not share his feelings with his wife watches her die and then wonders about her possible reincarnation. The last of these short stories is in fact the opening chapter of the novel "Deep River," but it becomes more intriguing on its own. Those who don't know Endo yet will find this a tasty and representative sampling of his work. Van C. Gessel, who has translated at least six Endo novels, has provided a very readable text.

If ever there were an author who could wedge a knife into the cracks of the human soul, it must be Shusaku Endo.

In these five stories -- Unzen, A Fifty-Year-Old Man, Japanese In Warsaw, The Box, and The Case of Isobe -- Endo draws back the curtain on a group of people obsessed with such themes as cowardice, sex, martyrdom, death and the love of animals.

With bleak eloquence and hard-edged compassion, Endo creates a banquet of irony and emotion that succeeds in filling the void created by 95% of modern fiction.

If you are weary of the predictable and formulaic fiction churned out by the big publishing houses, I recommend this slim volume. Shusaku Endo's stories feel like a gust of cold, clean and pungent mountain air from the top of Japan's highest mountains.

I bought this book a few years ago and I loved it. I gave it to a friend and I miss it enough to buy another copy today.

One of the nice thing about this book is that it is an anthology of short stories. Some anthologies present the reader with cut-down version of the original texts which is always frustrating and this is not the case here. All short stories are of great quality written by prominent Japanese authors.

I also enjoyed the fact that there was an interesting introduction to the volume, as well as a short introduction to each author/contribution.

Last but not least, I enjoyed the fact that there is a large coverage of past-war Japanese authors who I generally prefer.

I found that book to be most enjoyable reading as well as a great introduction to Japanese literature. Reading it truly helped me to expand my knowledge of Japanese literature. I read many more novels from authors whose contribution to the volume I liked.

Somehow Endo--or, I suppose, his translators--always seem to make simplicity a true virtue. His writing tends to be clear and direct, but not pushy--he lets you draw your own conclusions, a trait he shares with Abe Kobo and most of the rest of their generation of Japanese novelists. Anyway this book is lovely in that tradition, dealing with the conflicts entailed by being Catholic in Japan and living across cultures in general. While I don't have any experience personally of strong religious conflict, the stories he tells ring true on other levels as well. Particulalrly here I liked the story of the Japanese student on exchange in a French university.

This is a collection of short stories spanning a twenty year period from the late 50's to the late 70's, and in these stories we come across most of Endo's favourite themes - martyrs of Christianity in Japan, the stories of those who apostatized (gave up their religion for fear of torture and persecution), Endo's own prolonged illness and his fear of suffering, and his own religious uncertainty.These themes sound altogether pretty depressing, and yet when you read his writing, the crisp, clear style seems so effortless that you might think,like I did, that you could gladly read anything he wrote, on any topic no matter how turgid. His ability to contrast the depth of one person's belief with the weakness and uncertainty of another's is genuinely masterly. I think he manages to do this so well because he is able to comprehend both types perfectly, and he clearly does not favour one over the other. His message is ultimately humanist - that we are none of us perfect, n! either those who seek perfection nor those who give up, knowing perfection cannot be achieved, neither those who face fear and suffering nor those who run from it, and furthermore that the idea of sin should not be used by one person to chastise another, but rather to help guide each of us in our own lives. Endo is able to conjure up powerful emotion in only a few pages, as he does recounting his own feelings of guilt towards his mother in one story, or his joy at a reunion with some childhood friends, or the ambiguous guilt of the 'kakure' apostates on a small island off Kyushu. Though I cringe to admit it, I honestly thought on reading these stories 'If only I could write like this!'

I just finished "Scandal" by Shusaku Endo which makes it the third book I've read by this author. All of the books have been excellent with "Silence" being my favorite. Endo is a Christian Japanese author and "Scandal", like "Silence" give an insight to the theological questions that go through his mind. The basic issue in Scandal is the relationship between good and evil in all of us. The main character in the story is a Japanese Christian writer (this whole book is pretty autobiographical with little attempt to hide that fact). At an awards ceremony he is confronted by the possibility that he has a double and that double has been spending a lot of time on the seedier side of life. The actions of his double threaten his reputation and he searches out this "doppleganger" to resolve that threat. Along the way he becomes interested in the nature and motives of the underworld people he comes in contact with.

Mr. Endo poses a variety of questions for the reader. As I previously mentioned, the main question is the level of good and evil in all of us. He seems to suggest that those of us who worship Jesus have within us the potential to have been one of those who stoned Jesus on His way to the Cross. While this is a shocking proposition to many, Endo's tale leaves one pondering the issue.

This book, like the other two I've read (including "The Sea and Poison"), is written in a compelling style that moves the reader along without any literary roadblocks. Even though you may quess correctly at some of the outcome, you want to see how the author gets you there. I rated this a "4" instead of a "5" because it fell a bit short of "Silence" so I knew he could do better.

Endo doesn't give you easy answers. This book explores the darker side of human nature, the side behind easy domestic life, beyond common decency, beneath worldly success. It may not be a pleasant book to read, as it doesn't gloss over the capacity for evil in a human being, but it is a book that will leave you thinking about just how authentic you are. If you're not ready to face brutal honesty, don't read this book. But if you're prepared for some deep insights into the nature of man, you shouldn't let this one pass you by.

I picked this book up in a used books store in Hiroshima, mainly because the selection of English books was very limited. I had not heard of Endo prior to that, but having read this work, I intend to find and read more of his novels.

The most intriguing aspect of this book is certainly how Endo manages to simultaneously keep us reading and caring for his characters even as they commit reprehensible acts. Without offering final answers, Endo details some fascinating problems inherent in human relationships and human nature. Sin? Evil? Redemption? God? Trust? Honesty? Marriage? Multiple personalities? All of these topics are intricately interwoven through the web that links Suguro, the aging writer; his decadent impersonator; his trusted wife of many years; Madame Naruse, the mysterious hospital volunteer; Motoko Itoi, the chubby painter; Kobari, the dogged reporter; and Matsu, the caring teenager. Suguro is the focal point, and the story is told from his perspective. Some characters therefore remain incomplete to us because never fully understood by him, which serves to illustrate him more clearly. Those characters that Endo can flesh out he fleshes out brilliantly, making them complex, real and believable, driving home the point that sin and evil are inherent in all of us. I found myself identifying with several of the characters and wondering what exactly (apart perhaps from the grace of God) keeps me from living out my evil desires.

In retrospect you wonder how a couple things could happen the way they did - but there may be logical answers to these problems, provided they are framed in the logical framework of the story, which isn't always the framework of everyday reality as we experience it. Other questions may be unanswerable and intended as such, for instance what the exact relationship between Madame Naruse and Suguro's wife is. To me, these open questions add to the pleasure of this book.

The story will make you think - about yourself, the people around you, the repulsive urges within all of us, and the miracle it is that not more of us go crazy. And if you let it make you think, it will tell you about yourself, and tell perhaps more than you'd like to hear. Because it plumbs the depths of human depravity, it is depressing; because it makes the reader identify with that depravity, it is frightening.

Read it.

This very powerful novel known as a classic, evokes strong feelings and emotions in the reader, especially if he is a committed Christian. The background of the novel is the persecution of Christians in Japan in the early seventeenth century. There are lots of historical elements in the novel. The Samurai who undertook a voyage in 1613 seems to have kept a journal of his experiences abroad. Fr Luis Sotelo the model for Valesco is also a historical person. Besides, the author as the first Japanese to study abroad after the war acknowledges that there are also some autobiographical elements in the novel. The Samurai called Rokuemon Hasekura and Fr Velasco a missionary of the Franciscan Order are the main characters. Both are on a mission to the Nueva Espana, Espana and Rome as a Japanese envoy and his Spanish interpreter respectively. They plan to meet the King as well as the Pope. Both are eager to make their mission successful. Blinded by their own ambitions, both of them fail to see the truths before them. Both of them meet with disappointment and defeat. Soon they realize their mistakes, but too late to save their own lives. They gradually come to an understanding of what it really means to follow Christ, and embrace martyrdom.

There are various themes that are dealt with in the novel in a profoundly powerful manner. The snobbishness of the religion preached by the affluent clergy, the relevance of the sufferings and death of Christ to the ordinary people, the fickleness and pride of the Japanese people, the political strategies of the Japanese rulers, the ambitions of the foreign missionaries, the rivalries between missionary orders etc are only some of them.

One of the biggest surprises I have received in the last year was "The Samurai", for good reason. Though it starts slowly, this novel is a gripping tale of determination, sacrifice, honor, deceit, and love, following a group of three Japanese noblemen and a Spanish priest in their trek from Japan to Rome. The priest hopes to be declared Bishop of Japan in order to oversee the missionary effort in that country, and is willing to sacrifice almost anything to conquer the religious intolerance of Japan at the time. The noblemen are trying to regain family lands by succeeding in their mission to establish trade between Japan and Nueva Espana. I could not put this novel down once the quest began, and I nearly wept as I finished it. I highly recommend this novel to one and all.

This is a fictionalized account of a true event, a Japanese diplomatic expedition to Mexico and eventually to Spain and Rome. The characters are well drawn, and their motivations made clear notwithstanding the considerable cultural differences between their time/place and ours. Not a book you will soon forget -- highly recommended.

A charming tale of pre-war Japan and modern Japan. Ozu, Flatfish and Aiko are suprisingly sympathetic, and Ozu's son is despicable but believeable. I enjoyed it very much. If you like the Japanese or their style of fiction, this is the book for you.

As translated by Van C. Gessel, _When I Whistle_ uses spare, simple prose in switching back and forth between the stories of Ozu, a nostalgic World War II veteran, and his son Eiichi, an ambitious doctor. As Ozu's reminiscences move closer to the present, the two narratives interlock with devastating effect. Like much of Endo's other writing, _When I Whistle_ is elegaic and concerned with serious moral issues; however, it is not overtly theological (Endo's Catholicism has led some to describe him as a Japanese Graham Greene). Plot points and themes which could be oppressively heavy in the hands of a lesser writer are here leavened by humor (notably in the character of the hapless Flatfish) and unspooled in beautifully observed scenes. The sentences may be easy to read, but it is difficult to reach the end of the novel unmoved...

Shusaku Endo draws on a well of personal experience as well as powerful, thoughtful philosophies concerning family relationships, the trauma of war, transistion to the modern age, generative versus stagnant personality types and basic human nature in order to create this vivid, yet restrained, novel. 'When I Whistle' is the story of Ozu, a man whose simpleness betrays the depth of his expreience, and his son Eichi. Their contrasting attitudes and views on morality allow Endo to masterfully weave a conflict which not only entices the reader to the plot, but forces the reader on a journey of questioning personal philosophies and beliefs. Though When I Whistle is a moving literary work and exemplarary of Japanese aesthetic principles, it is an easy read. I thoroughly reccomend it.

I just finished this for a class on journey literature. Definitely an entertaining read. An interesting commentary on reconciling Christianity with Japanese social, cultural, and religious traditions. I believe Shusaku Endo, the author, modelled this somewhat on the struggles in his own life (hence "retrospective"). The book tells of the journey of a group of Japanese tourists to the Ganges river in India, each in search of something different. First, we have the Isobe, the Japanese salaryman whose wife's death fills his heart with regret at never having professed his love for her adequately. Then we have Mitsuko, the divorced college grad who insists on tormenting a studious Catholic classmate named Otsu. We are also treated to several other characters with various backgrounds and reasons for visiting the Ganges. At times, the characters seem too contrived. For example, the newlyweds on their honeymoon are conceivable in their cultural insensitivity, but at times it seems as if they are being used as tools to play off of the main characters. Definitely an enjoyable read, but the construction of the characters is a bit forced at times. One of the main themes seemed to be the positive lack of a clear dichotomy between good and evil. Otsu finds this in the religious tolerance of his Hindu teachers (ironically, while they are in India, Indira Gandhi is murdered by Sikhs); Mitsuko finds this in the Indian pantheon of Gods and Goddesses--each portraying both a fearsome, bloodthirsty side in striking juxtaposition with a compassionate, loving side. I feel like Endo is a bit heavy-handed with this point at times... just seems like he goes a little far with using the characters to make his point. I don't know if I completely recommend picking this one up.

Shusaku Endo's "Deep River" is the story of several Japanese tourists on a sightseeing trip to visit various Hindu and Buddhist holy sites in the region of the Ganges River in India. For four of these tourists, however, this trip is more like a pilgrimage; each is at a point of spiritual or moral uncertainty in his or her life and is seeking some sort of redemption, closure, or significance.

First we meet Isobe, an elderly man who recently has lost his wife to cancer. Although skeptical at first, he now has hope that his wife has been reincarnated, and he has evidence he might find her in India. Then there is Mitsuko, a woman who, when in college, seduced a pious Christian student named Otsu just for fun, to see if she could lure him away from his God; after an unhappy marriage she devoted her time to charitable hospital work and is now searching for Otsu, who she has heard is now a Catholic priest living in India. Numada is a children's story writer who gets his inspiration from imagined communications with animals; recovering from tuberculosis, he comes to believe that a bird his wife bought for him as a pet died in place of him. He has come to India to see the bird and animal sanctuaries. Kiguchi is an ex-soldier who suffered horrible near-death experiences in World War II Burma; he has come to India to memorialize his fallen war comrades.

My feelings about this novel are divided. On one hand, Endo's descriptions of Indian scenery and customs from the Japanese vantage point and the culture clash are excellent; he writes poignantly, if a little too sentimentally; and his hope for peace between the religions of the world is certainly noble. (Repudiating Christianity's Eurocentrism, Otsu believes God can be found among all nations and religions.)

On the other hand, the simplicity with which Endo presents his protagonists and their situations implies that the author is more interested in conveying his personal religious convictions than in pure narrative invention. His symbols of the divine (Otsu as a Christ-like savior, Gaston the hospital volunteer as an angel) are so transparent, they seem less like literary devices than arbitrary miraculous avatars, especially towards the end, where the novel's tone becomes increasingly didactic. Case in point: The tour group includes a young married couple named the Sanjos, whose selfish, insensitive, and materialistic attitudes seem to represent the modern affluent Japan and what Endo feels is an arrogant, godless society. Their speech and actions are too unrealistically annoying, too unconvincing, as though Endo were manipulatively trying to make his readers hate them and see his point. This is some of the most contrived characterization I've seen in any novel meant to be read by adults.

"Deep River" is a nicely written novel of good intentions, but it is more craft than art, and it ultimately reads more like a laundry list of conventional religious platitudes than an enduring piece of literature.

I had to read this for my Asian history class. It's a quick read, something that can be easily read in two hours. It's also fairly understandable. Endo's depiction of each character on their journey to India is amazing. Mitsuko, the self-abosorbed, divorced, cynical woman and her friend Otsu, a Catholic priest who is more pantheistic than he is Catholic, Numado, a meloncholy man who writes children's books and can talk to animals, Isobe, a widower trying to make sense of his life and his wife's death, Kiguchi , a sickly war vet in which everything around him reminds him of combat, and the Sanjos, the yuppie, naive couple going to India on their honeymoon.

There is great significance in each of the characters. Ostu being a Christ figure, the Sanjos representing the "Westernized" Japanese who are almost ignorant of the Indian culture and religion. Although I cannot agree with some of the worldviews discussed in the novel, it's a great book and the most symbolistic book I have read in years.

It is no accident that Ostu gave God the name of "Onion." An onion has several layers to it. Ostu believed that the God of Christianity was also the God of Buddhism, Hinduism, Islam, etc. This is where I give this book 4 stars instead of 5. The God of the Old and New Testaments cannot be the same as the ones of Buddhism, Hinduism, etc.