Journal Entry 1 by Vasha from Ithaca, New York USA on Saturday, May 21, 2011

Novelist Shusaku Endo was a cultural oddity: a Japanese Catholic. Influenced by European Catholic novelists such as Graham Greene and Georges Bernanos, his work expresses an anguished faith on the edge of disbelief, as well as a horror at the dark thread of cruelty running through Japanese history.

Silence, set in the early seventeenth century, is widely acknowledged as Endo’s masterpiece. The Japanese shogunate has embarked on the ruthless extirpation of Christianity by torture and massacre. News reaches the Vatican that a highly respected Jesuit missionary, Father Ferreira, has renounced the faith under duress. Portuguese priest Sebastian Rodrigues, who regards Ferreira as his spiritual mentor, is sent to Japan to contact him. It is a risky mission that soon goes awry. Betrayed to the authorities by the Judas-like Kichijiro, Rodrigues is imprisoned and tortured. To save himself he must symbolically renounce his faith by treading on an image of Christ. When he refuses, the authorities begin martyring other Christians before his eyes. Rodrigues eventually meets Ferreira, who urges him to make an act of apparent apostasy.

The spare and dramatic narrative unfolds with stark power the horrors of persecution and the bitterness of the priest’s dilemma. In Rodrigues, Endo succeeds in depicting a good man who is wholly credible and likable, embodying the author’s vision of a Christianity focused on the suffering of Jesus rather than his glory. — Reg Grant in 1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die 

Journal Entry 2 by 1001-library at Helsinki, Uusimaa Finland on Monday, May 23, 2011

Thanks so much for your donation Vasha!

This book is now part of the 1001-library. If you want to take this book from the library but don't know how to proceed, please refer to the 1001-library bookshelf. 

Journal Entry 3 by Vasha at Ithaca, New York USA on Tuesday, June 07, 2011

Reserved to send to grovalskii. 

Journal Entry 4 by grovalskii at Zehlendorf, Berlin Germany on Saturday, August 13, 2011

book arrived today! Thanks Vasha! 

Journal Entry 5 by grovalskii at Zehlendorf, Berlin Germany on Friday, September 23, 2011

This was a great book! I don't always enjoy the book from the 1001 list, because some tend to be long-winded, but this was a really good book. I liked the detailed description of the thoughts and feelings of the main character and also the parallels that were drawn between the suffering of the father and the suffering of Christ. The end was a bit shallow maybe, but alltogether, I enjoyed reading this.

Thanks again for sending this book, Vasha! Will contact the 1001-library so they can add the book back to their AVL list.  

Journal Entry 6 by 1001-library at Helsinki, Uusimaa Finland on Wednesday, September 28, 2011

This book is now back on the 1001 library bookshelf and can be borrowed by PMing grovalskii:)

If you want to take this book from the library but don't know how to proceed, please refer to the library bookshelf. 

Journal Entry 7 by grovalskii at Zehlendorf, Berlin Germany on Thursday, May 03, 2012

The book is going to New Zealand next. 

Journal Entry 8 by Sfogs at Christchurch, Canterbury New Zealand on Wednesday, May 16, 2012

Thanks again! It's arrived safely!