Silence
This book is in a Controlled Release!
4 journalers for this copy...
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
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
Reserved to send to grovalskii.
book arrived today! Thanks Vasha!
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.
Thanks again for sending this book, Vasha! Will contact the 1001-library so they can add the book back to their AVL list.
The book is going to New Zealand next.
Thanks again! It's arrived safely!
I am not religious, but I still found this book very sad.
Off to the UK!
Journal Entry 9 by Blue_berry at Croydon, Greater London United Kingdom on Wednesday, August 30, 2017
Thank you for sending this! I look forward to reading.
Very good read, lots of food for thought. I enjoyed the setting in 17th century Japan, which I had no knowledge of previously.
Journal Entry 11 by Blue_berry at -- Somewhere in London 🤷♀️ , Greater London United Kingdom on Tuesday, May 8, 2018
Released 5 yrs ago (5/8/2018 UTC) at -- Somewhere in London 🤷♀️ , Greater London United Kingdom
CONTROLLED RELEASE NOTES:
I passed this on to a non-BC friend who said she wants to read this.
