In this moving novel, a group of Japanese tourists, each of whom iswrestling with his or her own demons, travels to the River Ganges on apilgrimage...
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Sep 17, 2011
Mariel
rated it: 
Do you know that scene in Billy Madison when (this is a major spoiler if you haven't seen Billy Madison and still mean to) Bradley Whitford's character is asked to explain the difference between ethics and morals? And he whips out a gun instead? (It's on youtube.Here it is anyway. It must be wrong to post links to Adam Sandler movies. What can I say? I'm a heathen.) Deep River is apparently beloved by ethics students all over goodreads and amazon. I guess it is loved in Japan too, if ejaculatory
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Feb 06, 2008
Karson
rated it: 
A novel about different streams towards God and how there is a deep river that runs deep enough to handle all the craziness that goes on down here. I learned some really beautiful things about some other religions that I didn't know before I read this book. One of the most beautiful things that stuck with me is the symbolism of The Ganges river in India. People bring death there (they sprinkle loved ones ashes in there), but the also come to this river for ritual cleasings. It takes it all.
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Nov 21, 2011
Nick
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A group of Japanese tourists travel to India to visit historic sites from the life of the Buddha, without realizing that there are few modern Buddhists there. They wind up in Varanasi, by the side of the sacred, polluted Ganges, where people go to die. The group includes Isobe, who is looking for his reincarnated wife, who he ignored when she was alive and Mitsuko, who has found emptiness in a series of personae: hedonistic student, wife, volunteer at a hospital. Least affecting is Numada, a a
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Jan 16, 2011
Kitty
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The cast of characters, interwoven into hints of Japan, France, India, with of a bit of French literature (Therese Desqueroux, looking for what lies in the depths of her heart) ), Christianity, Hinduism, and importance of the Ganges, all search for something larger than themselves. For Isobe, it is understanding there is such a fundamental difference between "being alive and truly living" and in following his wife's request to look for her reincarnation, the reader can join him to
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Jul 21, 2010
Dan
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My favorite part of this book - especially being an American reader - is its multi-cultural perspective. Its a Japanese novel about Japanese characters who for various reasons converge on a tour of India, and I enjoyed hearing Hindu concepts introduced to a Japanese audience. Of all the character studies, I found the relationship between Mitsuko and Otsu the most complex: Otsu is a Japanese Christian who is repeatedly dismissed from seminary after seminary because his appreciation of Christ is
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May 15, 2010
novia
rated it:
Deep River is written by one of Japanese famous writer named Shusaku Endo. I’ve heard of his name so many times but haven’t got a chance to read one of his works. It’s a spiritual kinda journey…but I like much better than 5 people you meet in heaven by Mitch Albom (I finished that book in about 5 months). I like Shusaku Endo’s style of writing. He tries to deliver his religious perception in a soft way, not in the way that tries to push people in believing that his religion is the right one. I a
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Dec 12, 2008
Erin
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This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers.
To view it, click here
Feb 03, 2009
cole
rated it:
Endo's books are always a deep plunge into the human condition, into the thought processes and dispositions that make us the complex creatures we are. In _Deep River_, Endo draws together characters from vastly different backgrounds who are all similar in that they are wrestling with significantly troubling personal crises. With the backdrop of India and the Ganges River, Endo explores the depth of the human need to understand ourselves and where we belong in our world. Through this lens, and th
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Mar 04, 2010
From my review:
Shusaku Endo is unique. His books incorporate his sense of Catholic-Japanese spirituality in their themes. There’s probaly only half a million Catholics in Japan, and another half a million Christians. And yet he is a prized Japanese writer, a prized human writer for that matter, because of the intricacies with which he imbues his characters, making them dynamic people you might meet anywhere, at any time.
Deep River is the story of a Japanese tourist grou More...
Shusaku Endo is unique. His books incorporate his sense of Catholic-Japanese spirituality in their themes. There’s probaly only half a million Catholics in Japan, and another half a million Christians. And yet he is a prized Japanese writer, a prized human writer for that matter, because of the intricacies with which he imbues his characters, making them dynamic people you might meet anywhere, at any time.
Deep River is the story of a Japanese tourist grou More...
Aug 24, 2011
Carol
rated it:
A group of Japanese are on a tour of India visiting Buddhist shrines. The story focuses on a few individuals who end up staying at the River Ganges instead of continuing on the tour. Each of the individuals come to India on a personal spiritual quest, although none of them are "believers" (of any religion.) They each feel they are acting on a "foolish impulse" that they can't ignore. The book is full of symbolism from Hinduism, Christianity, and Buddhism mixed together, w
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Jul 07, 2011
Aubrey
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There is death. Yet, there is also life. There are long emotionally dead passages. Yet, there are also moments so charged with feeling they consume all in their path, carrying along for a bit and leaving behind ones willing to do anything to catch up. You have the search for reincarnated love ones, the search for emotional fulfillment, the search to reconcile death with life, the search for atonement, each person ever searching for something omnipresent in its never clearly defined state. And on
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Jan 18, 2011
Cody
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time to spill the beans on this book... not particularly Into eithe3r the prose or the plot HOWEVER there were frequent times where little passages really resounded with me, excellent sense of mood hanging out with the dead on the banks of mother ganga... also there are myna birds with humorous faces, and other birds with pierrot faces that make strange noises, a good book for bird lovers
Jan 29, 2012
Vanillabricot
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Est ce que j'ai adoré parceque ça parle de l'Inde, du Japon et de la France ?
Que ça parle entre autre de la religion, ses dogmes, ses extrémismes?
Oui ça a surement joué.
Mais malgré les thèmes qui me sont très proches, je trouve l'écriture et la narration du bouquin géniale.
La capacité de l'auteur à mélanger tout plein d'univers différents :
- la culture japonaise/indienne/française
- des personnages aux portraits et problèmes totalement étrangers
-la philos More...
Que ça parle entre autre de la religion, ses dogmes, ses extrémismes?
Oui ça a surement joué.
Mais malgré les thèmes qui me sont très proches, je trouve l'écriture et la narration du bouquin géniale.
La capacité de l'auteur à mélanger tout plein d'univers différents :
- la culture japonaise/indienne/française
- des personnages aux portraits et problèmes totalement étrangers
-la philos More...
Oct 05, 2010
Charlotte
rated it:
Get the readers to think about God, life, love and society. It's a very somber book.
By the time I close the book, I still have many questions unanswered.
So, does rebirth exist?
Does Miss Naruse finally find herself and peace?
How's her relationship with Otsu ? Is he died? Will she go look for him?
By the time I close the book, I still have many questions unanswered.
So, does rebirth exist?
Does Miss Naruse finally find herself and peace?
How's her relationship with Otsu ? Is he died? Will she go look for him?
Jul 27, 2011
Cjsavage
rated it:
Endo's greatest novel, bar none. Although strong Christian strains run through it - it wouldn't be an Endo novel without - the interplay between the characters and the depth of religious insight are unparelleled in Japanese literature.
Jan 14, 2009
Zach
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i ended up reading this book when i was more sick then i have ever been, in a hotel bed in Varanasi, India, where the majority of this book is set. I appreciated Endo's sentiment and ideas in the book, but the writing seemed a little flaky from what i remember.
Feb 27, 2011
Jessie
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(Read 2011 for Mrs. Valerie Holtz's English 30IB class.)
Quite the religious exposé... Some of Otsu's words/actions were rather contradictory--why is he still lonely if he has been so deeply convicted by his "Onion"?
Quite the religious exposé... Some of Otsu's words/actions were rather contradictory--why is he still lonely if he has been so deeply convicted by his "Onion"?
Aug 02, 2011
Amanda Lueck
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I love Endo. I reread this a week or so ago and understood it much more than I did twelve years ago. What an ending, and what vivid characters with such legitimate concerns and philosophies. Ahhh.
Dec 12, 2010
Jeff
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This was an interesting book. The last of Endo Shusaku's serious books, it seems a little disjointed at first because each chapter focuses on a different character. However, there is a consistent feature, being that they are all going to go to India as tourists.
So, while the story leads all of these characters to go to India, they all have different motivations and desires coming into it. It's interesting to read that, maybe just because it's very different from what we are used to. More...
So, while the story leads all of these characters to go to India, they all have different motivations and desires coming into it. It's interesting to read that, maybe just because it's very different from what we are used to. More...
Nov 20, 2009
Peter H.
rated it:
A good novel from Japan about six disillusioned people going on a spiritual quest to Varanasi (Benares), the holy Indian city on the Ganges. It's a beautifully written book about how we all search for meaning, Christian, Buddhists, and Atheists alike.
The translation seems a tiny bit wooden to me, but then again I haven't read Endo's novel in Japanese (!) Funnily enough, my next novel takes place in Varanasi which is why I read this. A good read with 2 or 3 very strong characters.
The translation seems a tiny bit wooden to me, but then again I haven't read Endo's novel in Japanese (!) Funnily enough, my next novel takes place in Varanasi which is why I read this. A good read with 2 or 3 very strong characters.
Dec 16, 2008
James
rated it:
This book ranks up with "Silence" as one of Endo's masterpieces. It's a moving tale of pilgrimage in which all of his characters, suffering in a variety of ways, orbit around and are attracted to the Suffering Servant of Christ in one form or another.
Jan 01, 2009
the end with the theological preaching was a pain in the ass to get through. I liked the descriptions of war, but that was mostly a tangential experience.
Dec 16, 2009
Maite
rated it:
This is the first book I've read by Shusaku Endo. The first paragraph...
"Yaki imo-o. Yaki imo. Piping hot yaki imo-o.' Whenever Isobe reflected back on the moment when the doctor informed him that his wife had incurable cancer, the voice of a street vendor peddling roasted sweet potatoes below the window of the examination-room came back to his ears like a sneering mockery of his dismay."
reminds of Puerto Rico (and parts of LA) how no matter what is going o More...
"Yaki imo-o. Yaki imo. Piping hot yaki imo-o.' Whenever Isobe reflected back on the moment when the doctor informed him that his wife had incurable cancer, the voice of a street vendor peddling roasted sweet potatoes below the window of the examination-room came back to his ears like a sneering mockery of his dismay."
reminds of Puerto Rico (and parts of LA) how no matter what is going o More...
Mar 21, 2010
Zigforas
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"...Good and evil are back to back with each other, and they can't be separated the way you can cut things apart with a knife."
Nov 24, 2011
dennis
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It had some really good moments, but the ending was rather predictable and the message was a bit heavy-handed at times. I enjoyed it. I was just hoping some parts of it to be better.
Jan 01, 2010
Delacey
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Beautiful, evocative book. If you have any interest in Japan or India, it is a very worthwhile read.
Jan 16, 2010
Aidenpants
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I really enjoyed this book. Endo's wrting style is great. Overall, the book is written well and clearly, with vivid, fantastic descriptions sprinkled throughout.
Apr 08, 2011
Mary Pat
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Thanks class on ethics for making me read this real downer. Not for me.
Jul 06, 2009
Maritily
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Interesting...explores Asian spirituality, Catholicism & Atheism, while experiencing starvation during war, dying of cancer, promiscuity in college, materialism of top executives, culminating in a trip to India, where each searches for pretty much the same thing as the others...a meaningful connection with God.
