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Silence
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"In my opinion one of the finest novels of our time." - Graham Greene
Shusaku Endo is Japan's foremost novelist, and Silence is generally regarded to be his masterpiece. In a perfect fusion of treatment and theme, this powerful novel tells the story of a seventeenth-century Portuguese priest in Japan at the height of the fearful persecution of the small Christian community. ...more
Shusaku Endo is Japan's foremost novelist, and Silence is generally regarded to be his masterpiece. In a perfect fusion of treatment and theme, this powerful novel tells the story of a seventeenth-century Portuguese priest in Japan at the height of the fearful persecution of the small Christian community. ...more
Paperback, 219 pages
Published
January 1st 1999
by Taplinger Publishing Company
(first published 1966)
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Start your review of Silence

“Sin, he reflected, is not what it is usually thought to be; it is not to steal and tell lies. Sin is for one man to walk brutally over the life of another and to be quite oblivious of the wounds he has left behind.”
Japanese Painting by an unknown artist of the Christian Martyrs of Nagasaki.
The Jesuit priest Francis Xavier born in SPAIN, but representing PORTUGAL arrived in Japan in 1543 to save souls. The Japanese were Buddhist, not “heathens” without a proper religion. The Spanish Francis ...more

Japanese Painting by an unknown artist of the Christian Martyrs of Nagasaki.
The Jesuit priest Francis Xavier born in SPAIN, but representing PORTUGAL arrived in Japan in 1543 to save souls. The Japanese were Buddhist, not “heathens” without a proper religion. The Spanish Francis ...more

This is a historical novel about the early years of Christianity in Japan. It is a fictionalized account based on real historical characters.
It’s set in the late 17th century. Two Portuguese priests get into Japan by ship from Macao at a time when Japanese officials had banned Christianity and were killing priests and torturing suspected Christians to apostatize (give up their faith). They are forced to verbally renounce their faith and to stomp and spit on religious figures.

The main character ...more
It’s set in the late 17th century. Two Portuguese priests get into Japan by ship from Macao at a time when Japanese officials had banned Christianity and were killing priests and torturing suspected Christians to apostatize (give up their faith). They are forced to verbally renounce their faith and to stomp and spit on religious figures.

The main character ...more

Dec 31, 2016
Darwin8u
rated it
it was amazing
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
2016,
aere-perennius
"Whereof one cannot speak, thereof one must be silent."
-- Wittgenstein, Tractus Logico-Philosophicus 7

The novel starts off a bit slow, but once it hit its pace it's almost Dostoevskian in its depths. Endō, a Japanese Catholic, uses the story of two Jesuit priests in search of an apostate Jesuit to explore issues of faith, circumstance, religous colonialism, belief, sin, courage, suffering, martyrdom, etc., especially during periods when God is "silent". He examines Christ and Christianity and t ...more
-- Wittgenstein, Tractus Logico-Philosophicus 7

The novel starts off a bit slow, but once it hit its pace it's almost Dostoevskian in its depths. Endō, a Japanese Catholic, uses the story of two Jesuit priests in search of an apostate Jesuit to explore issues of faith, circumstance, religous colonialism, belief, sin, courage, suffering, martyrdom, etc., especially during periods when God is "silent". He examines Christ and Christianity and t ...more

This is an intense - rather grim - epistolary novel written mostly from the vantage point of a Roman Catholic priest, a missionary to Japan, early in the 17th century. The events are based on historical facts and the characters on actual people. The succinct introduction by translator William Johnston reveals that the novel begins after the period when daiymo Toyotomi Hideyoshi, who had once allowed the Christian missionaries much privilege, had twenty-six Japanese and European Christians crucif
...more

A worthwhile read even for a non-Christian like me who, nonetheless, has a deep and abiding intellectual interest in religion and spirituality. But VERY Christian. You have to have some empathy for that side of the story in order for it to be a satisfying read. If you're an atheist, not for you. No no no...
...more

What a devastatingly brilliant novel about faith, fanaticism, love, suffering, and ultimately, the silence of God. Why does God allow pain to flourish in the world? Why does God stand silent while the world burns? This novel, about Jesuit Portuguese missionaries in Japan in the 17th Century is gorgeously rendered, asks the hardest of hard questions, and is simply one of the greatest novels I've ever read. Very excited to see the upcoming film adaptation by Martin Scorsese.
...more

Mar 30, 2011
Mariel
rated it
really liked it
Recommends it for:
my day depends on the setting sun
Recommended to Mariel by:
george michael's faith
This book ruined my life. Sorta true. It's the catchiest review intro I'm going to come up with. I'm afraid to review this book and remember why it set me off to feeling hopeless and stupid. Band aid scenario. Pull it off!
I don't have the religion or spiritual kinds of faith. I'm dyslexic when it comes to religion, maybe. My mind jumbles the meanings and I just don't speak that language of KNOWING what you can't see and this is good and this is always bad. I don't look at someone who does have i ...more
I don't have the religion or spiritual kinds of faith. I'm dyslexic when it comes to religion, maybe. My mind jumbles the meanings and I just don't speak that language of KNOWING what you can't see and this is good and this is always bad. I don't look at someone who does have i ...more

It is easy enough to die for the good and beautiful; the hard thing is to die for the miserable and corrupt.
The context of the above line is based on the sacrifice Jesus made for sins of humanity. Now I am going to revise this line to explain the story of Silence.
For priests of Japan, it was easy enough to die as good and beautiful; the hard thing was to die as miserable and corrupt.
Hailed as one of the best novels of the twentieth century, Endo's Silence creates a fascinating as wel ...more

This is certainly one of the most difficult books I have ever reviewed, I find myself really unsure in the face of this reading.
The plot is truly shocking, it is about the missionary journey of two Portuguese priests who, at the end of 17° century will embark for Japan with the desire to bring the word of Christ among these brothers. Father Rodrigues and Father Garrpe will find different destinies, the latter will still remain to a living faith dying in martyrdom together with other Catholic Jap ...more
The plot is truly shocking, it is about the missionary journey of two Portuguese priests who, at the end of 17° century will embark for Japan with the desire to bring the word of Christ among these brothers. Father Rodrigues and Father Garrpe will find different destinies, the latter will still remain to a living faith dying in martyrdom together with other Catholic Jap ...more

This is a very impressive historical novel set in 17th century Japan. I have not seen the Scorsese film but my edition does contain an introduction by Scorsese so there is a link to it.
The book is primarily about the difficulties in maintaining faith in a hostile environment, and specifically the trials undergone by Portuguese Catholic missionaries, whose work in Japan flourished in the 16th century but was brutally suppressed. This is a little difficult to understand for those of us who never h ...more
The book is primarily about the difficulties in maintaining faith in a hostile environment, and specifically the trials undergone by Portuguese Catholic missionaries, whose work in Japan flourished in the 16th century but was brutally suppressed. This is a little difficult to understand for those of us who never h ...more

Apr 13, 2009
booklady
rated it
it was amazing
Shelves:
biography,
classic,
fiction,
spiritual,
2009,
historical-fiction,
theology,
religion,
worth-reading-over-and-over,
crime
Silence is a modern classic by Shusaku Endo. On the cover a crucified Jesus hangs from Japanese writing characters. My friend, Carol, recommended this book to me awhile back and I've had it sitting on my bookshelf. Then during Holy Week while I was finishing Fr. Neuhaus’ Death on a Friday Afternoon, he mentions the heroic struggles of the European missionaries who gave their all to travel around the world to share the Gospel message. Sometimes it just seems appropriate to leave off one book and
...more

This was a very disturbing book for me. One that I probably won't forget for awhile.
...more

2.5*
The premise of a story of Catholic missionaries trying to spread Christianity in Japan really caught my interest because I have fond memories of reading Shogun, which featured a similar premise as a side-story. Although, if any of you have read Shogun "fond" may not be the best way to describe the reading experience as there lots - and I do mean LOTS - of gory descriptions of cruelty and violence.
Obviously, I must have forgotten about that when I gleefully signed up to the group read of Sile ...more
The premise of a story of Catholic missionaries trying to spread Christianity in Japan really caught my interest because I have fond memories of reading Shogun, which featured a similar premise as a side-story. Although, if any of you have read Shogun "fond" may not be the best way to describe the reading experience as there lots - and I do mean LOTS - of gory descriptions of cruelty and violence.
Obviously, I must have forgotten about that when I gleefully signed up to the group read of Sile ...more

Mar 31, 2012
K.D. Absolutely
rated it
really liked it
Recommended to K.D. by:
1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die (2006-2012)
Mind-blowing. It tells about the 17th century Japan when the Tokugawa shogunate was in power. During this time, practicing Catholics were called Kakure Kirishitan ("Hidden Christians") because they had to do their religious rituals underground. This was also the time of "fumie" a metal plate bearing the images of Jesus and Mary. The religious police asked the families suspected to be Catholics to trample this fumie to prove that they had not converted from Buddism.
It was also during this time w ...more
It was also during this time w ...more

_Silence_
I feel confused, i feel conflicted and i am struggling. My inner world is seperated in half and i cannot decide. I haven't had so much thought over an action in a long time and i know that it has to do with God and stuff, but i just, i cannot make peace with myself. What would i do in this situation? What would i do? I just... I don't know what i would do, i was angry and i wanted to cry for the sin and didn't know which one was a greater sin. Rage was pumping in my blood for all the se ...more
I feel confused, i feel conflicted and i am struggling. My inner world is seperated in half and i cannot decide. I haven't had so much thought over an action in a long time and i know that it has to do with God and stuff, but i just, i cannot make peace with myself. What would i do in this situation? What would i do? I just... I don't know what i would do, i was angry and i wanted to cry for the sin and didn't know which one was a greater sin. Rage was pumping in my blood for all the se ...more

Had it not been for the reviews I had seen from my friends whose tastes and opinions I respect, I probably would not have read this book. Reason being that I hesitate to read religious and/or atheist books because of the preaching, a condescending tone that is normally vehicle for the rant that boils down to: we are in the right, they are in the wrong and these couple of hundreds of pages will be dedicated to proving my point. And given the short description that accompanied the story I thought
...more

This slim book by a famous Japanese author, currently being adapted into a movie by Scorsese starring the dude from Girls, is about a missionary sent to Japan in the 1600s. Christians were terribly persecuted back then; it was called the time of "Kakure Kirishitan", or Hidden Christians. Christians were forced to trample on the image of Jesus (called a fumie) or they were horribly tortured to death.
And the thread of torture and death hangs over every page, so this is a tough book to read. It bri ...more
And the thread of torture and death hangs over every page, so this is a tough book to read. It bri ...more

We are on our way.
We are on our way.
We are on our way to the temple of Paradise.
A wonderfully written historical fiction by Shusaku Endo and translated by William Johnson. This story was a great thread which sticks us on the text. Still, now I carry the characters of the story.

This story is about two missionaries (Frs. Sebastian Rodrigues and Garrpe) going to Japan for their mission. Their journey and the lives in the land of Japan makes the story vibrant and our hearts will be burning when we ...more
We are on our way.
We are on our way to the temple of Paradise.
A wonderfully written historical fiction by Shusaku Endo and translated by William Johnson. This story was a great thread which sticks us on the text. Still, now I carry the characters of the story.

This story is about two missionaries (Frs. Sebastian Rodrigues and Garrpe) going to Japan for their mission. Their journey and the lives in the land of Japan makes the story vibrant and our hearts will be burning when we ...more

Preamble
Jesuit priest Francisco Xavier called Japan “the light of my heart…the country in the Orient most suited for Christianity”.
Fact: Kakure or Japanese crypto-Christians, meeting in secret for 240 years…reciting a Japanese version of the “Hail Mary” and yet nobody knew what it meant for many years.
Estimate: 30,000 Kakure live today in Japan.
Chronology
1587- Hydeyoshi started the persecution of Christians.
1614-26 priests punished in Nagasaki.
1614-expulsion from Japan of all missionarie ...more
Jesuit priest Francisco Xavier called Japan “the light of my heart…the country in the Orient most suited for Christianity”.
Fact: Kakure or Japanese crypto-Christians, meeting in secret for 240 years…reciting a Japanese version of the “Hail Mary” and yet nobody knew what it meant for many years.
Estimate: 30,000 Kakure live today in Japan.
Chronology
1587- Hydeyoshi started the persecution of Christians.
1614-26 priests punished in Nagasaki.
1614-expulsion from Japan of all missionarie ...more

Set in the 17th century, a pair of Portuguese Catholic priests, Rodrigues and Garrpe, set off to the remote and mysterious island kingdom of Japan to spread Christianity and track down their mentor, Father Ferreira, who is rumoured to have committed apostasy (renounced his faith). But the Japanese government are not friendly to foreigners (this xenophobic attitude actually continues to this day!) and are particularly hostile to this new religion - is Ferreira simply dead and does a similar fate
...more

Endo addresses the question that so many ask - why does God stay silent in the face of human suffering? I was brought up in the church (of Scotland) and had a deep faith as a child but I started to question my faith in my late teens, eg the irrationality of believing in a supernatural being who watches and judges us throughout our lives; the irrationality of praying to or believing in a concept; that other world faiths have gods so there cannot be just one God, and to believe that there is and t
...more

Actual Rating: 2.5 Stars
Hm. Truly, I flickered between being super interested in this & falling asleep while reading it. I enjoy religious themes, especially when presented in conflict, but somehow this small book manages to feel long winded with dry patches throughout.
Read for BookTube-a-Thon 2018!
Challenge: Read a book & then watch the film adaption!
Hm. Truly, I flickered between being super interested in this & falling asleep while reading it. I enjoy religious themes, especially when presented in conflict, but somehow this small book manages to feel long winded with dry patches throughout.
Read for BookTube-a-Thon 2018!
Challenge: Read a book & then watch the film adaption!

Introduction, by Martin Scorsese
Historical Note
--Silence
Appendix: Diary of an officer at the Christian residence
Historical Note
--Silence
Appendix: Diary of an officer at the Christian residence

Excellent, possibly the best Catholic novel I've ever read. Everyone should read this though. It's not just a Catholic novel.
Going through a reread. ...more
Going through a reread. ...more

Set in 17th century Japan, this work of historical fiction tells the story of Sebastian Rodrigues, a devout Portuguese priest whose beliefs are tested to the breaking point. At this point in history, Christianity is being eradicated from Japan by leaders who see it as a threat. An earlier missionary-priest is rumored to have apostatized and Rodrigues hopes to find him. It is based on a real episode in history, but the specifics have been lost to time. Endō fills in a possible scenario and tells
...more

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it,
click here.

4.5 stars
This is an extremely powerful and deep exploration of faith. It takes place in 17th century Japan where Portuguese priests (missionaries) travel to minister to the Christian peasants. This was a time when Christians were hunted down and tortured and forced to renounce their beliefs. When one of the priests is given the choice to renounce to save Christians from being tortured he has to face his own beliefs and fears. This wasn't a fun book to read but I'm really glad I read it. I learne ...more
This is an extremely powerful and deep exploration of faith. It takes place in 17th century Japan where Portuguese priests (missionaries) travel to minister to the Christian peasants. This was a time when Christians were hunted down and tortured and forced to renounce their beliefs. When one of the priests is given the choice to renounce to save Christians from being tortured he has to face his own beliefs and fears. This wasn't a fun book to read but I'm really glad I read it. I learne ...more

Rating: 5🍌
Despite my interest in Japanese literature I had not tackled any of Shusaku Endo's works, and when I picked up SILENCE I was skeptical: the jacket copy described a story of a Portuguese priest struggling with his faith in 17th-century Japan as "gripping." I could not imagine how this could be true. Novels centered on religious faith are not my favorite genre; even the religion-heavy entries of Graham Greene's oeuvre -- which I consumed feverishly over the course of a few months about 1 ...more
Despite my interest in Japanese literature I had not tackled any of Shusaku Endo's works, and when I picked up SILENCE I was skeptical: the jacket copy described a story of a Portuguese priest struggling with his faith in 17th-century Japan as "gripping." I could not imagine how this could be true. Novels centered on religious faith are not my favorite genre; even the religion-heavy entries of Graham Greene's oeuvre -- which I consumed feverishly over the course of a few months about 1 ...more

Sebastian Rodruiges, a Portuguese priest, enters Japan secretly to administer to persecuted Christians. His mission is an abject failure and he is captured. Can he retain his faith in the most difficult circumstances, facing the torture of himself and other innocents?
There is also the shadowy figure of Father Ferreira, a former mentor who has been in Japan for twenty years, and who has renounced Christianity. The two men are brought together and Ferreira explains how and why he has lost his fait ...more
There is also the shadowy figure of Father Ferreira, a former mentor who has been in Japan for twenty years, and who has renounced Christianity. The two men are brought together and Ferreira explains how and why he has lost his fait ...more
topics | posts | views | last activity | |
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Play Book Tag: Silence by Shūsaku Endō - 4 stars | 3 | 14 | Dec 10, 2020 09:58AM | |
Goodreads Librari...: Silence by Endo cover and date | 3 | 15 | Oct 23, 2020 06:54PM | |
Reading 1001: Silence by Shūsaku Endō | 6 | 24 | Sep 27, 2020 04:05AM | |
Essays: Silence by Endo Shusaku (General Comments) | 7 | 11 | Mar 26, 2020 06:04PM | |
Fanatieke Nederla...:
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14 | 67 | Sep 12, 2018 01:48PM | |
Guardian Newspape...: Silence - July 2018 | 22 | 19 | Aug 30, 2018 02:30PM |
Shusaku Endo (遠藤周作), born in Tokyo in 1923, 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 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
...more
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“Sin, he reflected, is not what it is usually thought to be; it is not to steal and tell lies. Sin is for one man to walk brutally over the life of another and to be quite oblivious of the wounds he has left behind.”
—
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“Christ did not die for the good and beautiful. It is easy enough to die for the good and beautiful; the hard thing is to die for the miserable and corrupt.”
—
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