Silence

I've heard good things about Shusaku Endo's writing and have wanted to read one of his books for some time. The opportunity came when I was invited to attend a book group that was reading David Mitchell's The Thousand Autumns of Jacob DeZoet and Endo's novel Silence, under the general theme of life during the Edo period. It is the story of seventeenth century Portuguese priests who are smuggled into Japan to promote christianity despite the official ban and persecution of christians that had been taking place at the time (it is based on true events). It was championed by Graham Greene and calls to mind his novel about persecuted Catholics in Mexico-The Power And The Glory. The mood of dread and foreboding is heightened by the fact that the story is set in the rainy season. These religious problem novels aways seem have the opposite effect from which tye were written-further strengthen faith in a god that doesn't participate in day to day life. It is also good description of what this era was like for the persecuted.There is a film version by director Masahiro Shindo (1971) in which the only English subtitled version is a region 2 English edition. It has been rumored that Martin Scorcese is planning to film a version of the story with Daniel Day Lewis and Benecio DelTorro.