Scandal

Shusaku Endo has been called the Japanese Graham Greene, I'm not sure he can live up to those standards, but there are some commonalities between the authors. And that mostly has to do with religious themes. to be honest I found Endo's best known work Silence to be some what portentous-Greene wrote thrillers, or what he called entertainments, to pay for his serious meditations on life that were less financially successful. That being said, Scandal (1986), may not be an exotic thriller, but is quite successful as a writer's grappling with the darker sides of the individual-and in this case a Christian writer of literature in Japan. The doppelganger theme has been dealt with by many writers throughout the ages, and this one deals with Endo focusing on the deeper darker sexual urges of humans. The story takes place in Tokyo in the 80s, specifically in the red light district of Shinjuku, Kabukicho, as well as in nearby districts such as Harajuku, Omotesando, and the writer's office in Yoyogi. The book also has an informative introduction from critic Damian Flanagan that provides some insight into the themes and context of the novel in Endo's career.