Vaitiolo (1966)

Deeply thought-provoking -- it seems deceptively simple, but I often found myself thinking about this even when I wasn't reading it. Not light reading by any means, but worth your time, especially considering how much is packed into its trim size. ( )

I finished Silence today and honestly, I don’t know quite what to think. I’m not sure I’m wowed or blown away with this novel. I did find it interesting but I was so detached from the action and the characters that I don’t feel moved. I think that I should be moved. What did Scorsese read in this novel that I missed? Is it perhaps because I am not Catholic? It is a universal novel and definitely doesn’t have to be read or comprehended by people of a certain religion.
I read this because after seeing the trailers for this movie I was very intrigued but didn’t think I could sit through 2 hours of torture scenes. The book is not filled with torture scenes. The book is primarily psychological and takes place in the mind of the priest, Father Rodrigues. I was very curious to see what he would do and feel at the end of the book.
I read the foreword by Scorsese and the preface by the translator after I had finished the novel. I had assumed the book was based upon historical incidents and it was. It was in the preface that I found out that Endo was Catholic and he wrestled with the dichotomy of being both Japanese and Roman Catholic. Endo had talked about the swamp that was Japan and why it was so hard for a foreign religion to take root.
My feelings as I read the book were one of sadness for the priests and the Christians but a detachment from their plight. That may have been because I am reading in English what was originally written in Japanese. This book was really showcasing a “damned if you do, damned if you don’t” scenario. As far as the matter of faith and belief, Endo does not present clear answers; instead, he asks questions in the form of his narration. The outcome is realistic. Unfortunately, I wasn’t deeply moved by the plight of the priest and the Christians. I would have liked to have had some Japanese characters (or some Portuguese characters for that matter) that I could empathize with but instead I ended up with Kichijiro. I felt that maybe the Europeans should leave Japan. Maybe I just didn’t understand.
( )

good story, helped foster some of my religious views. ( )

Aside from some regrettable technical clunkers (how could Rodrigues know the things he writes about in his letters), this is surprisingly not over-rated. ( )

Nagyon érdekes nézőpontot világít meg a regény – még mindenképpen a film megnézése előtt szerettem volna elolvasni…
Vallások ütközése, hittérítés, a legszegényebb rétegek élete, küzdelmes mindennapjai – sok sorsot megelevenít az európai olvasó számára – a krisztusi életutat is felidézve.
Az elmélyülést néhol bosszantóan szakítják meg a gépelési hibák (betűcserék és betűkihagyások)! ( )