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A review by rainpunk
Silence by Shūsaku Endō
4.0
Heartbreaking and beautiful. Scorsese's adaptation is the best book-to-film adaptation I've ever encountered, so you won't get much more from reading this than you will from watching the movie. But the book is still well worth your time.
Although it's about a Christian's experience, you don't need any Christian background to empathize with the difficult plight of the Jesuit Priest and the hidden Christians he interacts with. The story is about the pains of reconciling part of your core identity when faced with extreme opposition and hardship. I know the author Shusaku Endo was Catholic, but the book does not preach about what Truth is. If anything, the book skirts around a lot of deep discussion of Truth, and is much more about inclined to discuss the division between internal beliefs and external actions. Religion is treated equal parts a belief system and equal parts a practice, and anthropologically it is absolutely a tool of trade and dominance.
Although it's about a Christian's experience, you don't need any Christian background to empathize with the difficult plight of the Jesuit Priest and the hidden Christians he interacts with. The story is about the pains of reconciling part of your core identity when faced with extreme opposition and hardship. I know the author Shusaku Endo was Catholic, but the book does not preach about what Truth is. If anything, the book skirts around a lot of deep discussion of Truth, and is much more about inclined to discuss the division between internal beliefs and external actions. Religion is treated equal parts a belief system and equal parts a practice, and anthropologically it is absolutely a tool of trade and dominance.