Deep River [Hardcover]

Shusaku Endo (Author), Van C. Gessel (Translator)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 17, 1995

The acclaimed author of Silence offers a religious vision combining Christian faith with Buddhist acceptance in the story of a group of Japanese tourists who converge at the Ganges River, in an India vividly brought to life.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Japanese novelist Endo combines a harsh critique of the emptiness in modern lives with a religious vision of spiritual rebirth.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Paperback edition.

From Library Journal

A trip to India becomes a journey of discovery for a group of Japanese tourists playing out their "individual dramas of the soul." Isobe searches for his reincarnated wife, while Kiguchi relives the wartime horror that ultimately saved his life. Alienated by middle age, Mitsuko follows Otsu, a failed priest, to the holy city of Varanas, hoping that the murky Ganges holds the secret to the "difference between being alive and truly living." Looking for absolutes, each character confronts instead the moral ambiguity of India's complex culture, in which good and evil are seen as a whole as indifferent to distinction as the Ganges River, which washes the living and transports the dead. This novel is a fascinating study of cultural truths revealed through a rich and varied cast. Endo, one of Japan's leading writers, (The Final Martyrs, LJ 9/1/94) skillfully depicts the small details of life, investing them with universal significance. Highly recommended.
Paul E. Hutchison, Bellefonte, Pa.
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 222 pages
• Publisher: New Directions Publishing Corporation (April 17, 1995)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0811212890
• ISBN-13: 978-0811212892
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.7 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (29 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #154,394 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

24 of 28 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Rejuvenating Spiritual Experience, May 25, 2001

By 

Xavier Thelakkatt (Dayton, MN United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Deep River (Paperback)

Reading this novel by Shusaku Endo was a great experience, a spiritual experience to be precise. It is like a pilgrimage to the holy river Ganges which Christians should consider pagan and unchristian. Besides, the filth, pollution and the unhygienic surroundings are all there. But there is a surrounding aura of love, peace and regeneration. Ganges, the Mother of India despite all filth, is a mother with plenitude and gentleness. This novel is the story of a group of Japanese tourists to India. The various characters are brought to light in the background of the teeming life and activity around Ganges in the city of Varanasi. Each character has a past that is heavy on the person. The river Ganges called 'the river of humanity' and 'the river of love' has a great depth of meaning for each one of them. It is indeed a deep river from which they all gain consolation, liberation and a new birth. The characters like Isobe, Kiguchi, Numanda, Mitsuko and Otsu vary in their backgrounds and interests. Most of them do not have much in common except for Mitsuko and Otsu. Each of them has a story and their lives do not cross much. The plot of the novel in this respect is most unusual. All of them converge on the banks of river Ganges in pursuit of rejuvenation.

India, where the ancient civilization flowered on the banks of the great river Indus, serves as the backdrop for the novel. Most of the events take place in Varanasi, on the banks of the river Ganges in the months of October-November 1984. The dark forests, the natural environment, the peaceful temples with their gods and godesses, the lively idols of Kali and Chamunda, the crowded city of Varanasi, the various river ghats of Ganges with all the droppings of dogs and cows and the filth, the cremation ground with the smell of burning flesh, the river itself with milky tea-colored water, and the dusty isolated villages with communal wells become very lively to the reader. The band of scrawny children crying out for Bakshish, the snake charmer with the cobra and the mongoose, the sadhoos and godmen giving blessings to the devotees, the wedding procession of the rich couple in the holy city are fit to create strong impressions in the mind. The political background of the time, such as the assassination of Indira Gandhi the prime minister and the subsequent riots in New Delhi, the funeral and the immersion of her ashes in the river Yamuna are clearly brought out. Endo has a deep knowledge of India, its people and their ways of thinking.

Shusaku Endo is known as the Graham Greene of the East. But, though his novels can be considered Catholic, they are controversial. His deep knowledge of Christianity in the West and in the East makes it easy for him to write very powerfully. His earlier novels dealt with problems of faith and God, of sin and betrayal, of martyrdom and apostacy in Japan. The present novel seems to focus mainly on the depth of the spirituality of the East which the western mind fails to comprehend. The pictures he paints of the gods and goddesses and the river are often disgusting and disturbing. It is these that offer consolation to the seminarian who is disappointed with the western Christianity, to the non believer like Mitsuko and to a host of others tormented by their own personal problems.

12 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Searching for Peace in an Expanded Horizon, August 18, 2004

By 

Randy Keehn (Williston, ND United States) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Deep River (Paperback)

This is a beautiful story of 5 people searching for the inner peace that has eluded them throughout much, if not all, of their lives. The cause of their inner turmoil comes from a variety of sources but their emptiness and incompleteness is very real. Shusaku Endo introduces us to each of them seperately and then has them all, for seperate reasons, journey to India. They are in a guided tour that will supposedly show them a number of Buddhist shrines and historical sites. Their trip leads them to the Ganges River where they initially off at and then are all drawn to its' sacredness. The author gives us a serene glimpse of a sort of peace descending upon the 5 pilgrims. It may not be the peace they sought or would recognize, but it seems to be the peace they needed.

Shusaku Endo is a Japanese Christian who writes challengely about his own faith. To me, the core of his message in "Deep River" is the universal nature of faith and the universal nature of God. He exists for all of us but we come to know Him through the religion of our culture. Thus the Hindus, Christians, Moslems, Buddhists, etc are all seeking the same ultimate oneness with God (i.e.; peace) but they are each traveling different paths outlined through them in a theology passed along through the millennia. To illustrate his point, Endu shows us the five seperate tales of redemption and has them all come to salvation at a Hindu holy site. God DOES work in mysterious ways.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars This story becomes a journey into the soul of the reader., May 30, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Deep River (Hardcover)

Endo takes leads you into to the lives and hearts of 5 Japanese tourists. Their journeys will amaze and intrigue you, and when you come out on the other side, you will realize that he has led you on a journey through your own soul; a masterpiece. Prerequisite: SILENCE