"The Samurai" by Shusaku Endo ****

• Part of the year long author read on LibraryThing.com
• Japanese author
• Originally published 1980
• Quotes:
• p.24..."These people are like ants.  They will try anything!  When ants are faced with a puddle of water, some of their number will sacrifice their own lives to form a bridge for their comrades.  The Japanese were a swarm of black ants with those very instincts."
• p.26...Once again the image of a great swarm of black ants crossing a puddle of water in search of food flashed before his eyes.  In pursuit of profits from trade with Nueva Espana, the Japanese were at last on the verge of crossing the Pacific like black ants.  The missionary sensed that he could use their greed to benefit the missionary cause."
• p.43..."He tried to persuade himself that his dream of becoming Bishop was not the product of worldly ambition.....".   The Japanese sacrifice themselves, while the ambitious sacrifice others.
• p.46...."But the peasants looked up with dull eyes that exp0ressed neither excitement nor surprise.  They were like old dogs who regarded all the affairs of men with apathy."
• Review:   This is the fourth novel by Shusaku Endo which I have read as part of a year long read of his works by a group of readers on LibraryThing.com. 
  
  I have now started this review three times because I am not quite sure what to say.  This story is another effort on Endo's part to illuminate the failure of Christianity to take hold in Japan.  It is the story of a samurai who remains faithful to his mission to the death.  It is the story of a priest who remains faithful to his mission to the death.  It is the story of their disillusionment with their leaders.  It is the story of the search for a way of life which will allow a person to live a life of integrity and honor and compassion.  It is, in the end, a story of trying to maintain faith in the face of duplicity and abuse practiced by governing groups to obtain their own ends at all costs.  Ultimately, I believe this is a story about each person's personal journey to find something to believe in beyond themselves.  The writing is powerful and the imagery is outstanding.  I do not think I have come across an author such as Endo before, who repeats the same theme so deliberately across very different story lines.  He was, himself, a man obsessed with a theme.