Deep River

By: Shusaku Endo

Narrated by: David Holt

Length: 8 hrs and 37 mins

Publisher's summary

The story traces the journey of four Japanese tourists on tour in India. Each goes to India for different purposes and with different expectations. Set against the backdrop of Prime Minister Indira Gandhi’s assassination, each traveler finds his or her own spiritual discovery on the banks of the Ganges River.

©1993 Shusaku Endo (P)2009 Audible Ltd

Critic reviews

"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....Endo, one of Japan's leading writers, skillfully depicts the small details of life, investing them with universal significance." ( Library Journal)

Too many stories

Bought this book because I enjoyed Samurai and Silence. This one follows a different format and I preferred the other books. Also, the book has too many characters and their stories felt unfinished in my opinion.

An Awesome Read!

Where does Deep River rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

One of the top 5 books!

What was one of the most memorable moments of Deep River?

The ending! (I don't want to ruin it for you!!)

Which scene was your favorite?

At the Ganges River in Varanasi.

If you could rename Deep River, what would you call it?

N / A

Any additional comments?

This is an awesome book! I hope that they make it into a movie! What a great writer!!

facinating

its impossible to review this without my personal biases but anyone will find the story very moving and beautiful and facinating to see hinduism buddhism and catholicism through the eyes of a group of japanese tourists. though if you are japanese I have no clue if you would like this or not

A Compelling Read...

The tale of four travelers in search of meaning and truth travel to the Indian Ganges. Endo gives us characters to think about and feel for deeply, each suffering his or her own inner turmoil, trying to find resolution in spiritual quest.

ending is tough

Lovely story and thought provoking but the ending was a bit of a let down for me personally.

Powerful themes somewhat clumsily treated

The author's devotional motivation sometimes makes his prose feel clunky, repetitive, ham handed. But the stories of these protagonists making meaning in the midst of many kinds of suffering, are truly moving.

Deepest Endo novel I’ve encountered.

I feel like there is a lot going on underneath the surface of Deep River. I feel like literarily. this might be Endo‘s best novel. But I did not enjoy it as much as other Endo novels that I have read in the past.

I feel like Silence and The Samurai will probably stick with me longer. But only time will tell.

Drags a bit in the middle, but worth it

I picked up Deep River on sale from Audible a while ago but it did not listen to it up until Beauty and Silence by Makoto Fujimura was about to be released (reading Beauty and Silence now).

Even though I read Endo’s more well known Silence over two years ago, it is a book I still frequently think about. I wanted another book to give more context to Endo’s work because Beauty and Silence is largely based on Fujimura’s interaction with Endo. There are only three of Endo’s books available as audiobooks and only 3 other books available on kindle. Late 20th century authors often did not negotiate digital book rights and their estates seem to be slow to re-negotiate. I am hoping that the Martin Scorsese movie of Silence (expected to release in Nov) will bring out new editions of all of Endo’s books.

Deep River is not an easy book to describe. There are four interconnected story lines. The reader gets a brief introduction to the India tour before the separate back stories. I was bogged down about a quarter of the way through the book and set it aside for about six weeks before returning to it. The initial background stories are full of hard to like people. This is part of the set up for what might be transition and growth later in the book, but I really do not like reading about unlikable people.

These are four very different stories. One disconnected ‘modern’ Japanese woman that is happy to take advantage of sex starved men. One man the other end of life who has missed much of his life until his wife dies and he realizes what is gone. One veteran of WWII that is still suffering the effects of war (this is set in the 1980s). And a final man who’s sickness has left him isolated and lonely.

Once the background is completed and we return to the India tour I was fascinated. A subtext of the book is the multi-religious nature of the world. Different characters are Christian, Atheist/Agnostic, Buddhist, Hindu and none. It is easy to read Deep River as a universalistic call to see all religions as a similar path to enlightenment, but I think that is too flat of a reading.

What might be most challenging for Christians is the Christian Otsu. He is not one of the main four characters, but a fifth character that we only really see from the outside except right at the end. Otis attempts to be a Catholic priest, but has been influenced by eastern ideas and is prevented from becoming a priest because of what is perceived as pantheist tendencies. Otsu is trying to work through his understanding of his Christian faith as enculturated within an eastern worldview.

There is certainly more than a hint of universalism and pantheism. But there is also a significant critique of Western Christianity as being too structured and resistant to eastern concepts. There is also a real critique of ‘modern’ Japan’s distraction from the more important things in life.

I do not think this is a great book. There are interesting and challenging ideas here. There is real hints of greatness in the writing. However, some of the characters seemed too one dimensional and there seemed to be too many characters to allow for their full development.

But I also do not think this is a book of heresy as some Christians have suggested. This is a book that I think will take a second reading to get to some of the more subtle points.

A compelling listen - a real thinker

This isn't my first Shusaku Endo book, and it won't be my last. The book starts with chapters that could be short stories in and of themselves. The main characters are all Japanese. Endo brings most of them to India on a tour. There's a lot about religions in this book. Endo was Roman Catholic, living in a mostly Buddhist country. When they travel to India they tour many religious places.

Parts of this book are sad. There's talk of death and the afterlife. The writing transcends all that. It is beautifully written and profound.

I'll stop there. I'm listening through the alphabet, partly to try to get to some books that have been in my library for a while.

I loved the narration as well. It suited the book.