The Silent Cry

Es difícil encontrar un libro con un análisis de la identidad de los personajes centrales desde perspectivas partiendo de las psicológicas, continuando con la constitución pulsional elemental y finalmente de nuestra historia familiar, un libro profundo que nos hace cuestionar la vida, con párrafos como :“Everyone has to die. And in a hundred years nobody’s going to inquire just how most people died. The best thing is to do it in the way that takes your fancy most.”“One midwinter in my childhood, after a night of that voice whose presence was so intensely experienced though never heard”

It's an excellent book by a Japanese author. The way author tells the story giving analogies was just beautiful. He used variety of analogies, and it seemed to me that he had lived and experienced each one of them. I strongly recommend this book.

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When the author (b. 1935, he is 86 in 2021) won the Nobel Prize in 1994, the Nobel committee cited this novel in particular as one reason for the award.The novel tells the story of two brothers in Japan in the early 1960s. The older brother is a married part-time English professor but has a dying relationship with his wife, in large part because of the tragedy of having a son born with severe brain damage; the boy is institutionalized. The younger brother is a free spirit, having just returned from the USA where he led student demonstrations.The younger brother seems to be a natural leader and has ‘followers’ or I guess these days we might call them ‘groupies’ – several young men and a young woman. Now that both of their parents have died, the two brothers return to their rural family homestead to dispose of the property.They seem haunted by their ancestors, in particular a great-grandfather and a great-uncle and each brother feels that they are like an ancestor in personality. They argue about what they recall or what they heard of these ancestors and what their personalities were like and, of course, they are arguing about their own personalities and how their worldviews differ. Neither brother actually is employed so they have free time on their hands.The younger brother’s idol, the great-uncle led a peasant revolt in the 1860’s. The older brother’s idol was a large landowner, the wealthiest man in the village, so that gives them a lot to argue about in terms of distinctions of class, wealth and politics. The groupies of the younger brother think the older brother is basically a capitalist ‘rat.’Other crises thicken the plot. The older brother’s best and only friend just committed suicide in a bizarre, almost ritualistic fashion. (I think the book’s title, Silent Cry, refers to suicide.) Not good for the older brother since he thinks often of suicide. His wife has become an alcoholic. She starts to go over to the other side, becoming more like one of the younger brother’s groupies, supporting a modern-day ‘peasant revolt’ he is trying to lead – basically a boycott of the big local Korean-owned chain grocery store. The brothers’ former nanny lives as caretaker of their deceased family property. She’s notorious from newspapers articles claiming she is “the fattest woman in Japan.” What are they to do with her and her family if they sell the house and evict her?The brothers are also haunted by more recent ghosts – an older brother mysteriously killed years ago in the village and a younger sister who committed suicide.In one scene the main character crawls down into a well-like pit being dug to repair the sewage system on his property and he sits there all day to mediate. (Shades of Murakami? Lol.)Another interesting sidenote that I found fascinating relates to a real historical character mentioned several times in the book – John Manjiro. I grew up in New Bedford, Massachusetts, the whaling capital of the world in the 1800’s. I read some of the several books that have been written about Manjiro (when not reading Moby Dick, lol). As a young boy in the 1840’s, Manjiro had been shipwrecked, picked up by a whaler out of New Bedford, and ended up being schooled in the US. He later became an important person in the “opening up” of Japan to foreign influence.This is the third novel I have read by this author and it is the best. Second, I liked A Personal Matter. Death by Water was ok but I thought a bit repetitive. In all three books the main character is a professor or writer and he has son with brain damage, as does the author.

One of the best books I have ever read. In a way it spoiled me for subsequent novel-reading, because nothing could come close to its beauty and depth. I understand why he was awarded the Nobel Prize.

I've thought long and hard about what to say concerning this modern Japanese novel. I ought to have loved it or at least admired it because it was written by a prominent Nobel prize winner, praised by many. However, the book left me ambivalent. I cared not for the writing, which seemed to me to be a stream of consciousness with no purpose. I cared not for the story nor the characters. I probably "missed" the entire point of the novel although there are some simplistic themes: are the old days really better than modern day? can one really go home again? My question: will this book ever end? After 394 pages, it did; wrapped up in a tiny neat little package like 75% of other novels. 394 pages

This is a MUST READ for anyone dealing with aging parents or for caregivers of any kind! Using personal experience the author does an excellent job of telling it like it is. While revealing honest and sometimes painful emotions regarding this subject, she brings to light many facts that one would never think about when dealing with elder care or caregiving of any kind. Thanks you Judy for your honesty and very informative message!

By far my favorite Japanese novel. Oe has a very powerful voice, his characters breath an unbreathable air, say unspeakable things and outlive death and suffering with complete indifference. Beautiful.