![]() Jacob's faith is intensely personal: he's much more devout than his fellow countrymen, but keeps his faith secret and hidden as he balances his responsibilities as a company employee, as a Dutchman, and as a Christian. Religion was also an important theme in that novel, although it plays a very different role. That last bit was a really cool tie-in to The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet I'd thought of that book at the start of this one, realized that this one was set earlier, and was pleased to see a strong link at the end. The novel ends with a more detached historical section, in the form of log entries from Dutch traders living on Dejima. We see even more of Rodriguez's struggle and sympathy as he is forced to make difficult choices. Later, after the priest stops writing, we shift into a long portion with third-person attached narration. We see events through Rodriguez's reports as he recounts their journey and the reception they find there. After several generations of open tolerance, Japan's leaders have imposed a brutal crackdown against Christianity, forbidding any practice of the religion and expelling all Europeans from the country. It opens with a series of letters written from the Portuguese priest Rodriguez to his superiors back in Europe as he embarks on a secret missionary trip to Japan. ![]() Endo gets at this in a variety of ways through the book.
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