WHEN I WHISTLE BY SHUSAKU ENDO

There are really two stories in WHEN I WHISTLE by Shusaku Endo that converge about halfway through the book….One involves Ozu, a middle-aged businessman of minimal success, whose chance encounter on a train reminds him of a friend from high school named Flatfish and the details of their friendship as well as a girl Flatfish had a crush on named Aiko in the days leading up to Pearl Harbor and the beginning of World War II ….Their story is told is told in flashback.

The other story is about Ozu’s son Eichi who has recently completed medical school and is working as a junior level doctor in a hospital….Intensely ambitious, he resents his father’s inferior societal status as his rival comes from a wealthy family and is able to climb the hospital management structure because of connections.

The point of intersection is when Eichi is asked to try new cancer medications on a patient without telling the patient or getting an informed consent….The patient is an older woman whom Ozu recognizes as Aiko when he is visiting his son in the hospital.

This is a beautifully written book and something I find very unique from a writing perspective is Endo shifts styles when writing the two converging storylines….The part about his teenage friendship with Flatfish is written in more of a wistful, nostalgic, sad voice whereas the modern storyline involving Eichi is told in a straightforward no nonsense manner.

I also like how Ozu’s part of the story has a clear ending like a more traditional narrative whereas Eichi’s story ends with conclusion of one problem but no resolution for the character’s future only his continued clawing his way to the top which involves him attempting to marry the chief doctor’s daughter.

Reading into this a little deeper, Ozu seems to represent the old Japan of manners and customs that is fading away quickly whereas Eichi represents the modern Japan modeled on the United States where it’s dog eat dog….The illegal experimentation subplot perhaps mirrors Japanese WWII war crimes and shows how a certain type of thinking still exists there.

A nice start to reading Shusaku Endo….He was often called the Japanese Graham Greene due to his Catholicism….He is much more modern less caught up in existentialist fate and celebration of death than other Japanese writers….I look forward to reading other books by him.