When Japan outlaws Christianity in the sixteen hundreds, a few Portuguese Jesuit priests try to sneak into the country to investigate the fate of their teacher, as well as continue to spread their religion. The book is written in large part as a collection of letters from one of these priests, and we get to follow him during his treacherous journey. I would recommend Silence to you who enjoy slow books, religious arguments, and preferably are knowledgeable of Jesus' journey in the Bible.

I started reading this book at a fortunate time, as I the night before had discussed religion, and primarily the definition of religion, with my friend. So, I found it rather interesting to see how the characters in the book approached Christianity, as I felt it betrayed the perceptions of the Catholic Japanese author. I also think this book could be especially interesting to Christians, at it challenges what it means to be Christian, and also makes a lot of references to the Bible.

However, I grew a bit weary of the book. The main character is repeatedly challenged on his religion by various Japanese, and although the arguments are mildly interesting, I feel that the main character's winning arguments could easily be rebuffed in reality. I would have liked more nuanced and critical discussions, rather than his opponents just scoffing after a while and giving up.

One thing which disturbed me was how repelled the priests were to realize that the converted Japanese did not view God in the exact same way as the priests did. The thing of utmost importance was not their ethics or actions, but rather their internalization of God. It felt as if this was also the authors opinion. Finally, I enjoyed the final message in the book about what is the most important in Christianity, even if I don't agree with many of the other messages.