Wonderful Fool (Peter Owen Modern Classic)

Wonderful Fool is a remarkable parable of a simple man who suddenly appears in the lives of a brother and sister who are residents of Tokyo . Gaston Bonaparte , a physically large simplistic and seemingly naive visitor , wanders the city befriending prostitutes, a stray dog, a fortune teller and ultimately a dangerous gangster. Regardless of how he gets treated he responds with an almost inhuman level of kindness and concern for all. Endo has written a parable of an almost Christlike figure who stands out not only for his physical difference but for his capacity to absorb mistreatment and pain without harboring resentment. This is a beautiful short novel that has many elements to recommend it not the least of which is the cross section of Tokyo society that is encountered as the story unfolds.

Came in prestine condition. Bought it for a class but it's very entertaining and endearing. Characters are likable and I want to read to the end to find out why Gaston went to Japan for his "quest."

I read this book because it was assigned at our book club by the facilitator. I thought it was a little "odd", and the "wonderful fool" character was somewhat unbelievable. If he was that "unconscious" how did he navigate the world, and the trip from France to Japan?

Super book. We all have a calling. Love conquers all.

This story has Endo’s usual clash of cultures and values, with a more humorous treatment than usual. There is also a more obvious religious message than in the more famous novels. The main character is the personification of a good Christian who never judges and only helps. This contrasts with the materialism and bitterness of others.The ‘Wonderful Fool’ of the title is Gaston, a mysterious Frenchman who confuses and frustrates many of the Japanese he meets. They presume he is a fool because there is nothing calculating about him and all he wants to do is help people. There is a mythical quality about Gaston which Endo uses to show up the imperfections of Japanese society he saw at that time. That all the flawed characters are Japanese and the saint like figure is foreign shows Endo’s ambivalence to his own country.The thriller element keeps the reader’s attention and the evocation of Tokyo in the 1950s creates a fascinating atmosphere. Sensei shows his sense of humour and also makes his point. The Rider Song

There were probably some parts of the story that seemed a little too far-fetched to give it a "5". But I enjoyed it as I have other books of Endo. There are so many different ways to look at his works and he keeps one thinking and guessing. (I would like to give it a "5")

I just finished Wonderful Fool by Shusaku Endo, the fifth novel I have read by him. Like the others, this one was outstanding. He wrote very skillfully and deeply perceptively about human nature. Endo always chooses topics, it seems, which are uncomfortable, which draw up against the reader's "flesh" or that part of them that is worldly and selfish at the expense of others' wellbeing. (As a Japanese too he chooses topics which are particularly unflattering for the Japanese people like the crucifixtions of Portugese missionaries in Silence, the experimentation on POWs in The Sea and Poison, and the pornography industry and sex trade in Scandal. In Wonderful Fool his readers see some of the gangs, spend time with the prostitutes, and go around the slums of Tokyo with a hitman, but all as seen from a holy heart of love, it seems clear to me. Endo is not content to remain on the surface of things- his art is nobler than that and his love more burning than that. He brings his reader with him to touch the nerves that run so deep they cross beyond his cultural moment to the universal heart of mankind.His characters always act from weakness and sorrow and struggle and failure. Gaston, the socially inept, the ugly, the slow-minded, reaching out to Japan with the most powerful thing in the world, love, but covered in a ball of rags.Like Scandal this novel contained characters deeply effected by warcrimes that those close to them had participated in. The hitman Endo (Endo likes to make the criminal characters reflect identity with him in some way in some of his novels, naming the hitman Endo or making the main character of Scandal a Christian writer, like Endo, of a Life of Christ.) turns to a life of hatred and coldblooded murder when faced with his brother's having carried out orders to burn the occupants of a village and the brother's subsequent framing by his commanding officers. Gaston persistantly, doggedly, beyond all civil tepid-ity, urges Endo from a position of weakness not to go through with his plot of revenge on the officers. Gaston, despite his outer weakness and failure, is a real man, as the character Takamori discerns, because he takes a stand for the right thing despite his weaknesses that he could have so easily taken as excuses not to do what he should. It is integrity to the gospel that Endo has witnessed, bears witness to, keeps within himself. The "fool" is wonderful for this integrity, this sacred obedience, this longsuffering love, which endures blows and persecutions by the ones he is trieing to help, and which has takes the courage to recognize that he can and must help, that he must, despite all his weakness and absurdity in the eyes of the world, come to Japan for love. Hallelujah!Endo ends by tieing Gaston's mysterious end into the early Japanese story, "The Tale of the Bamboo Cutter."

This book held my interest throughout, though I was a little unclear on the Frenchman's background and his fate at the end. There were amusing incidents as well as sad ones as he struggled to live within the Japanese society, with his hosts, a brother and sister, nicely complementing him and each other as characters. It was realistic most of the way as long as you accepted the possibility of such a well-meaning but clueless (yet essentially good) person as the Frenchman. I'd recommend this book as enjoyable literature.

A quaint, slightly old-fashioned work. Endo explores the cultural chasm between Japan and the West, but aims also to explore saintliness, and the problems of awkwardness personified. There are many moments which work well, where Endo shows shrewd understanding of the Japanese capacity to leap to misjudgment as quickly as those in the West might leap to judge Japan. There is humour, but of the kind which makes the reader squirm slightly at his or her own awkwardness; there is violence, unsurprising but shocking nonetheless; and there is, of course the somewhat clumsy symbolism of the Christlike figure at the heart of the work. Wonderful fool? Too much the fool, and too little Wonder.I have no Japanese, but have read a fair amount of Japlit in translation. The passionate enthusiasm of the translator for his task comes through, but some dire errors (such as the reference to the French comedian from Marseilles, Fernandel, as being from Mexico - a problem of the ideogram, I suspect) make one edgy. Could the odd tone of the work be something to do with the translator's limitations also?Endo is a hugely important writer, whose skills enable him to evaluate culture more effectively than most, but this work falls short of the sublime Scandal for example.

This story has Endo’s usual clash of cultures and values, with a more humorous treatment than usual. There is also a more obvious religious message than in the more famous novels. The main character is the personification of a good Christian who never judges and only helps. This contrasts with the materialism and bitterness of others.The ‘Wonderful Fool’ of the title is Gaston, a mysterious Frenchman who confuses and frustrates many of the Japanese he meets. They presume he is a fool because there is nothing calculating about him and all he wants to do is help people. There is a mythical quality about Gaston which Endo uses to show up the imperfections of Japanese society he saw at that time. That all the flawed characters are Japanese and the saint like figure is foreign shows Endo’s ambivalence to his own country.The thriller element keeps the reader’s attention and the evocation of Tokyo in the 1950s creates a fascinating atmosphere. Sensei shows his sense of humour and also makes his point. The Rider SongThe Rider Song

I was brought to this book having read 'Deep River'. It doesn't quite match up to the later novel, but in itself it's a joy to read. I read it just as Russia was invading Ukraine, in need of hope, and found some hope here. I really recommend this book.

I chose this rating because I found the book so moving. The pictures of life in Japan seemed really true to life, and the storyline itself not at all far-fetched - and with a message about the falsity of our modern materialistic lifestyle.

Well written novel. Pure enjoyment