A review by breeperscreepers
When I Whistle by Shūsaku Endō

reflective sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

I was hoping this would be like Sea and Poison, and in a few ways it was but in many ways it was worse. The hospital takes a backseat to an old man's memories of his boyhood, and his sons ambition as a doctor. While the old man was endearing, I found his memories boring and almost pointless, they're all about his school friend pursuing his crush to the point of absurdity. Didn't really care about the deeper message behind that storyline. The son was simply repulsive. He seems to detest everything about his life (especially his father) and uses everyone badly, all to climb a social ladder that he could probably climb anyway without being a whiny, selfish, arrogant POS. The writing was good but the story and characters fell somewhat short for me.