Silence Once Begun: A Novel (Vintage Contemporaries)

Excellent book with a truly unique plot structure. Even months after finishing it, I still think about it. The ending is a real surprise!

This is my second Jesse Ball novel, and once again I find myself feeling an immense sense of intellectual fulfillment upon reading it. The story is about a man named Oda Sotatsu who confesses to a mysterious crime known as the Narito Disappearances, and then refuses to speak to interrogators, lawyers, family members or anyone else following his arrest. The narrative plays out as a series of interviews between a curious journalist and individuals from Sotatsu’s life who may have some insight into what exactly happened. Lyrical and haunting, Ball’s prose is the kind that you want to read carefully to absorb every single word. He manages to create an eerie, melancholy tone in the first few pages that carries over throughout the rest of the book. And the mystery at the heart of it all is consistently engaging; never dull or frustrating. Clearly influenced by Camus and Kafka, Silence Once Begun is a somber, absurd, nihilistic story that critiques the nature of confession and the role that public perception inevitably plays in determining one’s guilt or innocence.

Jesse Ball (born June 7, 1978) is an American poet and novelist. He has published novels, volumes of poetry, short prose, and drawings. His works are distinguished by the use of a spare style. Previous novels include “The Curfew”, “The Way Through Doors” and “Samedi the Deafness”. “Silence Once Begun” undoubtedly tells a strange tale. Like many young people even today, Sato Kakuzo was an idealist, who viewed the notion of “justice”, at least in the legal sense, as wholly inadequate because of its failure to secure the truth. In his quest to prove the point Kakuzo engages Oda Sotatsu in a game of chance which invariably Oda loses. As a consequence of his loss, Oda is sworn to silence about the contents of his signed false confession that Kakuzo put before him. The tragedy is twofold: first Oda Sotatsu gives up his freedom and ultimately his life for no consequence; and secondly, Sato Kakuzo finds despair in that his plan, while successful, yielded no significant conclusion – it being wholly forgotten along with him and Sotatsu. There is more to the writing than the summary that I have laid out. There is a considerable amount of philosophical expression devoted to each of the different participants in the story. Each plies his own layer of wisdom, sometimes faulty, and it assembles around the individualism of the participant’s life knowledge. In conclusion, I found the novel to be only somewhat to my liking. It was strange in its construction and particularly confounding in its moral depth. The latter providing some incredulity as to the actions committed by the players – but of course, this is after all, the heart of the work. If nothing more, the novel is short and can be read rather quickly so I am suggesting that you might like to add it to your reading list.

Unusual moving story

A novel with a difference, storytelling that is not quite a tale, rather it is a challenging exceptionally clear reportage in lucid prose. The reader is challenged in a Kafkaesque way to interpret why the main character, Oda Sotatsu, dies for a crime he did not commit. Interspersed with the story is the authors suffering, propelling him to seek reasons. Complicated truth abounds and it is the WHY that must be answered. A sophisticated look at identity, the family, and memory.

I think I might be an outlier on my feelings about this book. While I appreciate the structure and style of this novel I have a thing about gimmicks. The gimmick here is that journalist “Jesse Ball” is obsessed with the “true story” of Oda Sotatsu. So I’m irritated right off the bat – what’s true? What’s imagined? Is this historical fiction or straight up fiction? That being said, the writing is quite lovely in this novel and the structure is unique. Told (mostly) in a series of interviews with people connected with Sotatsu, it felt a little like Solomon the Peacemaker (which you almost definitely have not read, but totally should). Outside the gimmick the story itself is compelling enough until you get to the end. Here I’m going to put a big fat… Kind of Spoiler Alert I’m sorry kids, but the ending was flat out lifted from that awful Kevin Spacey movie The Life of David Gale, or maybe David Gale‘s ending was lifted from the maybe real-life occurrences outlined in Ball’s novel – either way – all I could think of was that movie. Unfortunately the motivation and execution of the characters in the movie were a lot more plausible than that of those in Ball’s novel.

Thought-provoking, and executed very well. I thoroughly enjoyed it, and look forward to other books by this author. Excellent work.

I find his prose electrifying. What is said and what is unsaid see-saws in the mind of the reader. The end though is disappointing.

This novel broke my heart. Which is really not that easy to break, because I was brought up on classic Russian literature - Chekhov, Dostoevsky, and stuff :) Jesse Ball has a very unique voice - calm, yet very powerful. I couldn't believe this book was written by non-Japanese person - the style is so authentic and subtle, so quintessentially Asian. I will never forget this book.

Decent read

the actual story is an interesting one but it is let down by how the author presents it to the reader. All of the book is broken up into very small sections which hurt the flow of the story. Some parts of the book are extremely abstract and just do not fit and other parts are like you're reading an instruction manual. I wouldnt recommend this book