Peter was a great disciple of Jesus in the Bible, loyal and reliable, and he had always been deeply favored by Jesus, but the night before Jesus' crucifixion, he said to Peter sadly, "Before the chicken crows, you will turn your face three times and deny me." Finally, as Prophesied, Peter finally betrayed Jesus in order to escape his passion.
Miyuki Miyuki Miyabe's latest speculative work, "The Funeral of St. Peter", uses Peter's story as a metaphor to explore with the reader the choice of choosing to escape and bravely face the same dilemma as Peter. The novel has been praised by many Japanese critics, earning the title "This mystery novel is amazing!" "7th place. After reading this book, I was also amazed by Aunt Gong's delicate narration and dedication to the work, and I can't wait to share it with you.
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The story begins with a bus hijacking case, watching a good-looking old man raise a gun at 7 people on a bus. Everyone thought that the old man needed money to plan this kidnapping, but the old man's final request to the police was only to find 3 people, and in the process of confronting the police, the old man let go of some passengers and promised other passengers, and after the matter was over, they could get a compensation. In the end, the old man could not wait for the 3 people he was looking for, the other passengers were rescued by the police, and just when everyone thought that the matter was over, all the abducted people received different amounts of compensation, and the story began at this time.
The entire book is narrated in the first person by Saburo Sugimura, one of the kidnapped passengers, and the main line of the story and the background of the occurrence are also based on the experiences of this character. In my opinion, the whole novel mainly expresses 2 questions, one is the harm of fraud to society and the harm to the person's own life, and the other is if you are in a dilemma, do you have the courage to take responsibility and face a bad future? I will share with you my personal insights from this book on these two issues through the following.
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<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="8" >1. The horror of scams is that they turn the victim into perpetrators</h1>
In some cases, fraud is more abhorrent than other crimes, because the original purpose of the scammer is only money, but the victim of the fraud usually loses not only money, but also family, personality, future, and even his own life.
In the novel, except for Haneda Mitsuaki, who has never appeared in the imperial kitchen Shangxian, the other fraudsters have not initially thought of deceiving others, they just want to make more money, they will easily trust acquaintances, and they are cheated out of money by non-existent investments. This is true of Kenko Takato, Shie Nakato, Min Katsuhara, and later Toyoko Kita and Keiki Sakamoto in the story.
Speaking of which, it's easy to think of the various telecom scams that have occurred in recent years, and the reason why people have been deceived is actually that the fraudsters have seized the weaknesses, such as telling parents that their children have been kidnapped and making them prepare for ransom; increasing the credit card overdraft limit for young people in financial situations; providing investment opportunities for couples who want to manage their money.
The deception in the novel is basically based on investment profits as bait, and some people lose money after encountering fraud, and the quality of life is reduced, just like the old man Toyoko Forced Field. However, after encountering fraud, some people have also changed from victims to fraudsters, deceiving more innocent people, such as Kenko Koto, Shie Nakato, and Katsuhara Min, who also deceived people who had acquaintances. When the East Window incident occurred, others discovered their lies, but at this time the money had been cheated away, and they had become the object of scorn and accusations from the people around them, and finally they could only go away and hide their names.
Turning people from victims to perpetrators is the abomination of fraud unlike other crimes. Like the investment fraud in the novel, it will initially convince the victim that the investment is real, and they will be kind enough to woo their relatives and friends. I think this is why Kenko Koto and others in the novel finally become fraudsters.
When these people realize that they have been deceived and have killed relatives and friends, they are faced with a painful choice in their hearts, that is, whether to be wrong or to turn back to the shore? This is another question that the author wants to explore with us.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="23" >2. </h1>
The book mentions, "People are basically kind and optimistic. However, once put into a particular situation, it is divided into those who can always maintain goodness and optimism, and those who are swallowed up by the situation and lose their conscience. In fact, the deception encountered by Kenko Takato and others in the novel, Kei Sakamoto and Toyoko Forceda is a specific situation, and the old man forced to maintain his kindness but also loses his optimism, while Takato Kenko and others are swallowed up by the situation. In addition, there is another special person, that is, Sakamoto.
Sakamoto wanted to change his living situation after receiving the ransom, so he used the money he wanted to study to join an investment project, and also attracted his friends to participate, but the investment project did not last long, and the police exposed the nature of its fraud. This not only caused Sakamoto to lose money and friends, but also made him, who originally hated fraud, into a torment, because he became the kind of person he hated the most. In reality, he did not have the ability and courage to bear the consequences, and he did not want to continue to deceive others, which made him desperate and decided to die with evil.
Many readers believe that Sakamoto only needs to confess his original intentions and what he has done, and the worst result is only imprisonment, while crime means losing his life. However, from the final situation of Kenko Takato and others, we can infer that once Sakamoto is charged with fraud, he will not only lose the rest of his life, but even his family will suffer from the cold eyes and discrimination of others in the future. Coupled with the fact that Japanese society is not friendly to people with previous convictions, this can be seen from the embarrassing living conditions of another character in the novel, Ashikaga Nobuyoshi.
Thinking about this, I can more or less understand Sakamoto's choice, and I find how similar his situation is to Peter who betrayed Jesus in the first place, and I wonder if the funeral that Aunt Miya named this book St. Peter has this intention?
The above content is my little thoughts on the novel "The Funeral of St. Peter", in fact, the essence of the ideas that the novel wants to express is basically scattered in a large number of detailed descriptions in the book, and only after reading through the novel can you understand it. Unlike Keigo Higashino, Miyuki Miyabe's depictions of the plot and characters are more delicate, so delicate that some people think it is almost verbose. And I just think that the more detailed the description, the more complex aspects of life, society and human nature can be shaped, and the reader's deep thinking can be triggered.
I love reasoning in the future will have other Gong Auntie's works to introduce to you, if you have different views on this book, or think of Other wonderful reasoning works of Gong Auntie, welcome to share in the comment area!
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About the Author: A workplace mom who loves to learn, likes to read, write and illustrate. I have been sharing all kinds of books for a long time, and I am willing to read every good book with you.