In Endo Shusaku’s 1974 novel “When I Whistle,” businessman Ozu recalls his youth in the days before World War II, after he happens to meet an old friend. Meanwhile, his doctor son, Eiichi, is ruthlessly advancing his career through dishonesty and some highly immoral medical practices. The novel moves back and forth between the lives of the father and son.
Ozu becomes nostalgic as he remembers hanging out with an old friend, “Flatfish,” falling in love with unattainable girls and worrying about the approaching war.
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