Book Review: The Final Martyrs

Shusaku Endo is one of my favorite authors. He was a 20th-century Japanese author who wrote from the unusual perspective of being both Japanese and Catholic. My two favorite Endo novels are Silence and The Samuri (not the book the Tom Cruz movie was based on). Both are set in 18^th century Japan where Christians are a persecuted minority. Both novels are marked by intense inner-conflicts centered on the Christian faith. They are not pleasant little feel-good stories with happy endings. Endo forces his readers to wrestle with hard questions about faith and God. Not ready for his novel? Try The final Martyrs, Eleven short stories that are deeply spiritual. The title story is set during the 18th-century persecution of Christians in Japan. I have found Endo’s writing to be inspiring and disturbing. Sometimes my faith needs to be inspired and sometimes it needs to be disturbed.
http://www.amazon.com/Final-Martyrs-New-Directions-Paperbook/dp/0811218112/ref=sr_1_21?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1356212964&sr=1-21&keywords=Endo