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Content snapshot
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Violence
A lot
Torture and martyrdom depicted in sustained, detailed, and historically accurate scenes; among the most disturbing violence in literary fiction
Language
None
No profanity; the prose is spare and precise
Sexual Content
None
No sexual content
Substance Use
None
No substance use
Emotional Intensity
Very heavy
The theological crisis of faith in the face of suffering and silence is among literature's most psychologically and spiritually demanding — the novel is designed to be unsettling at the deepest level
What this book is about
Shūsaku Endō's 1966 masterpiece follows two Jesuit priests who travel to 17th-century Japan to find their mentor, who has reportedly apostatized under torture. The novel depicts the persecution of Japanese Christians in extraordinary detail — torture, crucifixion, and the authorities' preferred method of breaking priests by martyring their congregants in front of them. The theological question at the novel's heart — why God seems silent in the face of suffering — is one of literature's most profound and unresolved explorations of faith. Martin Scorsese adapted it in 2016.
Notes for sensitive readers
Reader-flagged moments and themes that may affect your experience.
Torture and martyrdom depicted in graphic detail
Profound crisis of faith as central subject
Theologically demanding and disturbing
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