The beginning does much to lure you into complacency, which allows the ending to grip you so thoroughly. The story conjures up a lot of hard questions and I love a book that really makes me think and search my heart.

Something I've long been aware of is that circumstance does not remove stain from the soul. For an individual, the ends do not justify the means. For a collective, the ends justify the means. That is a supremely harrowing thought to me that we lose our faces and identities when weighed for the "greater good". Does anyone have the authority to decide for anyone else the worth of their conscience? I do not think so, not ever.

These are the types of things this book has made me consider. I look forward to reading more of Endo's works.