The writing was vivid, drawing the reader into the landscape. (Bruce referred to it as poetry.) Erin appreciated how Endo inhabited Rodrigues' mind, even if his portrayal was not especially sympathetic. We were incessantly battered with his disgust with all things Japanese, and his continual comparisons between himself and Jesus (or 'that man'). Our feelings might have been tinged by our discomfort with the concept of missionaries, and by the fact that most of us had grown up as Catholic ('recovering' Catholics, as one woman put it). ("To Irish Catholics, guilt is a competitive sport.")