Enh. I'm inclined to cut her some slack, because I felt the same way about the end of it right after I read it, and to some extent I still do. It doesn't mean that I didn't understand that Japan is not America; it means I'm American, and intellectual understanding of a work is different from emotional reaction to it. To borrow an example that someone used below, if I can't get into a book because the main character strikes me as an egregious asshole, it's fine to say that he's only acting in a way that's appropriate to his culture, and I'll understand that because I'm not retarded; but it's not going to make me go "Oh, okay, I see all now. Clearly the fact that he's acting in accordance with his culture means that I have to react positively to him no matter what." If I don't like the guy, I don't like him. Whether it's because of my Western cultural sensibilities or because he really is an asshole, my emotional reaction is what it is. Tout comprendre, ce n'est pas tout pardonner.