I had read so much about the story, I felt like I knew it before I read it.
Nevertheless, there's a good reason why I heard so much about this story - and that's because it's a well constructed and narrated story. I don't want to go through all the plot points, other than to say that I agree with the critics who say that this isn't about the difference between Japanese dignity and English reticence. I think it's more about the individual characters of the story, and to read national characteristics/critique into the story reduces the richness of it to an allegory, which this most definitely is not.