Reviews

O Último Samurai by Teresa Casal, Helen DeWitt

Only show reviews with written explanations

basicallylam's review against another edition

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

The Last Samurai is a monster of a book. I would go from gladly reading 100 pages of it at a time to needing to put it down for weeks on end after 5. Part of this is the brainpower some of it requires directly clashing with external commitments in life but a lot of it is just that sometimes it is a nightmare to read. The first half is much, much more up my alley and it seemed as if DeWitt gave up on her own extremely unique and engaging style halfway through as a result. That’s not to say the second half is even bad, it’s mostly great but some of it meanders too long and it’s extremely repetitive to the point where I couldn’t blame someone for throwing the book out a window. I’ve never read anything like this, for better or worse. It will live rent free in my head, whether that takes the form of longing for a second half that was more stylised or growing to appreciate what it went for I don’t know, but it will. Sibylla and Ludo are unsympathetic and inhuman protagonists in a way that I think is so exciting to read. Because of this, I couldn’t help but feel let down when it shifts focus away from that relationship and pivots more squarely to Ludo’s quest.

However, for as long as it took me to actually finish the thing, I never once entertained the idea of dropping the novel. There was always a reason to come back to it outside of the general curiosity towards how it would end. The writing is incredibly gripping when it clicks and I’d recommend it to anyone with an interest in languages, stories and the movie Seven Samurai. In short, Sibylla is the human embodiment of that meme where the woman is on the computer while a baby is on fire next to her and I want to watch Seven Samurai again now.

Also I read my girlfriend’s copy that she previously used for an essay so it was filled with little annotations mostly in the Greek sections because she’s on that classicist vibe which was nice❤️