A review by matthewcpeck
The Last Samurai by Helen DeWitt

3.0

I went into this novel looking to be challenged. But smothering whole sections of chapters with Japanese characters and multiplication tables is not the tough but rewarding experience I anticipated: it's just raw data, pages for the reader to skip (does make the book go by fast, though). That out of the way, this book is quite funny, and it has a stubborn individualism that makes me understand its cult status among reviewers. There's a wonderfully satirical scene about the school system's limitations in dealing with geniuses, and the final section detailing Ludo's father tryouts has significant insight and range.