The Last Samurai (no relation to Tom Cruise movie) – Helen DeWitt
Where has this book been all my life?
My son took over my reading TBR this year (excluding audio) and I have a list I’m to complete by the end of the year. The list is called Eat Your Vegetables. Thus far they’ve been (mostly) bangers. There are some challenging reads (Moby Dick) and some intimidating ones to come (The Tunnel, Septology) ….
This book was phenomenal.
I’ve been a lifelong reader and been consuming 75-125 books a year for the last 20 years, HOW HAS THIS BOOK ESCAPED MY RADAR? It makes me angry. I want BookTok to focus on something like this rather than the stupid Correspondent.
To spend a couple hours in DeWitt’s brain. Like – HOLY CRAP! this is genius. She’s hilarious, incredibly smart, interested in the most random topics and created this utterly charming loveable infuriating child.
Can more people please read this? It’s almost 600 pages that go by fast, I promise. You’ll wish it wasn’t over.
The Last Samurai – so obviously 5/5 stars I almost forgot that part
jenp27
Nicole Del Sesto
The Reader's Room 
I’ve been meaning to read this, perhaps this will be the push I need!
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If you do read it, let me know what you think.
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nf
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I had the exact same experience with this book. I still haven’t read it but a couple years ago Vulture asked a bunch of prominent authors, critics, publishers, etc. about what books written in the 21st century should be added to the canon of classic books. The list was basically the books you would expect. The Corrections, Never Let Me Go, 2666, The Neapolitan Novels. But the book that was mentioned the most and took the top spot was Helen Dewitt’s The Last Samurai. I knew about every one of the other 99 to make the list but somehow the top pick was one I had never heard of. I don’t really know how the politics of book publishing works but it’s wild how many people have never heard of Helen Dewitt. She actually had a huge book that she’s been working on for 20 years come out in 2025. Both books are on my To Read list for 2026.
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Maybe people are dismissive of it because they think it’s the book based on the movie.
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