Pages

Friday, April 13, 2018

The Last Samurai by Helen DeWitt review – a boy’s search for his father

The dynamics between a single mother and her intellectually curious young son are vividly captured in this boldly inventive novel Ludo spends much of his early childhood on the Circle line, reading beside his mother, Sibylla, an academic turned typist, who conceived him in a one-night stand. He reads _The Odyssey_ in Greek, as well as various works in Arabic, Icelandic and Japanese. They also repeatedly watch Kurosawa’s _Seven Samurai_, chosen by Sibylla to provide male role models. The one question in her son’s education that Sybilla refuses to answer is the one he most wants to know: “Who is my father?” So at 11, Ludo takes matters into his own hands. Continue reading...


READ THE ORIGINAL POST AT www.theguardian.com