The Last Samurai

"Ludo, age six, is a prodigy. His mother, Sibylla, raises him alone and tries hard to keep his voracious intellect satisfied, while she struggles to make ends meet. With her exasperated guidance, he teaches himself Greek, so that he can read The Odyssey, before moving on to study Hebrew, Arabic, Inuit, and Japanese. And both Sibylla and Ludo share a passion for Kurosawa's Seven Samurai, which they watch repeatedly, absorbing its lessons of samurai virtue. Soon Ludo embarks on a quest to find his father, and approaches seven men to test their mettle. Each of them - prominent, powerful, or flawed in his own way - has to rise to a unique challenge.". "The Last Samurai is full of stories of remarkable exploits, snatches of Greek poetry, passages of Icelandic legend, and ingenious math problems. But it also has a rare emotional depth, as Ludo's search for a father, or even a man heroic enough to be his father, gradually reveals a new and unexpected dimension of love. And at the book's heart is the relationship between mother and son, which is moving and memorable in its fusion of solidarity, frustration, and tenderness."--BOOK JACKET. 'original...witty...playful...a Wonderfully Funny Book' James Wood ‘fiercely Intelligent, Very Funny And Unlike Anything Else I’ve Ever Read’ Mark Haddon 'a Triumph – A Genuinely New Story' A. S. Byatt ‘destined To Become A Classic’ Garth Risk Hallberg Eleven-year-old Ludo Is In Search Of A Father. Raised Singlehandedly By His Mother Sibylla, Ludo’s Been Reading Greek, Arabic, Japanese And A Little Hebrew Since The Age Of Four; But Reading Homer In The Original Whilst Riding The Circle Line On The London Underground Isn’t Enough To Satisfy The Boy’s Boundless Curiosity. Is He A Genius? A Real-life Child Prodigy? He’s Grown Up Watching Seven Samurai On A Hypnotising Loop – His Mother’s Strategy To Give Him Not One But Seven Male Role Models. And Yet Ludo Remains Obsessed With The One Thing His Mother Refuses To Tell Him: His Real Father’s Name. Let Loose On London, Ludo Sets Out On A Secret Quest To Find The Last Samurai – The Father He Never Knew. 'Fiercely intelligent, very funny and unlike anything else I've ever read' MARK HADDON 'Original...witty...playful...a wonderfully funny book' JAMES WOOD 'A triumph – a genuinely new story, a genuinely new form' A. S. BYATT Eleven-year-old Ludo is in search of a father. Raised singlehandedly by his mother Sibylla, Ludo's been reading Greek, Arabic, Japanese and a little Hebrew since the age of four; but reading Homer in the original whilst riding the Circle Line on the London Underground isn't enough to satisfy the boy's boundless curiosity. Is he a genius? A real-life child prodigy? He's grown up watching Seven Samurai on a hypnotising loop – his mother's strategy to give him not one but seven male role models. And yet Ludo remains obsessed with the one thing his mother refuses to tell him: his real father's name. Let loose on London, Ludo sets out on a secret quest to find the last samurai – the father he never knew. Sibylla and her prodigy son Ludo love Kurosawa's Seven Samurai, and this film prompts Ludo to try to find his father