I've probably bought more copies of Helen DeWitt's The Last Samurai than any other novel, because I give them away constantly and need to replenish my stock. What a book! Crammed with smarts and adventure and a very full heart--and nothing to do with that Tom Cruise movie--it's page-by-page rewarding, a story about a genius boy, raised on Kurosawa, in search of his father. Why didn't it sell like crazy?