Book Groups and my need for Manic Solitude

Outside of samizdat, I tend to shy away from group reads though I am forever enchanted with people's selections. That said, I ordered Helen DeWitt's The Last Samurai and began reading it yesterday. I am presently over 200 pages in and am delighted.

It isn't about Tom Cruise or Scientology. What does move its action? I'll quote George Meredith in response.

. . . In tragic life, God wot,
No villain need be!
Passions spin the plot:
We are betrayed by what is false within.