Customer Reviews

The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing, Traitor to the Nation, Vol. 1: The Pox Party

5 star:		(43)
4 star:		(9)
3 star:		(11)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(9)

 

 

"I do not believe they ever meant unkindness."

So Octavian says of those to whom he was an experiment, to those who claimed him as chattel, to those who weighed his excrement daily and compared it to his intake.

It is perhaps this book's most frightening truth that he is correct.

Octavian and his mother were sold into slavery in the 1760s, in Boston, to The Novanglian College of Lucidity. These men were rationalists, and sought to discover - once all of the niceties are removed - whether the Negro was inferior to the European. Octavian was taught "the arts and knowledge of the physical world...the strictest instruction in ethics...kindness, filial duty, piety, obedience, and humility," Latin, Greek, the violin, and while learning these things, he was dressed in silk and lavished with luxuries.

Yet we see the detached scientist immediately in his caretakers, as Octavian describes an experiment whereby they drowned a dog to time its drowning, and another where they dropped alley-cats from high places to "judge the height from which cats no longer shatter," and yet another where they tried to teach a girl "deprived of reason and speech" the usage of verbs, and when the girl could not master verbs, they beat her "to the point of gagging and swooning."

And yet they never meant unkindness.

While this is a book of fiction, it is useful to remember (as the author calls us to at the end) that while the College of Lucidity is a fictional entity, the kind of experiments they conducted indeed took place, and the question of inferiority was one that was much discussed.

Octavian, with his mother, Mr. Gitney, and Dr. Trefusis, excelled. He became literate beyond their hopes, and could play the violin as a virtuoso. Without a doubt, his education was better than the vast majority of children his age, white or black. But then the College's benefactor dies, and a new benefactor arrives, represented by Mr. Sharpe, who presupposes the inferiority of the Negro and demands that Octavian's studies be changed...changed to ensure his failure.

As with all stories, once change is introduced, the stakes increase.

Anderson tells this story with a remarkably sure hand, using spot-on eighteenth century diction and grammar as much as he could without losing his intended audience, young adults. The majority of the story is told through the backward-looking eyes of Octavian himself, but Anderson also employs newspaper clippings and a variety of letters (most entertaining were the set from the soldier, Evidence Goring, to his sister and mother) to further authenticate the tale and ground it.

All of the characters are three-dimensional. The plot is handled with meticulous care, moving cautiously in the beginning, like an orchestral score, building with intensity to the moment of change, the crescendo which, not surprisingly, also occurs side-by-side with a telling of a part of the War.

Setting his story against the backdrop of the Revolutionary War proved brilliant, for the irony of slave-owners sending slaves not promised freedom to fight in their stead for the cause of liberty, can be lost on no one.

This is without question one of the most moving books I have read in some time. The character of Octavian is one of the most unique and fully realized I have ever encountered in young adult fiction.

That this won the National Book Award should be no surprise.

I LOVED this book. However, it is most certainly not for everyone. This is a challenging read. The language is difficult and even antiquated in parts, but 1) I make it a habit to read with a dictionary nearby so this didn't faze me, and 2) even when I wasn't in the mood to stop reading to look something up, I was still able to figure out the meaning of the text based on the overall context. Besides, after about 50 pages or so, I became accustomed to the writing style and then I blazed through the rest of the book.

If you're willing to put in the effort, the payoff is huge. The characters are believable. The story is horrific, heartbreaking, and somehow hopeful at the same time. The language is stunningly gorgeous in parts. The subject matter is fascinating, and it made me think about our country's history from a different perspective. Also, if you don't read too many reviews that all but spoil the plot for you (Anderson slowly reveals the reality of the situation to the reader as Octavian begins to realize what's going on), the tension and mystery of it propels you along. The cliffhanger ending was perfect, and I cannot wait for the second book in the series to be published.

Read this book and give it to everyone you know or love, whether 15 or 55. It's a stunning, extraordinary look at our own history through the eyes (usually) of Octavian Nothing, an African child slave who is, in this first of two books, the subject of experiments by a group of Boston rationalist philosophers. The purpose of the experiments? For the "philosophers" to learn whether Africans have the same capacity to learn as white children do. Because the Revolutionary War is about to break out, the characters' lives change in unpredictable ways. Every single page of this book, which is told in highly-readable and startlingly rich eighteenth-century language, is filled with brilliance and pain, and there are few characters in contemporary fiction that I care about as much as I care about Octavian. You will, too. Furthermore, there are parallels, resonances, echoes, and consequences for all of us today---your brain will be unusually active as you read, and you won't be able to put the book down or stop thinking about it.
Disclaimer: I'm thanked in the acknowledgments, but this graciousness on Anderson's part in no way affects my opinion of the book.

This book is very disturbing but in a a beautiful dark way. I bought it from the title alone so I didn't know what I was getting myself into but was pleasantly surprised. Anderson has an incredible way of describing emotions on a variety of levels. It says this book is for young readers but I found nothing that seemed to support this. Maybe it's only for very intelligent and deep young readers however I think the subject matter would be great for all of todays teens to study.

Unfortunately the ending leaves you hanging and doesn't seem complete. I'm not patient enough to wait another year for Volume 2.


Bottom line is if you like dark, tragically sad, well written books I would recommend this one.

The bad news is, since you are reading this in the Customer Review section, you have probably read enough about the setting and plot of this excellent novel to have spoiled the carefully crafted setup chapters. (Fortunately, the book's dust jacket contains no spoilers.) One of the central themes follows the boy Octavian's process of solving the mystery of who he is and how he is being raised and, reflecting this process, M. T. Anderson skillfully constructs the opening so that the reader at first can't tell when or where the book takes place. Clues about the characters are gradually revealed, all true and all misleading - nothing is ever quite what it seems, and both the narrator and the reader navigate deeper and deeper levels of understanding as the story progresses.

I have no idea why this is reviewed and marketed as a young readers' book, except that (a) Anderson's prior books were YA, (b) the narrator is a boy, and (c) there is no explicit sex. Anyone who expects this to be delightful and engaging light reading for teenagers will be disappointed. This book is deep, clever, moving, darkly funny and fascinating. The Booklist comment "it demands rereading" is right - it's even better the second time through, because you can see how much foreshadowing there was, and how beautifully everything ties together.

If this is written for young adults, it's written for highly intelligent young adults. I am 34 years old and found it thoroughly compelling. I have been reading a lot of historical fiction lately, and though this is more properly fiction set in an historical setting (none of the characters are historic figures), this ranks very highly among others of the genere. This is a facinating character study and also a polemic, not so much against slavery (who isn't against it in this day and age), so much as it is against our modern notions about America's "pure" crusade for self-determination in the Revolutionary War. The book confronts a society that is at once fighting for it's Liberty from England, yet cannot quite bring itself to give liberty to all of it's people, for we still held our slaves in cruel and terrible bondage at that time. Highly ironic and even angry, this story makes us question some of the most basic assumptions we hold dear about the founding of America and those who founded it.

"The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing, Traitor to the Nation, Volume I, The Pox Party" by M. T. Anderson is extraordinary--certainly one of the most unique, creative, and ultimately take-your-breath-away astonishing works of fiction that I've ever read. I was so impressed--no, mesmerized--by the depth and scope of this work that I read it through twice in three days. The second reading took longer than the first because I found myself pausing repeatedly either to savor the beauty of the language or to ponder universal questions of philosophy, psychology, science, and history that pop up everywhere throughout the telling.

"Octavian Nothing" is a coming-of-age saga like no other you may ever encounter. The story concerns the life of the young slave, Octavian, from his earliest memories, until the age of 16. For the first half of his life, the child does not realize that he is the object of a scientific experiment to determine "whether homo africanus is a separate species from homo europaeus." The child is dressed in fine silks and given a comprehensive and exhaustive classical literary and musical education. He is told that he is an African prince and his mother an African princess. He is raised in virtual isolation by a household of scientists, philosophers, artists, and merchant investors calling themselves The Novanglian College of Lucidity. These men make sure that the child is kept at great emotional distance from his mother, the Princess Cassiopeia. Octavian is given every luxury, except the luxury to behave like a normal human child.

Despite the fact that Octavian is raised as a zoological experiment by inhumanly rational, and monstrously nonempathetic scientists, we see him mature into a virtuous, empathetic, whole human being. The transformation is slow and gut-wrenching. Three men unknowingly play significant roles as mentors: Dr. Trefusis, the slave Bono, and the soldier Evidence Goring. But there is a one very significant additional source providing him with the raw building blocks necessary to reinvent himself as a fully realized emotional human being, namely the wealth of pseudo life experience provided to him by his extraordinary classical literature and music education. In great part, this is the story of a child saved by his exposure to Ovid, Homer, Socrates, Aristotle, Shakespeare, Pope, Mozart, Handel, Corelli, and the like.

The book takes place in Boston between 1760 and 1775. Well-known events in the American Revolution form the historical framework and provide the story with many of its most thought-provoking themes. The story is revealed primarily from the manuscript testimony of the boy, Octavian.This manuscript is written sometime after the close of volume one when Octavian presumably becomes a "Traitor to the Nation." Toward the end, it is suggested how Octavian might become a traitor, but the Volume I ends before that event occurs. The book contains no direct narration; rather, it is told entirely through fictional primary resources--Octavian's own manuscript testimony, newspaper clippings, letters, scientific papers, and the like. Because the story is told completely from period documents, the language is, throughout, lovingly realistic 18th-century prose. As a reader, I was positively dazzled by the authenticity of the period language. How Anderson was able to accomplish this feat, and maintain it though countless different narrative voices is astounding--in my opinion, an unparalleled modern literary tour de force.

Anderson immersed himself in extensive historical research in order to develop the story accurately within an authentic American Revolutionary historical framework. This book is all the more horrifying because it could have been possible. Similar experimentation did, in fact, occur during this period. This is no "Dracula." This is no mere gothic fantasy; this is more. The terror at the core of this tale is real, and the implications of this terror resonate through many social, governmental, and political issues past and present.

The book deals with an amazing complexity of controversial issues: racism; the ethics of scientific inquiry funded by commercial interests; the importance of virtue; the nature of altruism; the meaning of freedom; the meaning of being human; the ethics of human and animal experimentation; the ethics of ends justifying means; whether civilization is predicated upon commerce; the importance of forgiveness--to name but a few.

In my estimation, a five-star rating is not enough. No wonder it was the 2006 National Book Award Winner in Young People's Literature.

But I have two very serious bones to pick with the author, editors, and publisher. First, this extraordinary work is no more a young-adult book than "Billy Budd" or "Daisy Miller!" Naturally, it can be read and appreciated by high school students, but there is a much larger market of adults thirsting for new, outstanding fiction that might overlook this title because is being marketed too narrowly. Second, a decision (probably motivated by commerce) was made to market this book in parts. "Volume I, The Pox Party" is not a complete work. Yes, it is a very satisfying book as it stands, but it is still only half a story. I hope the wait for Volume II will not be long, but if it is, I trust it will be worth the wait. Please, let's all be patient! The author should not be pressed to hurry and complete volume two by any artificial or commercial deadline. Anderson should be allowed to take whatever time is necessary to complete this magnus opus at its existing extremely high standards. After all, this book could become a classic.

This is an excellent book. This book is worthy of being a classic. This book demands rereading. There are a few dull parts, but it's only in the beginning. After that, this book gets a lot better. It's 351 pages. I am looking forward to volume 2. If you hear someone saying that they don't like this book because it's boring...well, that is because everyone is reading too much Gossip Girl now that no one can appreciate a good book without saying it's boring. I totally judge any parent that buys Gossip Girl or Meg Cabot for their kids.

M.T. Anderson does an amazing job of capturing the heartache and brutality of slavery in this early American story. Complex characters and a plot with many twists and turns add to the quality of the read, and one is rarely sure who is a friend and who is an enemy. The vocabulary of the book is clearly intended to help the readers remember that they are in a different time, but it is not difficult to comprehend. I would recommend this book to anyone who is looking for good, challenging historical fiction. I do offer one warning though: this book may not work for those with weak stomachs.

This book furthers my annoyance with publishers who categorize every book whose main character is under 20 as "young adult." Plenty of young adults can and do read adult novels, of which this is one - and an excellent one at that. It explores the ethical implications of prizing property over human welfare, which is something our nation still needs to wrestle with. It looks at a slice of U.S. history from the viewpoint of a slave in Massachusetts, something we northerners would like to pretend was an anomaly. It pokes fun at scientific endeavors that presume to extrapolate from natural laws to ethical laws. While the subject matter is certainly dark, there is also a keen sense of irony and a dry humor woven throughout the story. I'm eager to read the next installment.