Books: Octavian Nothing
Nov. 22nd, 2009 04:52 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
kutsuwamushiI finished The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing, Traitor to the Nation, Vol. 1: The Pox Party -- what a title.
I didn't know what to expect, because by the time I picked it up I had forgotten why I had put it on my list to begin with, but by the time I finished it, I was very impressed. I went to Barnes & Noble the next day to pick up the sequel.
The story begins with the boy Octavian, who is growing up in a house where everyone but he and his mother are given numbers instead of names. It's the years immediately prior to the Revolutionary War, in New England. The house is the Novanglian College of Lucidity, a collection of intellectuals who are interested in all of the aspects of science.
I'm not sure how much I can say without ruining some of the impact, so consider the rest of this post to contain spoilers.
Octavian learns the truth behind his situation slowly as he grows up, and at first he doesn't believe it, because it's horrible: He and his mother are slaves who are being studied by the men of the college. Their status depends entirely on the whims of their owners, and when those whims change, the brutality of slavery crashes down on them.
It is at times a very painful book, but at other times it is beautiful, because Octavian is a beautiful character: intelligent, soulful, and incisive.
I was surprised when the man at Barnes & Noble helped me find the sequel in the teen fiction section. The themes are difficult. Not that I think that makes them unsuitable for teens; quite the opposite, really. The questions it raises about the early history of the United States are worth raising, and most teens won't get that elsewhere.
This is definitely on my recommended list, and I don't even like historical fiction much.
I didn't know what to expect, because by the time I picked it up I had forgotten why I had put it on my list to begin with, but by the time I finished it, I was very impressed. I went to Barnes & Noble the next day to pick up the sequel.
The story begins with the boy Octavian, who is growing up in a house where everyone but he and his mother are given numbers instead of names. It's the years immediately prior to the Revolutionary War, in New England. The house is the Novanglian College of Lucidity, a collection of intellectuals who are interested in all of the aspects of science.
I'm not sure how much I can say without ruining some of the impact, so consider the rest of this post to contain spoilers.
Octavian learns the truth behind his situation slowly as he grows up, and at first he doesn't believe it, because it's horrible: He and his mother are slaves who are being studied by the men of the college. Their status depends entirely on the whims of their owners, and when those whims change, the brutality of slavery crashes down on them.
It is at times a very painful book, but at other times it is beautiful, because Octavian is a beautiful character: intelligent, soulful, and incisive.
I was surprised when the man at Barnes & Noble helped me find the sequel in the teen fiction section. The themes are difficult. Not that I think that makes them unsuitable for teens; quite the opposite, really. The questions it raises about the early history of the United States are worth raising, and most teens won't get that elsewhere.
This is definitely on my recommended list, and I don't even like historical fiction much.
no subject
Date: 2009-11-22 11:44 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-11-23 01:57 am (UTC)NOT IN NEW ENGLAND!
This sounds awesome. I am going to check it out.