"The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing: Traitor to the Nation, Volume 1: The Pox Party" by M.T. Anderson

Well, at the very least, Mr. Anderson deserves kudos for an extremely long title. “The Astonishing Life …” has won a significant number of awards this year, along with accolades and very favorable reviews from many respected journals. There is now an award-winning sequel and rumors of more to come. It is, without question, a brilliantly written story. But is it good? It is … in the sense that it is the kind of book that will give English teachers a downright shiver of pleasure. Unfortunately, I think it is the type of book that really will be appreciated by mature readers and will leave most of the students forced to read it gagging with frustration. Densely packed with words that would have been on the SAT in the 18th century if there had been an SAT in the 18th century, “The Astonishing Life …” tells the story of Octavian, a black slave belonging to a very offbeat Scientific Society in Boston during the years leading up to the American Revolution. The language is as accurate as one could imagine, and the font even mimics writing styles of the time (making double “ffs” look like “ss”). Painting the historic detail with an exacting brush, I learned a huge amount about that period of which I had been completely ignorant of before. Hardly a chapter passed where I was not gasping with surprise or having an “a-ha” moment. Seeing this world through Octavian’s eyes provides an even more interesting depth to the work. The challenges for me were the pacing and the narrative voice. I was 120 pages in before I felt like I wasn’t just “pushing through” and the aforementioned “Pox Party” didn’t materialize until well into the 200s – in a 300 page book. I also never warmed up to Octavian even though I felt deeply sad reading about his trials and tribulations. But it was the sadness you feel when you see a story on the news, not the kind of gut-wrenching angst you feel when pulled into a story. The beginning, where we are seeing the world through Octavian’s very young eyes, is simply confusing. As he gets older, I began to understand the setting and concept, but at the moment of his greatest loss, the narrative voice switches to another character and we see Octavian’s pain through letters written by a soldier. It is a phenomenal literary device, to actually take the character’s voice away at a time when his hurt is so great that he cannot form words. The problem is that it distances the reader, as much of the book seems to do. Was I intrigued by the view of pre-Revolutionary War America and the insights into the slavery of the time? Yes. Could I appreciate that this is, bottom line, great literature? Yes. Did I enjoy reading this book? No. Will I read the sequel? I don’t know. I do feel like I got a lot out of it, but it felt more like reading a nonfiction book than a story I could get lost inside of. I’ve heard quite a number of adults say they were deeply impressed by the book, but no young folk, yet (although a number of kids told me they picked up the book and started reading it, then put it down…not a good sign). I guess this one is a wait-and-see as to whose appetites it will appeal to.