The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing, Traitor to the Nation, Volume 1: The Pox Party
Common Sense Note
Parents need to know that in this story dealing with slavery and the Revolutionary War, there is brutality and violence of a disturbing sort, especially the vicious beatings endured by slaves. One man is tarred and feathered, throats are slit, and soldiers and horses die. There is also a bit of off-color language and some sexual references including nudity and a mention of "the clap."
Families who read this book could discuss the scientific work of the College. What kind of science is this? Is it really science at all? What rights are, and ought to be, given and forbidden to those who claim to pursue knowledge? How is the research being slanted? Why is it being conducted at all?
Common Sense Review
Reviewed By: Matt Berman
The literary quality of this book cannot be doubted. Written in an approximation of the style of a classically trained 18th-century writer combined with an almost postmodern episodic, time-shifting structure, it is intellectually complex, rich in language and ideas, and highly original. But in what way is it a children's, or even young adult (YA), book?
As has become all too typical of the winners of the National Book Award, YA division, which does not seem to consider the tastes and interests of actual children at all, it's hard to imagine many young teens plowing all the way through this unless it's assigned.
For those gifted teens with a taste for high-level language, extended philosophical discourse, and complex literary structure, this will be a rare treat. But most of those teens are probably already reading adult books anyway.
From The Book
A man in a topiary maze cannot judge of the twistings and turnings and which avenue might lead him to the heart; while one who stands above, on some pleasant prospect, looking down upon the labyrinth, is reduced to watching the bewildered cirmcumnavigations of the tiny victim through obvious coils -- as the gods, perhaps, looked down on besieged and blood-sprayed Troy from the safety of their couches, and thought mortals weak and foolish while they themselves reclined in comfort, and had only to snap to call Ganymede to their side with nectar decanted.
So I, now, with the vantage of years, am sensible of my foolishness, my blindness, as a child. I cannot think of my blunders without a shriveling of the inward parts -- not merely the desiccation attendant on shame, but also the aggravation of remorse that I did not demand more explanations.
Plot Summary:
Octavian, a prince, and his mother, a queen, are kept in luxury and given a classical education in Revolutionary-era Boston by a group of scientists and philosophers who call themselves The Novanglian College of Lucidity. But Octavian and his mother are really slaves, and their treatment is just one of the experiments conducted in the household. They are not free, and are subject to the whims of their keepers.
This is brutally brought home to them when the College's source of funding changes, and the nature of the experiment changes. Meanwhile the country around them inches towards war, and the scientists have an unusual solution to the smallpox epidemic that is ravaging the countryside.
Related Books:
Other Books by M. T. Anderson:
Thirsty
Feed
More Gritty Books about Slavery:
Steal Away by Jennifer Armstrong
Ajeemah and His Son by James Berry
The Slave Dancer by Paula Fox
Day of Tears: A Novel in Dialogue by Julius Lester
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Sexual ContentNudity and a nude portrait, mention of "the clap," mention of ogling breasts, animal insemination. |
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ViolenceSlitting of throats; severe beating and flogging of children and adults; fatal animal experimentation; a man is tarred, feathered, and beaten; soldiers fight and are wounded and killed; description of an autopsy; horses are massacred; various atrocities mentioned. |
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Language"Slut," "bastard," and "s--t," each used once. |
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Social BehaviorCharacters refer to Native Americans as heathens, barbarous, and savages; and characters experience all of the bigotry and mistreatment that go along with slavery. |
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Drug/Alcohol/TobaccoPipe smoking, drinking. |
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