Book Review - The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing, Volume 1: The Pox Party, by M.T. Anderson

So, the other week I sat through the delightful Michael L. Prinz award ceremony, clapping and when everyone else around me stood up, giving standing ovations. To books I hadn't read yet. So my goal now is to read the three award-winning titles from this year that I had not gotten around to yet: The Book Thief, Surrender, and The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing. When I returned to work, I tried to check them all out but only Octavian Nothing was in.

The titular character, Octavian, is an African-American boy growing up in colonial Boston, in the years leading up to the American Revolution. Octavian and his mother Cassiopeia live in unusual circumstances. They are being studied by a group of philosophers who are interested in seeing the capacity for Africans to learn the classics. So, Octavian is being taught works of Greek mythology, how to play classical music, and learning to speak Latin. He is raised unaware that other African children living in America are not being given the advantages, and the odd training that he is. When the philosopher's school loses its funding, an older Octavian is quickly introduced to slave life. His mother dies as a result of a horrific experiment - Caucasian and African Americans were deliberately infected with smallpox to examine how their bodies reacted. This event leaves a deep mark on Octavian, and he is no longer a vivacious, thoughtful, curious boy, but a sullen, silent man. He manages to escape his owner and makes his way into the chaos that was the American Revolution, and at the end, manages to be reunited with his former teacher. Meant to be the first of a two-book series, the Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing is terrifically thought-provoking and one of the most grim tales of colonial life that I have ever read. On a whole, I'm not the most avid reader of historical fiction, but I could not put this one down. Even though it looks like a kind of large book, it reads very quickly, due to short chapters and how interesting Octavian's story is. M.T. Anderson has written another intelligent book that is bound to have a deep impact on its readers.