Wednesday, December 3, 2008

"The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing" by M.T. Anderson

So what if I told you there was a book that read like great literature, provided a wide breadth of knowledge about the Revolutionary War era, tackled tough issues from scientific ethics to interracial relationships to vaccination to nationalism head-on, and that your teenage son would LOVE it?

Uh huh. There's a reason it's been sweeping the literary awards circuit.

Octavian is a young black man born into Bostonian privilege, the unwitting specimen in a scientific experiment meant to determine whether men of African descent can learn as well as those of European. He is treated like a prince and given every advantage, until the scientists and philosophers conducting the experiment are forced to accept funding from outside investors--wealthy plantation owners, with an interest in ensuring Octavian's failure. When life becomes unbearable he runs away and joins the revolutionary cause, but will the Sons of Freedom treat him any better than the men who call themselves his owners?

"Astonishing" is right. Beautiful and shattering, "The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing" is an American epic unparallelled since "Gone With the Wind"--with a better hero. A must-read.



2 comments:

Anonymous said...

I'd never heard of this one. It sounds great!

Jenny Rae Armstrong said...

It's INCREDIBLE! M.T. Anderson is my new hero.:-)