The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing, Traitor to the Nation (The Pox Party, Vol 1)
Author:
Genre: Children's Books
Book Type: Paperback
Author:
Genre: Children's Books
Book Type: Paperback
I tried to finish the whole thing; I really did. I mean, it won a Printz Honor Award and is extraordinarily unique in its use of old-style language (think classics). But I just couldn't do it.
Octavian and his mother Cassiopeia are the only inhabitants at a scientific college who have real first names; everyone else is numbered by rank. Great philosophers document his every bowel movement, his thoughts, his education, and his successes on the violin. Reading a bit further, we find out that Octavian and Cassiopeia are black, and that Cassiopeia was an African princess sold into slavery. Still, Octavian's mother holds herself like a queen, and entertains all the scholars with her dazzling beauty and wit.
The young Octavian discovers one day that he is part of an experiment to prove that Africans could, with the proper education, be every bit as superior as the typical white prince. Octavian goes about his studies and life without question...until, some years after the college started, they run into financial troubles. Their new financial benefactor is Mr. Sharpe, a man from a group of Southern investors who is determined to prove that Africans are, in fact, incapable of being on par with whites.
Octavian's lifestyle changes drastically as he is demoted from the privileged "prince" of the house to a common servant, only with the additional burdens of having to read dull passages that make him lose his former interests in his studies and love of music. They want Octavian to fail, and so far he seems to be doing just that.
The novel's concept is very interesting, but many readers will undoubtedly find it hard to slog through Anderson's difficult vocabulary, a vocabulary that even many college students will have trouble understanding. However, it does give this book its own characteristic. I can only say that for those who are able to make it through this book, they should not be disappointed.
Octavian and his mother Cassiopeia are the only inhabitants at a scientific college who have real first names; everyone else is numbered by rank. Great philosophers document his every bowel movement, his thoughts, his education, and his successes on the violin. Reading a bit further, we find out that Octavian and Cassiopeia are black, and that Cassiopeia was an African princess sold into slavery. Still, Octavian's mother holds herself like a queen, and entertains all the scholars with her dazzling beauty and wit.
The young Octavian discovers one day that he is part of an experiment to prove that Africans could, with the proper education, be every bit as superior as the typical white prince. Octavian goes about his studies and life without question...until, some years after the college started, they run into financial troubles. Their new financial benefactor is Mr. Sharpe, a man from a group of Southern investors who is determined to prove that Africans are, in fact, incapable of being on par with whites.
Octavian's lifestyle changes drastically as he is demoted from the privileged "prince" of the house to a common servant, only with the additional burdens of having to read dull passages that make him lose his former interests in his studies and love of music. They want Octavian to fail, and so far he seems to be doing just that.
The novel's concept is very interesting, but many readers will undoubtedly find it hard to slog through Anderson's difficult vocabulary, a vocabulary that even many college students will have trouble understanding. However, it does give this book its own characteristic. I can only say that for those who are able to make it through this book, they should not be disappointed.
