Revolutionary

Whew! After several weeks of reading, The Berkeleian is back. The length of the title should be enough to suggest this: The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing, Traitor to the Nation, Volume I: The Pox Party by M. T. Anderson. Nope, Mr. Anderson is not one for brevity. The title page is full of subtitles that go beyond this title, in order to copy the kind you might see in the Revolutionary War.

The entire book is another experiment of prose - much in the same way The Road was, testing our reading skills with a radically different style of diction. This time, instead of stripping down the writing to its basics like McCarthy, Anderson makes everything as flowery and philosophical as possible, as if the book were actually written by an 18th century educated youth. The result is a much more difficult read, but a more satisfying one, with some interesting experiments in metaphor and visual description.

There is one prosaic stumble. Of the book's four sections, the third is mostly composed of letters written by a soldier to his family. The letters are much more traditionally 18th century, with oft-wrongly conjugated verbs and random capitalization. It is tedium to read, and nearly made me quit. Fortunately, the end of the book comes back with a wallop, packing a strong emotional punch while making some profound philosophical points.

As for the story, it is appropriately revolutionary. There are certain periods in history which we always encounter, but seldom get tired of hearing about. The Revolutionary War and World War II are two good examples. It's nearly always a pleasure to read these oft-repeated stories from another perspective, then. Markus Zusak's The Book Thief, for example, placed us in the shoes of a German Girl in WWII. What makes this book significantly different is that we already know there is next to no hope for a happy ending.

I don't want to give away the story's many twists and turns, but the premise should be enough to intrigue you: Octavian is an African-American youth, living in America during the Revolutionary War, under the care of a philosophical college. Before long he finds out that he is involved in their experiments. Here is where his extraordinary education comes from (I'm quite sure his knowledge would overcome that of most of today's students). Here also is sufficient explanation for the presence of scientifical documents written by him. These, along with some other letters and public notices, are pieced together to create a single narrative.

We already know that the African-Americans, no matter which side they are on, are going to lose in this war; wherever they end up, they will be slaves. This is a heartwrenching tale - particularly because Octavian is such a bright child, and begins our story in a position of such promise. The hopelessness does take away some of the narrative drive, actually (especially when the main character begins to lose some of his will to live). What kept me reading was his reactions to the destruction of all he believed in - about himself, about his people, and about freedom. It was also frankly brilliant to pit such cruel passages of African-American slavery directly next to American outcries against British "tyranny". You even begin to feel some sympathy for the perhaps unjustly-accused tarred-and-feathered British soldier.

I don't recommend this book for everyone. It is a long read - AND it's only the first of two volumes. But it's a thoughtful book, with quite historically accurate diction. Your basic history buff will love it. And I have a feeling that a lot of readers will come to fall in love with Octavian - because above all, he's frankly the best excuse we've had for a protagonist in a while.