The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing

By: M.T.Anderson

"cryptic writing makes it hard to understand"

    This book follows the life of an African boy named Octavian as he first stays at a college in Boston, then as he becomes caught up in the Revolutionary War. The first half of the book tells how Octavian is purchased with his mother, then given an education that rivals most princes and how he discovers the reason they are giving a slave such a fine education. The second half of the novel is where the book picks up. Octavian runs off and joins the patriot army with his owners chasing after him. The storytelling method in this part of the book could be hard to understand for people with a low reading capacity, but for those who can understand the writing, is is interesting.

    The writing is not all told from the same point of view and not in the same “style” in every chapter. One chapter will be an excerpt from Octavian's journal, the next a flyer that's been posted around town.  My favorite “style” in the book is the chapter of letters from a brother in the patriot army to his sister. M.T. Anderson manages to stop the extra info in the letter from being boring, while also keeping with the story.

    Another interesting thing about this book is that the hardcover paper edges look to have been mauled by a rabid hamster. The characters seem like real people, but sometimes so real that they seem predictable. Octavian has what seems to be a run-of-the-mill “I am/was a slave, then got free” story life, where he makes decisions that anyone else would make in his situation. The decisions do get more interesting in the second half of the book, but unless you are really interested in revolutionary history, reading this book probably won't be worth it.

    The writing is also pretty cryptic for your average reader. Most paragraphs out the book look like this one: “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 circumnavigations 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 as you can see, while the descriptions are good, the meaning of the sentence can be hard to figure out. Another thing to note about the writing is the use of huge ink marks. At points of great emotional significance the page can fill with crossed out words and scribbled out sentences, much like a man who needs to erase but only has a pen. While this would seem interesting I found it ugly and unnecessary.

    In summary, the book is good only if you have a high reading level and an interest in revolution era history. If you do, the book only starts to get interesting in the second half of the novel. The writing is at times cryptic, and the characters are real, yet predictable. I would give it a two out of five.

-Nathan D.