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List Price: $17.99Amazon.com's Price: $12.23 You Save: $5.76 (32%)as of 03/19/2010 10:06 EDT
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Binding: Hardcover
EAN: 9780763624026
Edition: illustrated edition
ISBN: 0763624020
Label: Candlewick
Manufacturer: Candlewick
Number Of Items: 1
Number Of Pages: 368
Publication Date: September 12, 2006
Publisher: Candlewick
Reading Level: Young Adult
Release Date: September 12, 2006
Studio: Candlewick
Features:- ISBN13: 9780763624026
- Condition: NEW
- Notes: Brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark.
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Editorial Review:
Product Description:
A gothic tale becomes all too shockingly real in this mesmerizing magnum opus by the acclaimed author of FEED.
It sounds like a fairy tale. He is a boy dressed in silks and white wigs and given the finest of classical educations. Raised by a group of rational philosophers known only by numbers, the boy and his mother — a princess in exile from a faraway land — are the only persons in their household assigned names. As the boy's regal mother, Cassiopeia, entertains the house scholars with her beauty and wit, young Octavian begins to question the purpose behind his guardians' fanatical studies. Only after he dares to open a forbidden door does he learn the hideous nature of their experiments — and his own chilling role in them. Set against the disquiet of Revolutionary Boston, M. T. Anderson's extraordinary novel takes place at a time when American Patriots rioted and battled to win liberty while African slaves were entreated to risk their lives for a freedom they would never claim. The first of two parts, this deeply provocative novel reimagines the past as an eerie place that has startling resonance for readers today.
Average Rating: 
Rating:  -
I am an author of young adult novels. I also do school presentations, and am in constant contact with teachers. This book should be marketed as an adult reading level book, not YA. Its language is extremely technical/scientific, with extremely long words and long sentences. I can not see any young people enjoying, or even completing this book if their teacher assigns it as required reading.
Rating: -
As future teachers we read The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing: Traitor to the Nation.
While there are many slave narrative tales available, this novel offers a few unique advantages over others;this piece of historical fiction is written with challenging diction and syntax in the style of colonial American English, yet it employs short vignettes, making the reading a bit easier and mmore accessible for the young adults of today.
We enjoyed the storyline because the ... Read More
Rating:  -
I enjoyed the first half of the book. It starts off rather mysteriously, the young boy Octavian is treated as a prince, and his mother a queen, in a household which we gradually learn is located in colonial-era Boston. Unfortunately, the fact that his mother is queen results in an emotional distancing between her and Octavian - she seems more concerned with proper airs and appearances rather than showing her true feelings for her son. I think this story would have been a lot more powerful if Octavian ... Read More
Rating: -
I liked the fascinating premise. I liked the voice of the highly intelligent and well educated 18th Century narrator. Be aware this book deals with the harsh reality of being Black in American Colonies around the Revolutionary War. Some events may be disturbing, and rightly so.
Foul Language - None, that I can remember
Sex - At one point there's an attempted rape. Living as a mistress is discussed. All dealt with appropriately.
Violence - Various punishments inflicted on slaves. ... Read More
Rating: -
Although a well thought out and creative plot, Anderson's language at times feels so forced and contrived it hurts.
Realizing that it is only the First Volume, the end is still achingly inconclusive and the character seems to go through somewhat superficial transformation in the reader's eye. (Why exactly must he all of a sudden desert all that he knows? Is this some hormonal product, or a true change of character? Read on to find out!!)
Good effort, medium execution. B/B+
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