The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing Review

Bibliography
Anderson, M.T. (2006). The astonishing life of Octavian Nothing. Cambridge, MA: Candlewick Press, 351 pp.

Genre and Awards
Historical Fiction/Bildungsroman
National Book Award Finalist (2007)

Synopsis
Octavian, dressed in fine silks and robes, resides with his mother, the exiled Princess Cassiopeia, in a large and quiet house in Boston. In his youth, he realizes that he and his mother are merely guests in a residence filled with philosophers, scientist, and virtuosos; all of which insist they be addressed by numbers instead of names. Octavian is raised in a tumultuous time in Boston, where England has begun to station troops and a revolution is brewing. Anderson details the first conscious years of a young man who silently observes and records history through his child-like and honest lens to a tall and thoughtful teenager who becomes an unlikely hero in the American Revolution.

Evaluation
Anderson effectively uses Octavian's first person narrative to uniquely present facts and surprise readers. Because Octavian is unaware of his stature in the household or the disturbing circumstances that place him among his unusual company, the reader makes discoveries along with Octavian through his matter-of-fact point-of-view. The reader is initially unaware that Octavian is not only black, but that his mother arrived on a slave ship and was purchased like chattel. This does not occur to him because he and his mother are not treated like slaves. They are, in fact, living specimens in a life-long science experiment.

Octavian's detailed observations of slave labor combined with British occupation and colonial unrest paints a vivid picture of pre-revolutionary Boston in all its horror. Anderson breaks apart Octavian's narrative with glaring news posts of arriving slave ships and horrific accounts of lynchings and brutality. Octavian seems to reflect on his youth as an older, wiser person, but the novel breaks to an epistolary form when Octavian is too over-wrought to write after his mother's death. This comes when he is sixteen, has been debunked of his high honor in the home, and is treated as common slave labor. The letters come from a young private serving in a rag-tag militia, who inadvertently takes the grieving Octavian under his wing.

The epistolary section, which disengages Octavian's narrative and pushes forth a new and distinctly American voice, rests more on the observance of Octavian's mannerisms and quiet speech and portrays the battles and skirmishes as the occur. Private Evidence Goring relates the grisly truths as he sees them, much like Octavian relates his past. He gives the reader a detailed account of their march and treads into the anxious waiting and uncertainty that the inexperienced revolutionaries are feeling.

Anderson switches back to Octavian's narrative when he is discovered among the militia and escorted back to his masters. Octavian leaves the reader as a young man, having escaped to freedom once again with the help of one his former teachers, embarking on an uncertain journey with tones of trepidation and excitement.

Octavian Nothing breaks from a typical slave narrative in that the main character does not fear for his lot or feel anything towards his masters. He remains the aloof observer; considering himself detached from the African-American community instead of a part of it. He empathizes with the other slaves in the household but continues to set himself apart from them. This is largely due to the fact that Octavian is extremely well-educated and has formed a disengaged-self called the Observer. In an essence, Octavian the specimen has become Octavian the scientist. He is vessel, recording and saving an unbiased history that is usually never heard or spoken of.

Classroom Use
I would use this as a whole-class novel or an individual choice. It may also be used in conjunction with Johnny Tremain.

Appropriate Age
This novel will probably resonate best with a more mature audience. I would try high-achieving juniors or seniors in high-school.

Personal Reactions
I enjoy historical fiction and found this novel to be quite different from anything else I had read. I found it difficult to peg as a slave narrative, yet it doesn't quite fit as a war narrative. Nevertheless, I truly enjoyed it. Anderson can be quite wordy sometimes in his scientific journal entries (which are very slow and disgusting), but you must pay attention to his sharp detail. Colonial Boston, post-occupation, has never been so vividly depicted as it was in Octavian Nothing. The small sub-plotted mysteries amid impeding war created a rather quick a engaging read, especially through Private Goring's letters home. This certainly wasn't my favorite young adult novel, but I did like it quite a bit. I would recommend it to anyone wishing to seek out alternative, multicultural views and for (of course) history buffs yearning to hear a previously unrecorded voice.