The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing Volume II, by M. T. Anderson

I started reading this a while ago, but then I got a bunch of books from the library so I set it down for a few weeks. It took me multiple hours, but I finished it today because it's overdue, I'll be gone for most of next week, and I didn't want to return it and have to wait to finish it later. Oh, and because it was good, and stuff.

Novel: The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing, Traitor to the Nation: Volume II, The Kingdom on the Waves, written by M. T. Anderson

Because it isn't a good book title unless you are out of breath after saying it. :)

It's Like: I don't read historical fiction often (though I enjoy it!), so I cannot think of another novel or novels to compare it to. It's a lot like the first volume, obviously, but I suppose that doesn't help if you haven't read the first one.

Summary: Volume II starts off exactly where the previous one left off, Octavian escaping with Dr. Trefusis to Boston. Together they fend for themselves: Octavian finding a job as a violinist while Dr. Trefusis slowly recovers from various ailments. After a rebel attack on Boston, the two set out for Lord Dunmore and his promise to free any slaves that will fight for the British side. The rest of the novel is Octavian documenting his life as a soldier for the British army.

Notes: To be honest, I really only have one note. I talked a lot about M. T. Anderson's writing style in my post about Volume I and everything I said there applies to Volume II as well. What I'd like to focus on in this post is the base idea of the story. As an American, I learned about the Revolutionary War from the point of the colonists and how their bravery, determination, and love of liberty led to their victory over the British. Of course, we know a lot of "rebels," as they are referred to in this novel, were hypocrites, crying for freedom and liberty while disregarding the humanity of slaves. It is still very eye-opening, though, to hear what African Americans thought of the rebels and White people in general during this time and some horrible things the Americans did during the Revolutionary War. It's a lot to think about while reading. The contradictory nature of both the Americans and the British is discussed well in the Author's Note (which is why I read everything in the book, including acknowledgments, and this practice is something I'm going to devote a whole post to). I found one of the last paragraphs helpful in figuring out what I wanted to say:

"Yes, our Revolutionary forefathers espoused a vexed and even contradictory view of liberty. But it is easy to condemn the dead for their mistakes. Hindsight is cheap, and the dead can't argue. It is harder to examine our own actions and to ask what abuses we commit, what conspicuous cruelties we allow to afford our luxuries, which of our deeds will be condemned by our children's children when they look back upon us. We, too, are making decisions. We, too, have our hypocrisies, our systems of shame."

It's easy to find fault with people on both sides of the fight, the Americans and the British, the African Americans and the White people, but we cannot do anything about the past. As John Green loves to point out, novels are written to imagine other people more complexly, and in the process, ourselves. I found by analyzing the past and its players, I was able to understand myself better.

Recommendation: As you may have realized by reading my above note, you are going to have to do a lot of thinking while reading this novel, and not just because its written in ye olde English. If you have made it to the end of this post and are not dozing off from boredom, then you will probably enjoy this novel. But make sure you read Volume I first! :)