The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing, Volume 1: Pox Party by M.T. Anderson

If you came to this novel by way of M.T. Anderson’s Whales on Stilts, as I did, you would likely be surprised, but not necessarily disappointed.  It’s like being tricked into reading something you wouldn’t seek out in the first place, and being pleasantly surprised.

Whales on Stilts is silly, campy fun.  The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing is dark.  It was technically recommended to me because I like Neal Stephenson, not because I like M.T. Anderson.

The is set during the beginnings of the American Revolution, through the eyes of a very peculiarly situated slave boy.  He lives in an institute, sort of a misguided Royal Philosophers Society, as a living experiment.

It’s a book of rich historical accuracy, like Stephenson’s Baroque trilogy, and it’s a smooth, if at times disturbing, read.

The Pox Party itself, a several week party held to infect and immunize guests from the Pox, is best described by the author in the afternotes: “Like The Breakfast Club, but with more open sores.”

I shall have to see what else this Mr. Anderson is up to.