Book 6 - The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing, Traitor to the Nation: Volume 1 - The Pox Party

Octavian Nothing by M.T. Anderson was another challenging and thought-provoking read where I got much more than I expected.

Octavian, son of an African princess, is raised by a group of radical Bostonian philosophers. Supplied with the best classical education, and with his mother held in high regard with the group, it is a long time before he realises the true nature of his situation. He is a slave, and the subject of an experiment to see whether the savages of Africa have the potential to equal Europeans in intellect, or whether they are genetically inferior.

The events of the American Revolution eventually intrude upon the philosopher's oblivious society. With the loss of their British patron, the society relies on the funding of a group of Americans who wish to uphold the practice of slavery, and therefore see Octavian fail. Pushed to breaking point, he escapes and joins the Patriots in their fight against the British. But he soon realises that the cause of Liberty has distinctly different definitions for black men than it does for white.

The story is narrated by Octavian, and his classical education and intellect provide the vehicle through which many insightful observations and comments can be made. There is also a section narrated by an idealistic young patriot who befriends Prince - his naive belief in the cause of liberty for all is a stark contrast to the more sophisticated and world-weary views of Octavian and his owners.

There are so many intriguing themes running through this novel, I hardly know where to begin. There is the satirical parody of 18th century philosophical societies, the deeply challenging issues of race and rank, the nature of education at the time and more. The most challenging and confusing element for me was the Revolution. I've never had much of an interest in this aspect of American history, and at first tended to confuse it with the Civil War - especially since in this case it was being viewed through the context of race and slavery. As the story progresses the Patriots start to look less like heroes and more like hypocritical slave masters bent on maintaining the system by sending their slaves to die on their behalf.

This is the first of two volumes, although it reads quite well on its own (the second won't be out till later this year). It has deservedly won several awards. Octavian Nothing, like The Book Thief, is one of a burgeoning genre of literature written and marketed for Young Adults but of equal interest and relevance to adults. Its author, M.T. Anderson, also wrote another book, Feed, that I found deeply thought-provoking and will appeal to sci-fi lovers and consumer culture haters. I highly recommend both.

Book 5 - Tomorrow They Will Kiss

Tomorrow They Will Kiss by Eduardo Santiago was a bit of a risk read. I picked it up off the library's new books display, mainly because of the rather lurid cover. It actually looks pretty raunchy to me - something about the high-contrast colours I guess. But the story actually turned out to be intriguing and the characters really made it.

Three Cuban women share their stories - from growing up together in the village of Palmagria to working the same conveyor belt in a doll factory in New Jersey. Graciela is a free spirit, a woman who lives life to the full and wants to leave her past, with its mistakes, behind. Imperio and Caridad are two judgemental women who are quite happy to remember Graciela's past for her, and pounce upon every move she makes in trying to forge a new life in America.

The key to this novel is the three voices - the chapters cycle through each woman's narrative. Graciela focuses on the present and the future, which the other two fill in the history of their life in Cuba. Each perspective is entirely subjective - the reader must decide what is "truth" by assessing each woman's narration of the event taking into account her character and perspective.

I also learned a lot about the Cuban revolution and the migrant experience of middle-class Cubans - the book is set in the years just before and after the revolution in 1969. The heady excitement of the revolution was quickly followed by cold reality as they were stripped of their possessions. The poverty grew worse as the US trade embargo struck. Getting permission to leave the country was a year-long ordeal. As soon as the application was made an official would come and make a catalogue of every item in the house - and if anything was missing or broken when the application finally went through a year later, then permission might be refused.

Imperio and Caridad speak of returning to Cuba "soon" and cling to their old ways. Graciela is the only one with the courage to create an American life. Their situation - and that of many Cubans - is made all the more poignant by the fact that it is only now, 48 years on, that Fidel Castro has retired and the Castro brothers' grip on Cuba is loosening.

Book 4 - The Stone Key

The Stone Key was the book I waited 8 years for. And I think it was worth the wait. It's book 5 in the Obernewtyn Chronicles by Isobelle Carmody, and you really do have to go out and read the other four first. Which you should anyway, they're really good books.

The series is set in a post-nuclear holocaust world which has essentially reverted to a medieval way of life, complete with oppressive rulers and religious fanatics. The protagonist, Elspeth Gordie, is an orphan and a Misfit - she has a range of psychic talents including telepathy and beast-speaking. Misfits are burned at the stake - or sent to Obernewtyn, which is where Elspeth ends up. As the series progesses she and a group of misfits take control of Obernewtyn and gradually set about redefining the power structures of the land and the place of Mistfits in it. Elspeth also has a secret destiny - to find and destroy the Machines that created the holocaust in the first place - and a secret nemesis who wants to finish what the holocaust began.

Obernewtyn was Isobelle Carmody's first novel, and it's fascinating to see her growing sophistication as a writer. The plots of each book grow increasingly intertwined and complex (not to mention long) and the enormous cast of characters display complex motivations. Not the least is Elspeth herself. Being the narrator, the reader has the greatest insight into her thoughts - and yet she is definitely not 100% perfect or even that likeable. That said, she - and the books - are most definitely compelling. The Stone Key is no exception - as I mentioned earlier I blew through all 1000 pages in a week, and that's pretty unusual even for me. So get out there and read these books!

Book 3 - From Baghdad with Love.

From Baghdad with Love by Lt Col. Jay Copelman and Melinda Roth has the tagline "A marine, the War, and a Dog Named Lava". On the surface it looks like a nice animal story, but it actually paints a confronting image of an American soldier's experience of war. The premise is quite simple - some marines rescue a puppy while on patrol in Fallujah and one in particular takes it upon himself to get it out of Iraq despite the strict rules against it.

"General Order 1 -A is taken pretty seriously by the military. No pets allowed. That's because they've invested a lot of time and money into trashing your moral clarity, and they don't want anything like compassion messing things up. Your job is to shoot the enemy, period, and if anything close to compassion rears its ugly head, you better shoot that down too, or you're in some deep scary shit."

(p 31)

It's the "deep scary shit" that makes this memoir so interesting - the ethical and moral dilemmas that Kopelman and no doubt many other soldiers struggle with while serving in the mess that has become the Iraq war. Here is someone who believed in the cause of the invasion, but has also seen the death, destruction and civil war that it unleashed on the men, women and children of Iraq first-hand.

Frankly, as a pacifist Aussie I can't even begin to grasp what goes through the heads of the people who live and serve in Iraq, or any of the other hotspots in this world. But this book offers a glimps. I pray that one day no one will ever have to live with the consequences with being ordered to shoot another person - or even a puppy.

PS Lava makes it.

Interlude: More recommendations

For those interested in my dilemma, I ended up reading The Stone Key. AND I managed all 1000 pages in a week, thank you!

However, I am now guilty of being two reviews behind.....I will post them tomorrow, after my birthday party tonight.

And thankyou to my friend David, who is not only planning to read some of the books I review (which I hope he will comment on), but also provided me with some more recommendations:

...In no particular order:
Executioner's Song, Norman Mailer(or his new one, Castle In The Forest)
Witches of Eastwick, John Updike
Stardust, Neil Gaiman(one of my favourite books of all time)
Stand on Zanzibar, John Brunner(Good luck getting through it in a week though! 600+ pages)
Naked Lunch, William S Burroughs
Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep (aka Bladerunner), Philip K Dick(or any of his short story anthologies)
Bonfire of the Vanities, tom Wolfe(or My Name is Charlotte Simmons)
Wicked, Gregory Mcguire(Elpheba ... how I love thee!)
Fahrenheit 451, Ray Bradbury
Labyrinths, Jorge Luis Borges
Children of Men, by P.D.James
Grapes of Wrath, John Steinbeck
Complete Stories of Dorothy Parker
Short stories of Harlan Ellison
Anything by Kurt Vonnegut
Anything by Terry Pratchett
Okay, I could go on and on and on ... but I'll stop there.