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

" this was written by a visiting professor when my daughter was in grad school "

" An impressive, admirable book, but not enjoyable for me. The language, supposedly historically accurate, drove me nuts, and I can put up with a lot of abstract poetic crap. Or at least I have in the past; it seems my patience is thinning. The heavy frame (four sections with roman numerals, fancy titles, epigraphs) and the different made-up manuscript sources weigh down the story. But I guess that's the point-- style is substance here. "

" This book is historical fiction. But the only people who love it are fantasy-lovers. I love fantasy and I love this book. "

" M.T. Anderson tells a compelling story of an boy, raised to be a classical thinker, who also happens to be black in revoltionary America.Freedom is not such an easy word. "

" I picked this up sort of on the recommendation of John Green, who mentioned it in a vlog. The book, and the characters represented, was well-developed, detailed, and thought-provoking. I enjoyed the book's themes, and the transformation of Octavian, but it took me a long time to get into the language of the book. I haven't decided yet if I am going to pick up the next one... "

" The truth is, I haven't finished the book - I've just finished reading it. It's so bleak and so wordy that I've given up the will to live. May go back to it in time, as the language is so beautiful. "

" Because I was hurried in reading this book, it took me awhile to appreciate the writing and theme of this book. I did enjoy it, and appreciate it, by the end. "

" Very interesting book, I will read the second in the series. "

" I shouldn't put this on my "read" list because I couldn't get even twenty pages into it. Wordy, pretentious, boring. "

" This was an amazing way to go back in time. I really loved this book and look forward to more from this author. "

" Bizarre yet wonderful. Very intense. "

" This was just OK for me! "

" A captivating and unusual book that I could barely put down. It's marketed for YA readers but the complexity of language and sometimes horrifying and tragic content lead me to think it's best suited for young adults who are already very engaged with books. "

" This probably deserves four stars -- it's really well written -- but I was under the (mistaken) impression it was going to be science fiction, so unfortunately spent the whole book feeling somewhat cheated. Not the book's fault, but there you go. "

" took me a bit to get into it, but i soon found myself completely rapt. i had no idea what i was in for when i began (but for some vague ideas), but found myself utterly moved and considerably inspired by the end. mt anderson: i am impressed! go multigenres! "

" Not surprised this book won so many awards. I don't want to give anything away but you should read this book and try not to learn too much about what the book is about ahead of time. The plot unfolds so brilliantly it would be a shame to ruin it. "

" I'm not sure "liked it" is the right choice for this book. It was disturbing and fascinating. Until about halfway through, I found it slow; after that, I found that I was caught, even though I still wouldn't necessarily say I liked it. But it was compelling enough I'm going to read the second one... "

" I needed to read a chapter or two to become accustomed to the 18th-century language. This is not a casual read. But this is definitely worth the effort! A very powerful look at slavery and the Revolutionary War. "

" This one had a lot of good buzz, but ultimately it fell a bit flat for me. It's well written, but I had trouble caring about anything and the story seemed to have little point. It doesn't help that the narration of the character's life changes halfway through. "

" such an unusual slavery story. i listened to the audio book, and i loved it! i couldn't wait to get in my car to listen to the rest of the story. "

" Spoiler Alert for YA club...It's okay. Sorry kind of luke warm about it. "

" I actually really enjoyed this - it's so smart and so serious. The dialect took a lot out of me, though, and if you'd handed this to me ten years ago I'd have read two pages and then never looked at it again. "

" A work of genius, with a astonishing twist. "

" Although I don't care for the shifting point of view, I ended up liking the book. Would like to read the next book at some point just to find out what happened. "

" This was pretty good, just not captivating. "

" Had me 3/4 of the way through, then a change in format and a less clear plot line caused me to lose interest and just want to be finished. No interest in continuing the series. "

" barf. i stopped reading it. did not like. "