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Round 3 Match 1 The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing, Traitor to the Nation, Volume II: The Kingdom on the Waves vs ChainsApril 28, 2009
Judge Linda Sue Park's Statement Historical fiction: Check. U.S. Revolutionary War setting: Check. U.S. Revolutionary War from a perspective not usually seen: Check. Black protagonist: Check. First-person narrative: Check. Primary-source quotations as prologue to chapters or sections: Check. Said quotations and the text itself providing staggering evidence of research: Check. Terrific writing by award-winning author: Check. In comparison challenges such as this one, the analogy “apples to oranges” is often used. (Used less often is “apples to elephants.”) I didn’t get apples to oranges. I got apples to apples, Rhode Island Greening versus Northern Spy: Difficult as it may be to credit, the entire list above applies to both of the books I read for the challenge. Now for the fine print. The first volume of The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing (The Pox Party) was chosen as the National Book Award winner in 2006. I, dear readers, was on the panel that so chose. The possibility for bias on my part cannot be denied. But for good or ill? While my fondness for Volume I could be seen as an advantage toward a positive response to Volume II, I must also state that it is rare for me to find a sequel to a beloved book as satisfying as its predecessor. So I honestly believe that it’s a wash. As a reader, I look for two things in a story. First, I want compelling-ness. I want to become so engaged in the narrative that I stay up too late reading; abandon my to-do list; take the book into the bathroom with me. Second, I want sticky. I want the story to stick in my mind the next day and the next week, and still be there when I check back the next month and the next year and even years hence. I want to be thinking about it long after it goes back to the library.* In other words, a book has to be both entertaining and thought-provoking. *In this case, I was provided with copies of both books, thank you publishers. But hopefully you get the point. Although it has not yet been years since I read these books, I think I can safely wager that they will both stand up to the sticky test, in large part because they take a slice of history I thought I knew well and turn it on its side, making me view it from a new angle. This is in itself memorable. Of the two main characters, Isabel in Chains took longer to win me over. In the first few pages, her voice kept eluding me. There was a disconcerting amount of distance produced by wordiness of the diction and especially, overdescription of the particulars (a dreaded pitfall of the first-person POV), which kept her at arm’s length. Early on, the book was not passing my compelling-ness test. As the plot picked up, Isabel’s sentence structure got snappier, her observations tauter and more immediate, and by the end of the book, she had me in her pocket. Octavian, too, uses a formal diction, but with remarkable control and consistency. From the very beginning, the reader is immersed in 18th-century English vernacular to the point where the language is not only a discrete element that illuminates character and setting, as it is in the hands of most (competent) writers, but also becomes inseparable from the texture of the story itself. This is technique so ambitious and accomplished that it leaves me in awe. It’s akin to the vigorous rigor with which words are used in great poetry—except that Octavian has to sustain it for 561 pages. (That the reader needs to be equally rigorous is both risk and reward.) Just as summarizing a poem sucks the guts out of it, a summary of Octavian fails utterly to convey its essence. Well-written and well-researched historical fiction is among my favorite genres, and readers of all ages are fortunate that it is not the first time the author of Chains has turned her hand to exploring the past. Chains, like Fever 1793, should be on the shelves of every school and public library in the land. Octavian, however, is much more than solid historical fiction, as has already been pointed out by Messrs. Sutton and Wynne-Jones. It stretches boundaries, raises the bar, explodes expectations, and causes some reader-critics to frantically mix metaphors in an effort to do the book justice. (The only other book on the Battle list to achieve something similar is Tender Morsels. In my opinion of course, Coe.) It may well be that among young readers, Chains will prove the more popular of the two titles; certainly it is the more accessible. When I write, I spare a thought for that audience now and then. But not when I read: I am the most selfish of readers. The implicit question behind all of my reading is, What’s in it for me? It is usually on finishing a book that I morph from reader back to writer. When I close a good book, I often sigh and think, Wow, that was great. I want to write something like that. When I closed Octavian, I gaped instead, and thought, Wow, that was great. I could never write something like that—but I’m gonna die trying. Astonishing books like Octavian help keep me from the danger of complacency in my writing, which can creep up on me unawares. That is among the greatest of gifts a book can give a reader who is also a writer. Which means that I now have to type the full title. The winner: The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing, Traitor to the Nation, Vol. II: The Kingdom on the Waves.
 What’s in it for me? Me, me, me! What kind of attitude is that, Linda Sue? Isn’t this all about the kids? Didn’t you go to your local shopping mall and poll Real Live Kids? Isn’t that why we got all you high profile authors, anyway? So you could parrot our circulation stats back to us? I mean, really! I’m one match away from writing an expose about the whole thing: Has the Battle of the (Kids’) Books Lost Its Way? Scandalous! Don’t feel too bad for Chains, though. A National Book Award nomination and the Scott O’Dell Award are pretty nifty consolation prizes, and given all the awards the first book received, The Kingdom on the Waves is one of the most underappreciated books of the year; it advances to meet a similarly undervalued book in the championship round. Will it be The Hunger Games or The Lincolns?
Posted by Battle Commander on April 28, 2009 | Comments (6)
April 28, 2009
In response to: Round 3 Match 1 The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing, Traitor to the Nation, Volume II: The Kingdom on the Waves vs Chains Anna B commented: I am loving this conversation but am so, so distressed that every time Octavian is discussed, people jump to say that the book isn't for kids, or that all kids won't like it, etc and etc. Implied in these criticisms are two ideas that are, to my mind, extremely problematic. The first is that the book is somehow beyond *any* young reader. Of course it’
April 28, 2009
In response to: Round 3 Match 1 The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing, Traitor to the Nation, Volume II: The Kingdom on the Waves vs Chains Anna B commented: So sorry for the second try--most got cut off??
April 28, 2009
In response to: Round 3 Match 1 The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing, Traitor to the Nation, Volume II: The Kingdom on the Waves vs Chains Alison commented: Undervalued? The Kingdom on the Waves received a Printz Honor award!
April 28, 2009
In response to: Round 3 Match 1 The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing, Traitor to the Nation, Volume II: The Kingdom on the Waves vs Chains bestbook commented: Hands down, it goes it should go to The Hunger Games!
April 28, 2009
In response to: Round 3 Match 1 The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing, Traitor to the Nation, Volume II: The Kingdom on the Waves vs Chains Jonathan Hunt commented: Yeah, but the first book received a Printz Honor in addition to the National Book Award, the Boston Globe-Horn Book Award, and a Los Angeles Times Book Prize nomination. It's all relative, isn't it?
April 29, 2009
In response to: Round 3 Match 1 The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing, Traitor to the Nation, Volume II: The Kingdom on the Waves vs Chains Wendy commented: And I have a hard time thinking of The Hunger Games as "undervalued"; it's doing terrifically well in sales and fame. Surely you're not hinting that it ought to have won Newbery or Printz honors?
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