A gothic tale becomes all too shockingly real in this mesmerizing magnum opus by the acclaimed author of FEED. It sounds like a fairy tale. He is a boy dressed in silks and white wigs and given the finest of classical educations. Raised by a group of rational philosophers known only by numbers, the boy and his mother -- a princess in exile from a faraway land -- are the only persons in their household assigned names. As the boy's regal mother, Cassiopeia, entertains the house scholars with her beauty and wit, young Octavian begins to question the purpose behind his guardians' fanatical studies. Only after he dares to open a forbidden door does he learn the hideous nature of their experiments -- and his own chilling role in them. Set against the disquiet of Revolutionary Boston, M. T. Anderson's extraordinary novel takes place at a time when American Patriots rioted and battled to win liberty while African slaves were entreated to risk their lives for a freedom they would never claim. The first of two parts, this deeply provocative novel reimagines the past as an eerie place that has startling resonance for readers today. Winner of the National Book Award
Anderson is a master at taking popular culture iconography, epic and historic themes, and likable characters, adding his own twist, and creating stories that are unique. In this first of a projected two-part saga, narrator Peter Francis James puts flesh on a slave boy being raised by a philosophical cult in Colonial Boston. As Octavian grows, the harsh realities of being a black slave collide with the idealism of the social experiment in which he has been sheltered. Adapting Anderson's novel to audio necessitated leaving out the book's sketches, quill-pen jottings, and other visuals. But Peter Francis James's euphonic reading and smooth cadence add humanness to the uneasy story. This 2006 National Book Award winner is not a pleasant story to hear, but it will provoke deep thinking and expand the listener's horizons. S.E.S. (c) AudioFile 2007, Portland, Maine
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