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This is a brilliant book. Truly, truly brilliant—full of important ideas and hard truths about slavery and freedom, and about the essential core of what America was built on, and for. Furthermore, it’s incredibly well-written, with not one but several unique narrative voices, and a wonderful flair for subtle, chilling symbolism.
It is also so fucking painful I could barely get through it.
The reality of Octavian’s situation—as slave, as experiment—is so brutal that I had to force myself to keep re ...more
It is also so fucking painful I could barely get through it.
The reality of Octavian’s situation—as slave, as experiment—is so brutal that I had to force myself to keep re ...more
Erm. So far, this doesn't mean much to me. I was going to give it until Nancy's Rule of 50 (Read 50 pages, and if by p. 50 you don't like it, stop reading it), but because the margins are so wide and the lines are so spaced out, I'm going to give it to p. 100. It's got 37 pages left.
... So I gave it to page 100, but having not put a new book into my bag for my bus ride, I was still stuck with this the following Monday morning. I skimmed about 5 pages, then Things Happened. It was new and "Ooh, w ...more
... So I gave it to page 100, but having not put a new book into my bag for my bus ride, I was still stuck with this the following Monday morning. I skimmed about 5 pages, then Things Happened. It was new and "Ooh, w ...more
I was completely intrigued by the idea of this book--a young black boy who grows up during the American Revolution with a classical education believing he and his mother are royalty discovers that he is the subject of an experiment to prove that Africans are of lesser intellect than whites. Yet when I first started reading this book, the language was so reminiscent of 18th century writing I had to read in college that I wondered how horrible it would be to read this entire book. However, I soon
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This has been on my "to read" list since it was published. It is a great piece of historical fiction set during Revolutionary War times from the perspective a slave living in Massachusetts who grew up with a classical education--learning Greek and Latin, educated, played the violin, etc. It was a fascinating, intriguing book. Now I need to read Book 2.
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This book is fantastic. Really wonderful writing and fascinating premise. One of the best books I've read this year.
I found it in the weirdest way: the author read a passage at a poetry reading I was at, and I was intrigued enough to go track it down -- and it ended up being a totally different story than I thought. Set in Revolutionary Boston (and I'm not even a huge historical fiction fan), it's narrated primarily by a boy being raised in a household of philosophers and given a classical educa ...more
I found it in the weirdest way: the author read a passage at a poetry reading I was at, and I was intrigued enough to go track it down -- and it ended up being a totally different story than I thought. Set in Revolutionary Boston (and I'm not even a huge historical fiction fan), it's narrated primarily by a boy being raised in a household of philosophers and given a classical educa ...more
A truly incredible work of historical fiction about slavery, philosophy, and the American Revolution, with a unique narrative voice. It's not an easy book to read, but it is so very worth the effort.
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Outstanding novel about one boy's experience of slavery during the revolutionary war. He is raised as an experimental subject, given a strenuous classical education, many luxuries, no freedom, and little kindness. When his situation worsens to that of an ordinary house slave, he must somehow cope with a life of slavery in the midst of a war for freedom.
This book has a slow start, so may be a hard sell to teens. It will hook them if they persevere a bit. ...more
This book has a slow start, so may be a hard sell to teens. It will hook them if they persevere a bit. ...more
Mar 23, 2008
Lisa Vegan
marked it as to-read
May 13, 2009
Colleen
marked it as to-read
Sep 11, 2010
Lisa
marked it as to-read
Oct 06, 2014
Shante
marked it as to-read
