A Tale of Two Long-Titled Books.

Over spring break, I had the opportunity to go to a Borders bookstore near my town that was closing due the fact that Borders is mostly bankrupt.  (I am very upset that this particular Borders is closed, because getting to the Barnes and Noble in the same town is a nightmare, at least for a driving-phobic person like me.)  At any rate, everything was, of course, on clearance, so I beelined for the Young Adult section, which was by this point mostly picked over, and just walked along the shelves, picking out books that I’d heard of but never read, or that looked interesting.

Among my spoils that day were two long-titled books: The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing, Traitor to the Nation, Book I: The Pox Party (M.T. Anderson), and The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks (E. Lockhart).  I didn’t end up reading the two books until a couple of weeks ago, but the speed with which I read the two volumes should definitely speak to their overall quality.

Octavian Nothing is historical fiction, set in and around Boston in the time of the American Revolutionary War.  Octavian Nothing is a young man who has been raised by a mysterious group of philosophers.  As he enters adolescence and the stirrings of revolution begin in Boston, Octavian’s life begins to change dramatically.

One of the things that is most striking about this book is the manner in which it is written.  It’s one of those books that sneakily purports to be truth; the cover and some notes in the front note that the book is composed of papers that were recovered, collected, and arranged by author M.T. Anderson.  It’s a sentiment you might be inclined to believe–the style of the writing meticulously mimics the style of the late eighteenth century, and it varies between the various documents.  Octavian’s own narrative (which comprises most of the novel) is strikingly different from the letters of more uneducated people seen later in the novel.  There were times when I honestly believed the book’s claim that it was merely arranged, the writing was so believably antique.

The plot of the novel is rather slowly paced, but it is honestly more of a slow burn than actual dullness.  The strangeness of Octavian’s circumstances are engrossing enough on their own, and I was honestly drawn in even more as his hardships increased.  While the book does end on something of a cliffhanger, I haven’t yet obtained the second volume, but I’ll be sure to review it if and when I do.

The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks is an entirely different book.  It’s a modern-day novel, set in the environs of an exclusive private high school, where, over the course of just a couple of years, Frankie Landau-Banks goes from a shy, nerdy girl to, as the back of the book puts it, “possibly a criminal mastermind.”  That was enough of a hook to get me to pick up the book, and I’m really glad that I stuck with it after the first chapter.

The plot is basically about young Frankie’s second year at her exclusive private high school, and it involves her discovery of the school’s exclusively male secret society and what she does about it.  That’s a totally inadequate description of what actually happens in the book, but believe me when I say it’s worth it.  I was afraid, after the first couple of chapters, that the book was going to be a fairly typical teen romance, but the quirky writing style (a third person narrator who notes how many seconds it takes for Frankie to formulate a response to questions posed her by the guy she likes) kept me reading.  By the time the book started examining the gender dynamics of male-female relationships, and the unwritten “rules” the govern polite society, I was hooked.  This book is a delight pretty much from start to finish, and it asks questions about relationships that need asking (though it doesn’t offer easy answers).

In short: I recommend both of these books very highly.  Go check them out!

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