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A review by thepancreas11
The Pox Party by M.T. Anderson
2.0
It was better than I thought it would be, but I don't know that I would recommend it. The beginning is weird in ways that I would have trouble defending (see the fecal diary), and it's not one of those books that sticks with you, per se.
It's a shame because there are a lot of good things going on here. I liked the ending most of all. I thought the idea of telling Octavian's story through a mixture of testimony and secondhand accounts demonstrated the dichotomy between Octavian's fight for liberty and the American fight for liberty and the hypocrisy of the "all men are created equal" mentality of the Revolution. I wish that more of the story was told in this way. I especially wish that the fecal diary thing had been in passing and not so much a focus. It would be more powerful if Mr. Gitney was like, "And his feces were normal today." That would be disturbing and comical and the implications would make me curious rather than grossed out.
In the end, there are some very poignant moments and some extraordinary storytelling marred by the meandering plots and overall lack of developed secondary characters. I would read an autobiography of Dr. Trefusis, for example, but I only caught some glimpses of him.
It's a shame because there are a lot of good things going on here. I liked the ending most of all. I thought the idea of telling Octavian's story through a mixture of testimony and secondhand accounts demonstrated the dichotomy between Octavian's fight for liberty and the American fight for liberty and the hypocrisy of the "all men are created equal" mentality of the Revolution. I wish that more of the story was told in this way. I especially wish that the fecal diary thing had been in passing and not so much a focus. It would be more powerful if Mr. Gitney was like, "And his feces were normal today." That would be disturbing and comical and the implications would make me curious rather than grossed out.
In the end, there are some very poignant moments and some extraordinary storytelling marred by the meandering plots and overall lack of developed secondary characters. I would read an autobiography of Dr. Trefusis, for example, but I only caught some glimpses of him.