Sara's Library: The Suburb Beyond the Stars

The Suburb Beyond the Stars by M.T. Anderson
Book two of the Norumbegan quartet
Scholastic 2010
B-

Summary from Goodreads: "Something very strange is happening in Vermont. It's not The Game of Sunken Places - Brian and Gregory have been through that before, and there's not supposed to be another Game until they say there's a Game. But still . . . when they go to visit a relative in the Vermont woods, they find many things are . . . off. Like, people aren't where they're supposed to be. And houses are everywhere. In fact, the houses seem to be taking over."

Review: First of all, this is a sequel to The Game of Sunken Places, which I never posted about here as I read it during (and for) library school.  While it certainly helps to read the first book in the series, enough of the plot from the previous book is recapped here for those who may not have read it.  It's been well over a year since I read the first one, and after the first couple of chapters, I had no problem following along.

In the first book, two boys from Boston, Brian and Gregory, go to Vermont to visit Gregory's relatives and end up playing a real-life game involving elves, trolls, and the like in order to help a race called the Norumbegans prevent another race, the Thusser, from invading.  Brian wins the game at the end of the first installment, and thus it now falls to him to prepare the next stage of the game.

And this is where our story begins.  Except that one of the robots for Brian's game tries to kill him and the fae creating the automatons is missing.  So Brian and Gregory return to Vermont to ask the advice of his cousin, Prudence, who was the previous winner before Brian.  But things are not what they seem in Vermont.  Prudence, too, is missing, and time seems to move at a changeable pace.  And a dead man is selling real estate.

Since Mr. Anderson is the author of one of my absolute favorite young adult novels (The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing, Traitor to the Nation), I always tend to be a bit disappointed by his middle grade fare.  It's not that it's bad, by any means.  But one can easily tell that he finds it difficult to write for this age group, as opposed to his young adult works, where he doesn't have to reign himself in.

While the first book in the series was pretty standard fantasy, this second installment has some interesting horror elements, including people being absorbed into walls, a flying wraith-like creature, and a living home hungry for its occupants.  It's in these terror-driven scenes that Mr. Anderon's prose really shines here.  Younger readers may be disturbed by some of the imagery he describes, so be forewarned.

My only real complaint was with the structure of the chapters, most of which were between 4 and 10 pages. Nearly every chapter ended on a cliff-hanger, which was promptly resolved at the beginning of the next chapter.  I realize that this is a children's book, but I felt it would have been more successful had Mr. Anderson heightened the tension.

The third installment is available and promises to keep with the darker tone introduced here.  No announcement has yet been made about the final volume.

"What an incomprehensible machine is Man!" -- Jean Nicolas Demeunier

The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing, Traitor to the Nation Vol. I & II
by M.T. Anderson
National Book Award 2006 (Vol. I), Printz Honor Book 2007 (Vol. I), Prinz Honor Book 2009 (Vol. II)

When I first read Octavian Nothing last year after receiving the books for Christmas, both volumes quickly became two of my favourite works for young adults (surpassed only by the His Dark Materials trilogy). In my book club, volume one had been nominated twice, losing both times by only one vote, before finally winning after its third nomination. I had been wanting to re-read the books for some time now, but book club gave me an excuse to put aside new books in order to do so.

The premise of the novel concerns a young boy, called Octavian, who is being raised by the Novanglian College of Lucidity in Boston in the years leading up to the Revolutionary War. His mother, Cassiopeia, claims to be a princess, and the boy is taught Greek, Latin, music, etc. as any child of the nobility might. Things are not as they seem, however, as Octavian and his mother are actually African slaves, and the boy is taught in the classical method as an experiment in which the collegians are attempting to determine if Africans are as mentally capable as their European counterparts.

After his mother rebuffs the sexual advances of a nobleman from whom the college hopes to receive investments, both she and Octavian lose many of their previous privileges, though Octavian's schooling does continue in part.

The latter half of the first volume and the entirety of the second detail Octavian's involvement in the Revolutionary War, first on the side of the rebels and later as a member of Lord Dunmore's Ethiopian Regiment. While the beginnings of Mr. Anderson's work asks its audience to question the so-called benevolence of the College, this latter half is even more philosophical, asking what liberty is and whether it can truly be bestowed upon humanity so long as governments exists.

An epistolary novel, both volumes are mainly comprised of the diary entries of Octavian Nothing, as well as various letters, advertisements, and other documents that aid the telling of his tale. As such, Mr. Anderson does a truly brilliant job making his audience believe that this journal was written in the 1700's, using archaic spelling and grammar. While this might cause the work to be viewed as difficult to the average teenage reader, I think Mr. Anderson should be commended for his authenticity, as well as for his historical accuracy.

Although such dense language often causes characterization to become lost in the mire, there is no such problem here. The characters are quite vividly portrayed, well thought-out, and, often, sympathetic. The language is such that one can genuinely feel the characters' doubts and hopelessness, as well as their joys. And, given its epistolary nature, I think this is a great accomplishment.

Grade: A+