Man, it is good to be back. I would have liked to have posted way more over the past few months but school really kicked me in the butt this past semester. Thank god I'm on vacation.
So I just finished reading THE HOUSE OF THE SCORPION by Nancy Farmer, which was leant to me by my boyfriend. I went into it with high expectations after he told me he'd loved it so much he did three book reports on it, which is a pretty big deal because he doesn't read much. Let me just say, my expectations were met. They really were. I loved this book.
I will say, though, that the description on the back doesn't seem (to me) to go with what actually happens. Before I get into that, I'll give you a basic plot summary.
So Matt is a clone of El Patron, who is super evil, but kind to Matt. Matt doesn't wonder at why El Patron loves him but accepts that love graciously because clones are widely hated in this world. What he doesn't realize is that El Patron only loves what Matt can provide for him, which is transplants - anything El Patron might need to continue living beyond his nearly 150 years. This includes a heart transplant, and Matt realizes that El Patron is willing to kill Matt in order to live. Thus, this book is about Matt's struggle for survival.
Okay, so the back of the book stresses both Matt's struggle to survive and his self-discovery as he struggles with the knowledge that clones are like livestock. However, reading the book, I didn't feel like it was about his self-discovery as much as it was about his survival. Sure, he is treated badly because of who he is and he spends a good bit of the first half of the book working this out in his head, but after the middle, and definitely after he runs away from El Patron's estate, I'd say that the issue of his being a clone is widely abandoned except for him having to keep it a secret. After the middle it is a survival story more than anything, except at the end where he is told in basically two or three sentences that clones are still human and it makes him happy. For this reason, I think the back of the book is a bit misleading, as they can sometimes be.
Overall, I really liked that the dialogue in the book was a mix of English and Spanish. Don't worry, people - they translate it for you. But it gave the book a lot of depth, and it made it so much more believable. I hate books and movies alike when they are supposed to live in Mexico or France or whatever and they're still speaking English because they want the audience to understand. That is not realistic. This book, though, was a refreshing compromise. I also liked the wide variety of characters. There's Celia, who takes care of Matt while he is a child and can seem harsh but only out of her deep love for him. My favourite was Tam Lin, the Scottish bodyguard who El Patron gives to Matt for protection and who is kind of like Matt's idol. Maria was also really great, who is Matt's first childhood friend and loves him despite also being told her whole life that clones are not human and that she should treat him accordingly. Then when Matt runs away, there's Fidelito and Chacho, who both compliment the story nicely because they are more like Matt than any of the other characters were.
I definitely think everyone should read this book. There is nothing slow about it. Even when Matt spends six months locked up in a jail cell, the two chapters discussing this go by like lightning. I really loved this book. Thanks to my boyfriend for lending it to me! :)
-Victoria
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