The House of the Scorpion

By Nancy Farmer

Newberry Honour Award Winner & National Book Award Winner.

Matt is six years old when he discovers that he is different from other children and other people. To most, Matt isn't considered a boy at all, but a beast, dirty and disgusting. But to El Patron, lord of a country called Opium, Matt is the guarantee of eternal life. El Patron loves Matt as he loves himself - for Matt is himself. They share the exact same DNA.

As Matt struggles to understand his existence and what that existence truly means, he is threatened by a host of sinister and manipulating characters, from El Patron's power-hungry family to the brain-deadened eejits and mindless slaves that toil Opium's poppy fields. Surrounded by a dangerous army of bodyguards, escape is the only chance Matt has to survive. But even escape is no guarantee of freedom . . . because Matt is marked by his difference in ways that he doesn't even suspect.

Praise for The House of Scorpions:
'It's a pleasure to read science fiction that's full of warm, strong characters... that doesn't rely on violence as the solution to complex problems of right and wrong. It's a pleasure to read.' Ursula K. LeGuin
'Fabulous' Diana Wynne Jones

Also by Nancy Farmer:
The Sea of Trolls
Land of the Silver Apples
The Islands of the Blessed
The Lord of Opium

• Language: English
• Publisher: Simon & Schuster UK
• Release date: Aug 1, 2013
• ISBN: 9781471120381

Nancy Farmer

Nancy Farmer has written three Newbery Honor books: The Ear, the Eye and the Arm; A Girl Named Disaster; and The House of the Scorpion, which also won the National Book Award and the Printz Honor. Other books include The Lord of Opium, The Sea of Trolls, The Land of the Silver Apples, The Islands of the Blessed, Do You Know Me, The Warm Place, and three picture books for young children. She grew up on the Arizona-Mexico border and now lives with her family in the Chiricahua Mountains of Arizona.

Reviews for The House of the Scorpion

[akmargie · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

A solid read if at times a bit slow. But what a rich, full world Farmer creates.

[bragan_8 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Matt is the clone of an evil and powerful man, a drug lord who controls a huge chunk of land along what used to be the border between the United States and Mexico. As a clone, Matt is considered less than human and treated accordingly, but fortunately not everybody is on board with this.This book has apparently won a bunch of awards, including the Newbery, and I can see why. The SF tropes it features are pretty familiar by now, maybe even over-familiar, but Farmer handles them really well, in a way that made me almost forget I'd seen them so often before. She does a good job with the world-building, too, letting us gradually come to understand the world Matt was born into, in all its horrors, as he slowly comes to understand it himself. And it is pretty horrible. I'm not sure exactly what age group this is primarily aimed at -- by the writing style and the age of the protagonist by the end of the book, I'd guess middle school and up -- but it strikes me as surprisingly dark for a kids' book. But it's effectively so, and the story, the world, and the characters are engaging and real-feeling. Heck, even the over-the-top evil of the drug lord character somehow feels believable and human.Rating: 4/5, although if this wasn't adult me rating a book whose writing is aimed at kids, I suspect I'd be giving it a half star more.

[mtlkch-1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Just okay - kind of predictable

[neilb5 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I love this book

[robfreeze · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Well written and captivating. The book grabbed me quickly and the characters were well developed. It is a good introspective coming of age story, I recommend it to readers of all ages.

[jarratt_1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

My 13 year-old had to read this during his 8th grade year and suggested I read it also. After having finished it, I'm surprised he enjoyed it as it's a rather slow read. It's not bad, but it didn't do much for me."The House of the Scorpion" takes place in the future, although we're not told when. Young Matt, our protagonist, is a clone of the very wealthy Mexican drug cartel godfather known as El Patron, who's nearly 150 years-old. We follow Matt's sad existence as a very young child who thinks he's no better than livestock because he's a clone. Most clones are used for labor, but Matt, after leaving the small home he's being reared in (and confined to), gets to live at the big mansion and essentially protected because he's El Patron's clone. We eventually find out what Matt's purpose is, and I won't give it away here, but it's pretty chilling.Along the way, Matt meets a motley crew of family members, bodyguards, slaves, etc. who exist at the pleasure of El Patron.The story is pretty dreary; repeatedly so.

[jmoncton_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

The House of the Scorpion has received numerous literary awards and was highly recommended by many goodreads friends. This is a dystopian novel set in a future where cloning is a practice used by many to extend their lives. People create clones for the soul purpose of using them as organ donors when their own bodies begin to age and fail. The clones are classified as animals and receive the same type of treatment. A secondary theme of the book revolves around the setting, a new country which lies between present day US and Mexico. This country produces only one export, the drug opium, which has created a society with a small privileged group of ruling elite and the masses of people/clones who are there to serve them.

This is a book that was a family read aloud with my 11-year old son. Many times, we would stop and discuss some of the issues in the book - cloning, dictators, social strata, drugs - what an amazing book to read with young adults! This would be a perfect book to add to a high school curricululm. For middle graders, there are a lot of very hot topics in this book that they might gloss over if read alone. This story will definitely stay with me.

[victoria22-2 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I enjoyed the suspense and excitement of this book, keeping you reading and hungry for more.

[nrturner_1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

content spoilers: slavery, corporal punishment, child abuse triggers.
If you accept the artful use of dramatic license and the what-if plot premise, this near future narrative feels horrifyingly close.

The chance of a healthy (expected lifespan over 20, usable organs) human clone from a skin sample is much less than 1 in 32. It may be impossible because non-sex cells are specialised.
The vested interests which profit from the supply of drugs to North America would not allow it to be curtailed.
States (or mercenaries) would rush in if there were a power vacuum.
Don't emigrants from the North have guns? The Farm Patrol would be annihilated.


By the ending, the plot threads are resolved, the author throws a bone to readers who desire a happy ending but the future is left open for reader interpretation. If you don't allow dramatic license the ending may seem too convenient or undramatic.

[jrissman_1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

"The House of the Scorpion" is a top-notch book. Although labeled "juvenile fiction," it is perfectly suitable for adults and older children. The book is set in the future in an opium-growing border state between the U.S. and Aztlan (Mexico). The book chronicles the struggles of Matt, clone of the infamous El Patron, the 140-year-old dictator of the opium empire. Farmer builds not one, but two interesting cultures which are at once surprising and alien, and yet plausible outgrowths of the facts of the setting and the reality of human nature. Matt himself is a very deep and complex character who changes tremendously throughout the book (while he progresses from around 6 to over 14 years of age). Farmer clearly has an intuitive grasp of child psychology and is adept at making a hero who is recognizable as a child, yet who embodies meritorious qualities beyond his years. Matt is able to understand and empathize with the needs of others, and though he makes mistakes and suffers prejudice, he nevertheless manages to acquire valuable friends. He is an easy hero to admire.The setting is overwhelmingly dystopian, but it has that strange, elusive quality which makes the reader wonder if he/she might enjoy a visit, or if perhaps living there would at least be more interesting than living in the real world. The story reflects on illegal immigration and drugs, issues which are relevant today, although I do not see any allegory to particular events, people, or political positions.Overall, Farmer has made an exciting, interesting, and unique story of overcoming adversity and growing up in a hostile environment. It's fast-moving and hard to put down, yet it is thoughtful and inspiring. Give it a try.

[satyridae · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Richly imagined, sensitively told tale of a young clone and his coming-of-age. Horrific parts balance with tenderness and the whole is both magical and redemptive. Highly recommended.

[bluepigeon-1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

I enjoyed The House of the Scorpion. I really did. But I had a few problems with it, as well. It certainly is a page turner, which I expected and liked. And it has many characters that are not pure evil or good, which was also good. The mix of Spanish and English, as well as the social and environmental issues in the book make it somewhat unique in the genre, which is awesome. One of the things I didn't enjoy so much was the way the story was told. Most of the time I felt that a younger reader should be reading the book. I realize the genre is YA, so this may be a good thing, but it certainly felt like a story told to a younger audience. The author repeated many things over and over again, and there were many places where things were explained (told instead of shown), which made me want to skip over stuff (which I didn't, but I still felt the urge to do so). So compared to some other YA titles, like the Chaos Walking books or His Dark Materials, I felt the telling of the story fell short of my expectations (for a book that won so many awards).The other thing that bothered me was that there could be, and sometimes should have been, much more. A good example is Tom. What ever happened to Tom? I mean, we know what happened to him, but he was, in many ways, the force that drove Matt to become who he was. Tom was the anti-hero, which in my mind made him indispensable to the story. But no, he was just another member of the family with no significance to Matt in the end... Many things were left undeveloped and some were inexplicable. For example, what is Maria's mom doing in San Luis? And in a society that seems to have morals and ethics, how do the Keepers get away with slave-driving (sure, I see how, dare I say, there are parallels to the way the Keepers make the boys confess their sins and repeat the mantra [Hail Marys, anyone?], alas, in a very communist-like manner, so it is all very confused)? Surely, Matt and his friends are not the first ones to escape and tell the world about this misconception. But wait, they are not; a nun, Sister Inez, I think, actually says she used to be one of the Lost Girls under the "protection" of the Keepers... So wait, wait, wait wait, what? They knew all along? So as I read, many questions like these arose, and they were not answered by the end. I imagine the story continues, and the following books explain some of the confusion? I can explain some of the confusion, explain it away, I mean, but it would be nice to see the author do it.The ending seems too good to be true, which bothered me. But all in all, some characters were memorable, like Fidelito and Tam Lin and Tom. Recommended for those who like poppy fields, music, and long hikes.

[a_reader_of_fictions · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Farmer's book has won many awards, most notably the National Book Award, so you do not need me to tell you whether it is well-written or interesting. Although I had not heard it particularly listed as such, The House of the Scorpion is a dystopian novel. Matt lives in the country of Opium, formed as a barrier to immigration between the United States and Mexico. Opium, as its name implies, earns money almost solely from the export of drugs. The workers are treated even worse than slaves. A steady supply of new workers come from the people in the U.S. hoping for better conditions in Mexico and vice versa. There is no better place: there is only Opium. Mexico has become a communist country, with all of the excesses and hypocrisy that brings.

Although the story was incredibly interesting, I had trouble relating to much to the characters. They all seemed to be driven by only one personality trait, which got quite old. People have more depth than that generally. Matt and El Patron were both driven almost entirely by the desire to preserve their lives, although El Patron includes with his life his hoard. Maria wants to save all creatures who cannot save themselves. Tom only cares about screwing with people. None of the characters were particularly likable, even Maria, who could be too trusting of people despite the evidence to the contrary.

Recommended for fans of dystopia and alternative futures. Especially recommended if you liked Neal Shusterman's Unwind.

[flanneryac · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

This book is great because:
1. It is a young adult book about, I kid you not, every social policy and -ism you can think of--drugs, slavery, cloning, classism, socialism, EVERYTHING
2. I read all 400 or something pages in a day
3. The story is really unique and I wasn't really sure what was going to happen

Anyways, it is basically the story of the clone of the biggest drug lord in a country solely made up of drug farms.

A few people on the book's goodreads page mentioned that the writing was not amazing but, to tell the truth, I never really noticed. And I read. A lot. Some of the female characters are a little bit annoying but that won't stop me from recommending this book to most of my reader friends.

[librarybrandy · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Aside from the whole "Matt's a clone" thing, this doesn't read as particularly science fiction-y. Maybe a little dystopian/alternate future, but the tone feels more like historical fiction--to the extent that the first mention of a hovercraft gives a kind of mental whiplash. The story is a little slow through the first half, but then the pace (and the adventure! intrigue! drama!) picks up. Unfortunately, something in this just never grabbed me. I wanted it to--I was interested in the story, curious where it was going, even enjoying both the writing and narration styles, but I never felt like I connected with the characters. Whether that's a deficit in the writing or in my current concentration levels, I don't know, but overall I'm left with a somewhat mediocre impression. Three, maybe three and a half, stars.

[erinster-1 · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

Only 2 stars because it was truly aimed at very young kids. Though it has an interesting and original dystopian future, set in a series of new feudal kingdoms between the US and Mexico, parts of the plot were extremely contrived. People were bad when the story needed them to be bad and good when making them anything less than helpful would've been too difficult to write. Also there was this weird anti-communism vein.

[ariellamendez · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Genre: science Fiction. This book deals with characters that are clones. Though this is not yet possible, the book limits any disbelief from the reader and explains the science. Plot: In the story the main character is battling agains society. Though he is valuable, he is still a second class citizen because he is a clone.

[marlene9nl · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Finished this book yesterday and I did enjoy it. Glad to discover it is not part of a series.

I liked the writing. Not so sure that I liked the last part of the story but I do recommend giving this book a try. It is different than the now YA dystopian books you see everywhere. A different style. No romance. well maybe a little, but more about friendship. 3.5

[gypsycab79 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

I enjoyed the first two thirds of this book. Matt's life as a clone in a world of non clones and his struggle to understand the difference (if there really was one) was interesting and thought provoking. I feel like the story falls apart when Matt leaves this world. Farmer barely fleshes out the world outside of Opium. Matt's experiences in Aztlan seem rushed because it's hard to grasp how that world operates. At the same time, his time at the plankton farm drags on forever. The end of the book is also too neat. I did enjoy this book, but I can't give it more than three stars. I just feel like Farmer dropped the ball on world building.

[ewyatt_16 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Matt is a clone of el Patron, the leader of a drug cartel in a land called Opium which has been carved out between the United States and what was Mexico. While he is treated as less than human by other members of the family, his caretaker Celia and bodyguard/mentor Tam Lin help to raise him and explain the world around him. As he grows in the household, he gathers information about the family and their many secrets. When he realizes that he isn't destined to take over the drug business and understands his purpose as a clone, Matt flees to save his life. The pacing of the book varies between the his early years in Opium and his escape to an orphanage in Aztlan. The novel raises many questions about ethics, religion, and science.

[krau0098 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I had heard great things about this book and had been wanting to read it for some time. This is a well done science fiction/dystopian novel that touches on a lot of social and political issues such as cloning, slavery, human rights, drug trade, and immortality. I had a bit of trouble engaging with the characters, but it was a fascinating story. A follow up to this book, Lord of Opium, was published in September 2013.Matteo Alacran is a clone harvested from the DNA of the most powerful drug lord in the world, El Patron. He is given the best education and the best living accommodations. Despite this he is forced to continually face the fact that he is not human, he is a clone. In El Patron’s household being a clone makes him something to be feared and scorned. He is there at El Patron’s whim and there to ensure El Patron’s survival. Can he ever escape this life and have one of his own?I know there's been a lot of buzz around this book and it does have some interesting elements and is a well done dystopian book. I think I've just read too many dystopian novels over the last couple years to get super excited about it.Matteo is brought up like a privileged young man, except he has no peers and is continually scorned and ridiculed for his status as a clone. Most clones have their minds destroyed at birth, they are meant as vessels to harvest organs from...not people. This makes Matteo’s existence an anomaly. Because of the way Matteo is brought up he is naive, ignorant, and childishly cruel at turns. Yet, Matteo/Matt is smart, very smart. In addition to that the cook Celia, who basically raises him, is a kind woman who loves him. In his preteens he inherits one of El Patron’s bodyguards, Tam Lin. Tam Lin treats Matt like just another kid and takes him on adventures, as well as being stern with him when he is wrong. These two characters help to temper Matt’s cruelty and shape him into a more conscientious young man.Additionally Matt meets Maria at a young age. Maria is incredibly tender-hearted and at first treat Matt like the family pet. That is until she grows to love him, despite of how taboo it is to love a clone. Maria ends up being another driving force in Matt’s live.The nearly immortal El Patron looms over the story. The people who he decides are his never leave his domain, his vast expanse of wealth and power mean that he has lived well beyond his natural years. He wants to be immortal, he doesn’t trust anyone with his wealth or with his domain. He is an exceedingly complex and cruel character. All the above being said you can see there are a lot of issues here. What makes a human, human? How would a clone be different from a human? How do drugs and power destroy people? What would happen if people lived well beyond their years; how would it affect them physically and mentally? This book is unique for the sheer number of controversial issues it comes in touch with.Despite the fact that this is an interesting and thought-provoking story I didn’t really enjoy it a ton. I really never engaged with the characters all that well. Matt came off as too naive and too cruel. Maria came off as too weepy and weak.Given the context there is a lot of cruelty in this book, but it is never unnecessarily gory or over-the-top. People are beaten and tortured though, there are a lot of disturbing things that happen as well.Overall this is a good book to read to expose middle grade and young adult readers to a lot of concepts around cloning and slavery. They are concepts that are probably somewhat foreign to younger readers and this book explores them in an interesting way that has an engaging story to go with it. I personally did not enjoy the book a ton and won’t read any future ones in the series. I had trouble engaging with the characters and just felt like I have read many other dystopian books with similar story elements.

[nbmars · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This book has won many big awards, including the 2003 National Book Award for Young People’s Literature, the 2003 Honor for the Michael L. Printz Award and the 2003 Honor for the Newbery Award, so when I saw a sequel was out, I knew I should take the opportunity to read it at last.This scifi/dystopia is set in the future in the country of Opium, a strip of land between Mexico (now called Aztlán), and the United States. Opium is a country dedicated to opium farming, and is ruled by Matteo Alacrán, known as El Patrón. As the story begins he is 140 years old, kept alive by surgical enhancements. He also has a clone, Matt, whom we first meet at age six. Matt is an exceptional clone; those not made from someone as powerful as El Patrón are chemically lobotomized. The people of Opium are contemptuous of the clones, for whom they have more repugnance even than for “eejits” - the servants and laborers. These “zombies” have gotten microchips put in their brains to make them more docile and willing to perform mind-numbing jobs.Matt lives with a caretaker, Celia. He also has as a father figure Tam Lin, one of the bodyguards of El Patrón. Both Celia and Tam Lin raise Matt as if he were their own, with plenty of love and guidance. Matt also has a peer who is his only friend, Maria, the daughter of a powerful U.S. Senator who often visits El Patrón. Maria is the sort who rescues puppies and kittens. Although Maria isn’t sure Matt should be regarded as more than her favorite dog, she is attached to him and indeed, is probably the only one besides his caretakers who isn’t repulsed by him.As the story progresses, Matt is turning into a man, and when he does, he learns the truth about himself, El Patrón, the state of Opium, and the actual truth about the eejits.Discussion: Since this book was written, the number of dystopias has exploded, and the genre has gotten a lot more sophisticated. I think that is why I wasn’t as taken with this book as I might have been. A lot of the story has to do with Matt’s psychological adjustment to what he is and how he is treated, so there isn’t really much in the way of the non-stop action we have come to expect from such books. Matt is quite well-developed as a character as is the very lovable Tam Lin, but not so much anyone else.The conceit about the globe being divided into empires ruled by drug lords is clever and other themes, such as the dehumanizing of those we mistreat, are well done if not exceptionally innovative.Evaluation: I wasn’t enamored of this book, but I’m in a very small minority in that regard. I was, however, motivated to read the sequel, a review of which will be posted after this one.

[one_gall · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

A book that will raise lots of interesting questions!

[ahnya-2 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I loved it. Couldn't put it down. I loved the way it made me think, and analyze things

[llevine2934 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This book far exceeded my expectations. I stepped out of my comfort zone with this book and I was not let down. This story follows the clone of a powerful drug lord through his adventures of finding himself and discovering the meaning of what it is to be a clone. This book was beautifully written and built a world that was easily imaginable. I loved every second of this book and would highly recommend it to anyone with in interest in reading books that change the way you think.

[louisvillains · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Matt is a clone born in the autonomous region between the US and what was once Mexico, where opium is legally grown in the distant future. Until the age of six, he is locked away in a house surrounded by poppies, and he knows only one other person, a loving mother figure. Celia works in the Big House, where El Patron, the patriarchal drug lord of the region, lives. One day, when he is still very young, some children from the Big House go exploring and find him. Now that he has encountered other people, Matt begins to learn what it means to be a clone.This is a decent book that explores a lot of complex issues. I think that it would be a great book to be taught in middle school or high school, or read as a jumping off point for discussions of hot topic issues (cloning, slavery, abuse, drugs, poverty, immigration, socialism, totalitarianism, etc.). With all of these –isms, however, I’m not sure that many teens would pick it up and read it for enjoyment. Honestly, the book started off very slowly, and I had to force myself to keep reading. The action really picked up in the last third of the book, though there were still long twenty-or-so page spurts where I was tempted to stop reading. I do not think that I will be reading the recent sequel, The Lord of Opium.

[seanb.b3 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

This book was a very good book to read. I think that it is a good book because it will suit most peoples interests. That is because insteas of focusing on just one main genre it has lots of sub genres and emphasizes each one a lot so that no matter what type of reader you are then it will probably suit you. My favorite part of the book was when Matteo Alacran hit Tom Alacran in the face with a rotten apple because Tom shot Matteo with a peashooter. Some of the other good parts was when Matt found out that Tam Lin was a murderer. Those were my opinions about The House of the Scorpion.This book was about a boy named Matteo Alacran. Instead of being an ordinary boy, he was actually a clone born from a cows stomach. Later on in life he found out that he was a clone of an extremely rich man who controlled most of Opium. Opium was the future land of what used to be Lower America and parts of Mexico. The rich man's name was also Matteo Alacran. He found his clone in very poor condition and being abused by the people who were supposed to be taking care of Matteo. Then he threw them out and let them him live in royalty with him. He met a girl named Maria and her brother Tom who was mean but Maria was nice. Throughout the book, they went through troubles and eventually tried to escape in the end but got caught. Inside of the book Matteo also learned a lot about different people like the rich guy's body guard Tam Lin. That was my essay for The House of the Scorpion.

[eli.burnett.b4 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This book is about a little boy who lives with a woman named Ceilia. This women takes care of him but does not let him leave the house. There are cotton feilds out side of his house and he want to go out there. So when some kids come he jumps out of the window. Later on he finds that he is the clone of a very important man. This is also very bad because peple do not like clones. But he excapes and goes and works in a plankton farm. He breaks out of the farm when they hit him.This was a very good book. I would like to recomend this book to anyone. It has action and adventure.vIt is very well writtin. I only gave it a 4 star because i did not like the endin. The ending was very boring. But throught the whole book is adventure and fun.

[bkoopman_5 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

A boy is cloned for sinister purposes and must find his way through a path of evil. As he grows, the love of a few people prove to be enough to buoy him while he discovers that he is smart enough and strong enough for the life he has been given to lead, and that life is precious because it is human. This was a fabulous book, difficult to put down. That it is classified as young adult literature is far too restrictive. The protagonist's issues are easy to identify with, and despite the fanciful setting, the conflicts are so very evil, complicated and yes, believable, that the young reader will be absorbed by the thrill, while the mature reader will contemplate issues of power, life and death. I give this book my highest recommendations.

[rpultusk · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Set in the future (at least 100 years), a boy discovers he is the clone of a prominent drug lord who rules over a corrupt opium estate/country. As the boy escapes from the estate/country and from his fate, he learns about what exists outside the life he's known.The characters are dynamic and believable, albeit sometimes terrifying. The plot is complex - lots of twists and near-endings. The setting is in the future, but not so far in the future that it is unrecognizable. Author does an excellent job of creating the world inside the book. Themes include humans vs. nature and humanity vs. science permeate the novel. There are no illustrations. Cultural markers include occasional Spanish words and phrases and references to Mexican food and holidays.Highly recommended for middle and high school libraries.