The House of the Scorpion by Nancy Farmer

For a person who loves fantasy novels, most people would think that I would also enjoy science fiction. However, that is one genre that I have never truly enjoyed. To be fair though, it is also a genre that I have not given much of a chance. However, I am grateful that we had the opportunity to read The House of the Scorpion.
When I first started reading the book I was not getting into it, I attribute that to the fact that I did not want to read the book. It did not sound like something that I would enjoy on any level. As I continued to read my opinion of the novel changed. It got to the point where I could hardly put the book down. As the character of Matt developed so did my love of him. Farmer did a great job creating a character that I thought was real. Many authors when they create child protagonist create a character without many flaws. That was not the case with little Matt. Matt had many of the faults that children do at his age. At times he was selfish and at times he let his anger get out of control, but in the end he was always able to see his faults and learn from them.
I think that Matt is a character that many students will be able to make connections with. Matt had to experience a great deal of adversity. It started with the fact that he was born as a clone. For a long time Matt did not even know what that meant other than he was on the same level as the animals. Matt was looking for his place in a world that seemed to reject him at every doorstep. His only friends were Tam Lin and Maria, and the closest thing that he had to a parent was Celia. While many of the students in this day and age do not have it as bad as Matt, there are quite a few children and students out there who do feel that they are on their own. They feel different from everybody else. Maybe they are adopted, maybe their parents get a divorce, or maybe they moved towns, whatever the cause it is not easy to feel you have to ‘survive’ on your own.
I also enjoyed the character of Tam Lin and Celia. They were character that it was easy to cheer for. Tam Lin was the typical flawed hero. He is spending his life making up for one wrong that he committed earlier in his life. While it was a heinous crime, it was something that Tam Lin did not intend and was also not able to forgive himself for. With that said, he penance ended up being giving a new life to his charge little Matt. I think what I loved most about him was that was the voice of reason in the story. Even Maria his other friend still saw Matt as a clone and at times less than a human. Tam Lin did not do that. He saw matt as a person, and taught him everything that he could about survival because he knew that sometime in the future he would need that knowledge. Celia was another character that I really appreciated. She reminded me of my mother. She was always there for Matt no matter what happened. She was also willing to fight and risk her own life to keep Matt alive.
Science fiction is supposed to be placed in the realm of a scientific possibility. While some of the things that are taking place in the novel are possible, some of them seem very improbable. Amazingly enough it was not the science that made it seem unreal at times. I thought that the science added a great deal to the story itself. It was in a realistic world that does not seem that far fetched from where we could be in the future. With the ongoing debate of using stem cells and cloning to find cures, it is not unreal to think that there are people who are out there who would create a child simply to use as spare parts. Farmer also uses a chip in heads of people and animals to create beings that are efficient to a fault. They can only do things that they are told to do, and thus work solely to complete one task. While this is a little more far fetched, it was a very haunting idea. Because, when Matt finally escapes from Opium he finds himself in a situation that is not that far removed. Instead of putting chips in the children’s Matt see that they are being brainwashed and in the end being trained to be the same as the ‘zombies’ back in Opium.
While these scientific ideas are grounded in the truth that does not mean that I found everything believable. My impression of the book while reading it definitely did change, but the ending I felt was very much lacking. It is like in the book Huck Finn, Twain put the characters in a position that it was difficult to find a way out of so he made up a fantastical ended to help him (Twain) out of a jam. I saw this same thing with Matt and Opium at the end of book. He goes back to a place that was going to be full of people wanting him dead. It would have been a massive struggle, but it was if Farmer had made Matt struggle so much she could not put him through anything else. It turned a great book into a good book.
Other than the end though, I feel that this is a great book for students. It has characters that I feel they can relate to, and it is an interesting story that students will feel is a possibility. It was fun and exciting and full of action, things that especially boys will find hard to put down.