The House of the Scorpion

I was stumped trying to figure out what to read next. Nothing seemed to jump out at me from the pile of unopened books on my shelf at home, so I turned to the only place I could think of for suggestions–my classroom. My students have quite the eclectic taste when it comes to books, so I knew that I would get suggestions that I wouldn’t have stumbled across myself. One suggestion, from one of my more voracious readers, led me to pick up Nancy Farmer’s, “The House of the Scorpion.”

“The House of the Scorpion” tells the story of Matteo Alacrán (Matt), a young boy growing up in a country known for only one thing–opium. In a strip of land between the United States and what was once known as Mexico, a new country emerged. The country of Opium, named for its primary export, became a small, developed nation that attempted to fix the drug problem that was plaguing the two countries that it bordered; instead of trafficking drugs between the United States and Aztlán (formerly Mexico), Opium exported to foreign nations as a way of cleaning up the Americas. Opium operates like a well-oiled machine: complex networks of water systems, filtration systems, and processing plants keep production running smoothly; mind-altered captives known as eejits mindlessly work the massive expanses of poppy fields day after day; a brutal farm patrol scours the border to make sure nobody gets in or out of Opium; and El Patrón, the scorpion himself, rules over the entire enterprise with an iron fist.

Matt soon realizes that there is something about himself that is different from the other people around him. Matt is a clone. Not an ordinary clone either. Matt is a clone of El Patrón himself, and the drug lord has used clones to maintain control and influence in Opium for more than 100 years. To the rest of the world, Matt is an abomination and a monster, but to others he is a kind, brave, and intelligent boy. While Matt tries to come to terms with what it means to be a clone, where his place is in the world, and how he fits in with those around him, there are others within the power-hungry Alacrán family that see Matt as a danger to their nefarious scheming.

As Matt learns more about El Patrón and the global role that Opium plays, he begins to unravel that he wouldn’t be taking over for El Patrón, he is simply there as a way to replace organs as they fail the aging kingpin. Knowing what his future would hold if he were to remain inside the Alacrán estate, Matt makes a plan that might protect his future, but may very well get him killed.

What I liked most about this book was the futuristic realism. A future where cloning is easily accessible to the wealthy, the world runs via the drug trade, and ruthless drug kingpins become global politicians, is a future that is relatively easy to believe. There was a believability to this story, a sense that this could be a glimpse into the future, and I deeply enjoyed that. One of the other things that I enjoyed about this book was the way that Farmer created complex dichotomies that made the reader think about how there isn’t always an easy answer to life’s problems. Mind controlled workers, clones, drug empires, communism, and extreme generational wealth (the list goes on) are just a few of the things included in this book that would make fantastic discussion questions for a book group or a classroom.

Overall, there were moments where I was left feeling a bit bored, or the character’s interactions/dialogue began a bit predictable, but I also felt that this book included some wonderful descriptions, some lovable characters, and an equal bit of mystery, adventure, and action.

3 out of 5 stars.