I read this because one of my 7th grade students told me I “simply had to”. He proclaimed it the “best book” he had ever read. After reading Nancy Farmer’s Newbery Honor title “A Girl Named Disaster” I was hesitant to delve into another Farmer book. I found “A Girl Named Disaster” to be overly long, interesting but not engaging. Nevertheless, when a student proclaims I “must” read something (which is how I discovered Phillip Pullman), I tend to listen. I dove in and was immediately floored. The subject matter and story are dense, the concepts both scary and intriguing. That 7th grade student was one smart cookie! “The House of the Scorpion” takes place in the near future, when a “drug zone” nation has been set up between the United States and Mexico (now named “Aztlan”). The deal is, they let the drug lords have their own country to grow whatever they wish, and the drug lords agree not to sell it to either of the bordering nations. That, however, is not the main story. This is a time when cloning and medical manipulations are commonplace. “Modified” humans are used as slaves to farm the fields and clones are used as body parts to keep one of the most powerful of the drug lords, Matteo Alacran, alive long past the time of a natural death. Alacran, like most drug lords, is both dangerous and egotistical. When it becomes clear that not even the cloned body parts can keep him alive, he orders the production of a new clone, “Matt” who is both son and mirror image, and is possibly the person replace him if he eventually dies. The book is Matt’s story, literally from inception, and the awareness he has of his own “personhood” is challenged throughout. The ending is somewhat open, not unlike Lowry’s “The Giver”, but this tale will stay with you for a good long time. Deeply disturbing and brilliant on many levels, this book has won oodles of awards – the Printz Award, the National Book Award, the Newbery Honor – all quite justified. My student was right. Although long and painful at times, you simply MUST read this one.
Monday, October 30, 2006
The House of the Scorpion by Nancy Farmer
I read this because one of my 7th grade students told me I “simply had to”. He proclaimed it the “best book” he had ever read. After reading Nancy Farmer’s Newbery Honor title “A Girl Named Disaster” I was hesitant to delve into another Farmer book. I found “A Girl Named Disaster” to be overly long, interesting but not engaging. Nevertheless, when a student proclaims I “must” read something (which is how I discovered Phillip Pullman), I tend to listen. I dove in and was immediately floored. The subject matter and story are dense, the concepts both scary and intriguing. That 7th grade student was one smart cookie! “The House of the Scorpion” takes place in the near future, when a “drug zone” nation has been set up between the United States and Mexico (now named “Aztlan”). The deal is, they let the drug lords have their own country to grow whatever they wish, and the drug lords agree not to sell it to either of the bordering nations. That, however, is not the main story. This is a time when cloning and medical manipulations are commonplace. “Modified” humans are used as slaves to farm the fields and clones are used as body parts to keep one of the most powerful of the drug lords, Matteo Alacran, alive long past the time of a natural death. Alacran, like most drug lords, is both dangerous and egotistical. When it becomes clear that not even the cloned body parts can keep him alive, he orders the production of a new clone, “Matt” who is both son and mirror image, and is possibly the person replace him if he eventually dies. The book is Matt’s story, literally from inception, and the awareness he has of his own “personhood” is challenged throughout. The ending is somewhat open, not unlike Lowry’s “The Giver”, but this tale will stay with you for a good long time. Deeply disturbing and brilliant on many levels, this book has won oodles of awards – the Printz Award, the National Book Award, the Newbery Honor – all quite justified. My student was right. Although long and painful at times, you simply MUST read this one.
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1 comment:
OH MY GOSH I LOVE THIS BOOK everything by Nancy Farmer ROCKS except for A Girl Named Disaster... Read The Sea of Trolls and DEFINITELY read The Ear, The Eye and the Arm!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
-LA
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