Wednesday, May 22, 2013

The House of the Scorpion by Nancy Farmer

The House of the ScorpionI reread this book and gave it a rating of four out of five. Matt was unaware that he was created as a clone for El Patron, a powerful, ruthless drug producer. Most clones had their brains zapped to make them "eejits", and their organs were harvested for transplant into El Patron. El Patron was over 140 years old! Most of the people considered Matt an "it", a creature even lower than an animal. However, El Patron took care of Matt and gave him almost anything he wanted. He befriended a young girl named Maria, but being a clone created problems between them. Matt's life had its ups and downs, but things seriously changed when El Patron's heart started to fail. At that point, Matt realized the purpose for his existence; El Patron wanted his heart.

The plot was interesting as it dealt with the idea of cloning. El Patron thought he was being nice to allow Matt to live a "normal" life for fourteen years, but he knew that Matt would eventually be killed. Matt's interactions with Maria were unpredictable, even after they became friends. The suspense of the plot increased as El Patron's health decreased. Matt could be killed to harvest his heart, but if not, what good is a clone if El Patron ends up dying?

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