Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #1249589 in Books
• Published on: 2004-05
• Original language: English
• Binding: School & Library Binding
• 380 pages

From Amazon.com
Fields of white opium poppies stretch away over the hills, and uniformed workers bend over the rows, harvesting the juice. This is the empire of Matteo Alacran, a feudal drug lord in the country of Opium, which lies between the United States and Aztlan, formerly Mexico. Field work, or any menial tasks, are done by "eejits," humans in whose brains computer chips have been installed to insure docility. Alacran, or El Patron, has lived 140 years with the help of transplants from a series of clones, a common practice among rich men in this world. The intelligence of clones is usually destroyed at birth, but Matt, the latest of Alacran's doubles, has been spared because he belongs to El Patron. He grows up in the family's mansion, alternately caged and despised as an animal and pampered and educated as El Patron's favorite. Gradually he realizes the fate that is in store for him, and with the help of Tam Lin, his bluff and kind Scottish bodyguard, he escapes to Aztlan. There he and other "lost children" are trapped in a more subtle kind of slavery before Matt can return to Opium to take his rightful place and transform his country.

Nancy Farmer, a two-time Newbery honoree, surpasses even her marvelous novel, The Ear, The Eye and the Arm in the breathless action and fascinating characters of The House of the Scorpion. Readers will be reminded of Orson Scott Card's Ender in Matt's persistence and courage in the face of a world that intends to use him for its own purposes, and of Louis Sachar's Holes in the camaraderie of imprisoned boys and the layers of meaning embedded in this irresistibly compelling story. (Ages 12 and older) --Patty Campbell

Books in Canada
Nancy Farmer leads us into the devastatingly bleak futuristic world of Opium where, for generations, El Patron has ruled a drug empire with an iron fist. El Patron has survived by having clones made from a supply of frozen DNA, clones who can provide body parts and, ultimately, new life and clones who aren't even considered human in this society. Matt is the latest in the line of the clones who have been harvested for El Patron and El Patron has decided that he's going to give Matt a chance to have the best of everything before using the boy's heart. But things are about to fall apart in the perfectly dreadful world that El Patron has created and Matt holds the key to a brighter future if he can survive.
Nancy Farmer has written an intensely inventive fiction that deals superbly with the difficult issues that genetic modification raises.
Jeffrey Canton (Books in Canada)

From Publishers Weekly
Farmer's (A Girl Named Disaster; The Ear, the Eye and the Arm) novel may be futuristic, but it hits close to home, raising questions of what it means to be human, what is the value of life, and what are the responsibilities of a society. Readers will be hooked from the first page, in which a scientist brings to life one of 36 tiny cells, frozen more than 100 years ago. The result is the protagonist at the novel's center, Matt a clone of El Patron, a powerful drug lord, born Matteo Alacr n to a poor family in a small village in Mexico. El Patro n is ruler of Opium, a country that lies between the United States and Aztl n, formerly Mexico; its vast poppy fields are tended by eejits, human beings who attempted to flee Aztl n, programmed by a computer chip implanted in their brains. With smooth pacing that steadily gathers momentum, Farmer traces Matt's growing awareness of what being a clone of one of the most powerful and feared men on earth entails. Through the kindness of the only two adults who treat Matt like a human Celia, the cook and Matt's guardian in early childhood, and Tam Lin, El Patron's bodyguard Matt experiences firsthand the evils at work in Opium, and the corruptive power of greed ("When he was young, he made a choice, like a tree does when it decides to grow one way or the other... most of his branches are twisted," Tam Lin tells Matt). The author strikes a masterful balance between Matt's idealism and his intelligence. The novel's close may be rushed, and Tam Lin's fate may be confusing to readers, but Farmer grippingly demonstrates that there are no easy answers. The questions she raises will haunt readers long after the final page. Ages 11-14.
Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

Customer Reviews

Truly Amazing.
I consider myself to be an incredibly picky reader, however when I started this book, I found myself enjoying every minute of it.

The main character is a boy named Matteo Alacran, or Matt. The story begins while he is just cells - because he is a clone. His DNA comes from a famous, rich, and powerful drug lord also named Matteo Alacran, however he is commonly adressed as El Patron. He is the lord of a strip of land between the United States and what used to be called Mexico called Opium (as poppies are grown and harvested there.)

Matt is treated like filth by most of the inhabitants of Opium, but El Patron seems to have an ulterior motive to keep Matt in good condition - however that reason might be not-so-good for Matt.

When you get this book, you will never want to put it down. Farmer uses many amazing elements to keep the book suspenseful, which is why I recommend it to everyone, as even picky readers will find it unbelievable.

Believable Through and Through
By now most of have either read I, Robot the book written by Isaac Asimov or have seen the movie which was made a few years back starring Will Smith. That was one of a series of books which explored the ethics of intelligent creatures being created by humankind to serve as their tools. It harked back to an even earlier dilemma of using human slaves to do our bidding.
Nancy Farmer has written a book which addresses our current desires to live longer by harvesting organs from people who have died in order to prolong our own lives. Its a slippery slope and a huge moral concern. Are we just human meat and thus parts to be harvested? And should we strive to live longer than the parts we are born with are able to last? Today we have the ability to create clones in Petri dishes and implant them into any animal or human to gestate and be born, but should we?
The House of the Scorpion is written from the viewpoint of a boy who is the clone of a man who was 140 years old at the time of his birth. Although he knows from early on that he is a clone and is thus ostracized by human society, he believes that because he is being educated and did not have his mind altered at birth, there has to be a higher purpose for him than as a spare parts factory for El Patron.
This book is written in a fast paced easy to read style which grips you from the beginning and makes you want to see if he can escape his fate and if he does, how will he use his life. Will he be a copy of the selfish. dictator El Patron? Or can he become his own person and develop his own conscience and morals? The imagined world of the future is a not so fantastic take on what may be the ultimate fate of North America.
Well written and a great read.

Nancy Farmer's Best Feat Yet
This science fiction novel by Nancy Farmer, the House of the Scorpion, is a page turner. You will not be able to put it down. It is thrilling, suspenseful, and has an unexpected twist. This book takes place sometime in the future. I recommend this book for 12-99 year old boys.

Matt, the main character, is a clone who lives in a small house in the opium fields with his beloved caretaker Celia. He does not know he is a clone until some kids from the big house come and knock on the windows. He has never before seen other kids and he is very excited. Matt is only six years old. He cannot open the door and the windows are locked. Without thinking he takes a pan and breaks the window. He then jumps out the window. Matt cuts his hands and feet very badly. Maria, later to be Matt's best friend carries him to the big house. Maria is the same age as Matt. She is very nice and loves animals. Here they immediately called a doctor until the see the writing on Matt's foot: "Property of El Patron." They then realize that Matt is a clone and lock him in a cellar. Three months time has passed of Matt being in the cellar, and being treated like an animal. One day a maid runs and fetches Matt, of course after being a prisoner for three months he is very confused. The maid cuts his hair and cleans him up.

It turns out El Patron has come to visit. El Patron is a really old man who is extremely powerful as he is in charge of the opium fields. This is the man who created Matt. Matt is his clone! When El Patron hears from Celia how they have been treating Matt he is furious He demands that Celia and Matt have there own quarters.

Is El Patron really the good man we think he is? Read the House of the Scorpion to find out, and see if Matt will escape and survive!