The House of the Scorpion
By: Nancy Farmer
Summary
The novel starts off in a petri dish, the beginning of Matt's life as a clone. As Matt gets older he learns that clones are different than regular humans and that they are not treated like regular people. In his early years Matt is abused and people showed no respect or him. Because of his father El Patron, he gets a life how he wants it. Every day he learns and reads more about his father's empire and survival techniques from Tam Lin for when its time. As Matt grows up he starts to gain some more respect until all falls down and Matt must use everything he learned to save what's closest to him.
Characters
Matt: He is the main character but also the clone and the story revolves around him. Matt is the one who is treated like a dog and doesn't quite understand human society.
El Patron: He is about 140 years old and Matt is his clone. He is very kind but truly evil. He is the richest man on Earth and can get what ever he wants with his money. El Patron is also quite greedy.
Setting
A lot of the action in beginning of the novel takes place in and around his home in Opium, he's not even allowed to go outside before he was 6 years old witch is when he escaped. Later on, Matt makes his way to Aztlan and finds no interest in the work they do there.
Reviews
http://www.nancyfarmerwebsite.com/house-of-scorpion.html
https://www.bookbrowse.com/reviews/index.cfm/book_number/1106/the-house-of-the-scorpion
The author ably keeps her elements in balance, so that the Dr. Frankenstein moments never become gratuitous; in fact, the unemotional narration at times seems detached, wary of lingering too long in any one place.--New York Times - Roger Sutton
About the Author
Nancy first got inspired to become a writer after she had a baby boy named Daniel. She was depressed from all the fun she had from her old job at the war zone over in India and was at home with nothing to do. So when Daniel was four years old she was reading him a book and thought to herself that she could write stories too, and that's where her career started. Nancy is self taught and she studied other book to see how other authors wrote. After many years and moving all over the world Nancy has won many awards for her writing and continues to love writing.
Related Picture
This Photo relates to the novel because it comes from a website that explains how there is a doctor who is trying to clone people. The way he has gone about it is very much like how Matt had been cloned in the novel. It really is surprising that things like this "technically" can be done with the technology our society has today.