Do you see those gold and silver medallions on the cover of this novel? This is what they mean:
- The National Book Award
- A Newbery Honor Book
- The Michael L. Printz Award
A whole bunch of people who know about good books thought this book was good, and they were right.
Matteo Alacran is the clone of El Patron, one of the foremost tyrannical leaders of the country Opium, a strip of land between the United States and Aztlan. As Matt grows up, he learns not only that he is the only living clone whose intelligence has been retained but that he has a short future ahead of him, if El Patron’s heart gives out, that is. Gradually uncovering the horrors of his life, he learns to develop a moral sensibility, something people who think clones are animals would never believe he could have.
The writing is so smooth that you hardly even notice it, and the world is woven so finely, and so gradually does Matt come to his realization that there are others whose lives are worse than a clone’s, that the three-hundred-odd pages pour through your fingers. An excellent novel by an interesting author (bio here), The House of the Scorpion is not to be missed, no matter your age.
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