The House of the Scorpion

For my first read in November I read, The House of the Scorpion by Nancy Farmer.  The story is about Matteo Alcatran, a boy who is the clone of a powerful drug lord called El Patron.  As Matt grows up, he learns about his origins and what his purpose is in life, both from El Patron's perspective and his own.

A facebook friend recommended this book and it was quite an interesting read.  The characters are well developed and the overall plot is interesting.  I have always found the topic of cloning to be an intriguing one and I enjoyed reading about it.  You really get to see how the different characters react to Matt and who/what he is, really getting a sense of how people's moral compasses can be so different.  At various points in the book you feel angry, frustrated and happy for Matt so clearly the author writes in a way that brings out emotions.

I did feel the book was a little long, it starts from his birth and moves fairly quickly through time until he is about 14 but there were some portions that I didn't think really brought much to the story or things that were repeated but could have been left out.  I also think that Matt was written a bit more naively than a real boy would be in his teen years, but I still enjoyed the book.  Also should note it is a "youth fiction novel" and I wouldn't recommend it for readers under age 12.  Overall, I would recommend it to readers though.