Darswords

The House Of The Scorpion by Nancy Farmer
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I have mixed feelings about this book. Much of it gives me the creeps. I love the Walking Dead and think cloning will never bring exact replicas due to the environment and circumstances of the original versus that of the clone. But the treatment of people in this dystopia seems horrible and never improves.

Nancy Farmer’s writing keeps the reader engaged. That is why I read to the end.

Robert Ramirez (Narrator) did well when reading for the males in the book, but all the females sounded foolish and unreal.

A few years ago, I decided to read primarily women authors who wrote of strong female main characters. I have found that women portray their sex far better than males do. The male narrators are great for boys or men but seem unable to play the fem parts.

Another thing, this is supposed to be a book for middle grades to adults. I can’t imagine a child reading this. I can’t imagine not getting nightmares from this as a kid. It nearly did that to me as an adult. On the other hand, I think it would have been a good read together and discussed with my children when they were old enough to handle the subject matter. My kids were better at the scary books and movies than I was. But I wouldn’t have wanted them to miss the lessons presented.

On the plus side, I loved getting into another culture. The Spanish language and mores are a beautiful addition.

Look, I don’t want to taint your opinion of this book. There are so many varied ratings; everyone sees this story differently. There are lessons for the modern world to look at sprinkled all over.

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