Reviews tagging 'Classism'

The House of the Scorpion by Nancy Farmer

4 reviews

charliebites's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful informative inspiring lighthearted mysterious reflective relaxing sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Death of parent, Abandonment, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Terminal illness, Confinement, Torture, Child abuse, Trafficking, Grief, Slavery, Bullying, Classism, and Forced institutionalization

Moderate: Grief, Physical abuse, Genocide, Injury/Injury detail, Police brutality, Excrement, Gore, Deportation, Addiction, Alcoholism, and Dementia

Minor: Kidnapping, Animal cruelty, Vomit, Panic attacks/disorders, Mental illness, and Infidelity

bubblegirl858's review

adventurous challenging mysterious sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

This book was read for the 2023 February Book club. I feel like I have a bit of a hard time reading books from the perspective of children, just because I am an adult and it can be hard to see a child's thought process and not get upset because they are obviously making very emotionally illogical choices. No hate to the author, they wrote it so well it was really like reading from a child's perspective. A childhood filled with such torment and neglect that it was hard to watch Matt go through, but then we understand his choices a little bit better later. All the pettiness with Maria definitely dragged the score down for me, but I was glad to see Matt change and grow when he had to leave and make his own way and his loyalty to his new friends.

I think there is something to be said about the ethics of the clones and how MacGregor and El Patron used them as their own little organ farms. Is it any different from taking an organ from someone else? Is it because they can't give consent because they are brain-dead? But they were all grown from the cells of the host person. It really can be likened to childbirth in a way, but if the clone is you, do you still have a say in what goes on once that clone has fully developed?  I liked the twist at the end that because Mateo was dead Matt was now the only one and officially his own person. I also enjoyed watching his relationship with Cecilia and Tam Lin, who honestly were probably the best characters out of the whole story, and Cecilia's cunning and Tam Lin's resourcefulness saved Matt's life in the end. Also, the whole Alacron family dying at the end was kind of poetic justice for me. What I really want to know is were the clones grown in actual cows, or inside edjeet women until they were ready. It was never really clarified.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Injury/Injury detail, Physical abuse, Bullying, Racism, Violence, and Emotional abuse

Moderate: Blood, Medical trauma, Medical content, Animal cruelty, Animal death, and Classism

kxc319's review

adventurous dark emotional tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes

3.25

Definitely thought provoking. Abrupt ending to story lines open for sequels. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Child abuse, Animal death, Classism, and Emotional abuse

alicia_m_andrews's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Animal death, Animal cruelty, Child abuse, Confinement, Physical abuse, Slavery, Abandonment, Classism, Emotional abuse, and Police brutality