A review by onceandfuturereads
The House of the Scorpion by Nancy Farmer

adventurous dark reflective fast-paced

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

4.0

I decided to finally revisit this book. It has been a part of me since I was nine years old. I've always carried Matt with me and considered this one of my formative reads. I do think this book shaped me in a lot of ways. While reading, I kept picturing myself at my grandparent's cabin - a place where I spent summers - even though I had to have read this during the school year because I have a sharp memory of my fourth grade teacher handing it to me. To me, that indicates that I was thinking about this book the rest of the school year and into the summer. I remember picturing the characters so vividly. 

This story definitely helped form my love of novels; specifically, the coming-of-age and boyhood genres - Grasshopper Jungle and The Chocolate War are other books that come to mind when thinking of The House of the Scorpion. The sci-fi element was an added bonus, and Farmer handled the paradigm shift that Matt goes through so slowly and delicately. 

I found myself not remembering much about the story as I read - fourth grade was a long time ago! But it was nice because I could not predict what would happen next and I was invested in the characters' destinies. I've never read the sequel - didn't even know there was one - but it's on Libby and I am excited to begin listening immediately!