Everand Logo

Welcome to Everand!

  • Discover millions of ebooks, audiobooks, and so much more with a free trial

    Only $11.99/month after trial. Cancel anytime.

    The House of the Scorpion
    The House of the Scorpion
    The House of the Scorpion
    Audiobook10 hours

    The House of the Scorpion

    Written by Nancy Farmer

    Narrated by Raul Esparza

    4.5/5

    ()

    Switch to ebook

    About this audiobook

    Discover this internationally bestselling, National Book Award–winning young adult classic about what it means to be human with an updated, reimagined cover!

    Matt Alacrán wasn’t born. He was harvested.

    His DNA came from El Patrón, the drug-lord ruler of the country of Opium. Most people hate and fear clones like Matt—except for El Patrón. El Patrón loves Matt as he loves himself, because Matt is himself.

    As Matt struggles to understand his existence, he is threatened by a sinister cast of characters, and realizes escape is his only chance to survive. But escape from the Alacrán Estate is no guarantee of freedom.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherSimon & Schuster Audio
    Release dateOct 21, 2008
    ISBN9780743572477
    Author

    Nancy Farmer

    Nancy Farmer has written three Newbery Honor books: The Ear, the Eye and the Arm; A Girl Named Disaster; and The House of the Scorpion, which also won the National Book Award and the Printz Honor. Other books include The Lord of Opium, The Sea of Trolls, The Land of the Silver Apples, The Islands of the Blessed, Do You Know Me, The Warm Place, and three picture books for young children. She grew up on the Arizona-Mexico border and now lives with her family in the Chiricahua Mountains of Arizona.

    More audiobooks from Nancy Farmer

    Related to The House of the Scorpion

    Related audiobooks

    YA Action & Adventure For You

    View More
    View More

    Related podcast episodes

    Related articles

    • Article

      Marked with SILVER

      Jan 17, 2024

      Marked with SILVER
      12 min read

    • Article

      Taking Sides

      Apr 1, 2022

      Taking Sides
      7 min read

    • Article

      Surviving

      Nov 25, 2019

      Surviving
      10 min read

    • Article

      Lech

      Feb 8, 2022

      Lech
      4 min read

    • Article

      How the Cicada Screams

      Dec 1, 2020

      How the Cicada Screams
      7 min read

    • Article

      Last Love

      Dec 8, 2023

      Last Love
      13 min read

    • Article

      Dolly’s Star Turn

      Aug 9, 2023

      Dolly’s Star Turn
      7 min read

    • Article

      Best Of The Best

      Oct 29, 2022

      Best Of The Best
      8 min read

    • Article

      Dolly’s Star Turn

      Jul 12, 2023

      Dolly’s Star Turn
      7 min read

    • Article

      Five Poems

      Jul 1, 2019

      You agreed to meet him in one of those cafés you imagined yourself writing in if you could afford to live in that city. He was also a writer, but older, and you wanted to know how to get published. Slip a picture of yourself in with your poems, he ad

      6 min read

    • Article

      The Silence of Witches

      Dec 10, 2019

      The Silence of Witches
      6 min read

    • Article

      The Scrub

      Oct 3, 2018

      The Scrub
      3 min read

    • Article

      Intarsia

      Feb 6, 2020

      Intarsia
      6 min read

    • Article

      A Lost Prayer

      Feb 2, 2023

      A Lost Prayer
      10 min read

    • Article

      The Summer We Lost Her

      Apr 4, 2019

      The Summer We Lost Her
      8 min read

    • Article

      Dolly’s Star Turn

      Jul 12, 2023

      Dolly’s Star Turn
      7 min read

    • Article

      Year Of The Rat

      Nov 24, 2020

      Year Of The Rat
      11 min read

    • Article

      THE Reading room

      Mar 25, 2020

      THE Reading room
      5 min read

    • Article

      Rose - Tinted Glasses

      Nov 10, 2021

      From the corner of her eye, Becca watched a small pack of drunk pixies adding salt into her grandmother’s bone china sugar pot. The sugar pot was the oldest thing in the house, even older than grandmother herself. There would be hell to pay if it bro

      12 min read

    • Article

      Who Saved the Day?

      Feb 1, 2022

      Who Saved the Day?
      4 min read

    • Article

      Beyond the Mangrove Trees

      Aug 6, 2020

      No one expects their house to float away. Ethel certainly hadn’t. Our story begins in the sleepy village of Greenwood, where Ethel had spent her entire life. It was an overcast Sunday afternoon and Ethel watched the rain lash against the window from

      7 min read

    • Article

      The Walled Garden

      Apr 30, 2020

      The Walled Garden
      4 min read

    • Article

      Concerning The Future Of Souls

      Mar 19, 2024

      As a toddler she had caused a sensation in her family when she announced she wanted to live in a little hole like the ant. Not an ant, the ant. This might have been misheard. She was an easygoing child, not particularly thoughtful and stubbornly inar

      13 min read

    • Article

      Winds Of Change

      Dec 10, 2019

      “Till the end of the pitted and dusty lane, she was a dry, brown leaf swiftly floating down a clear stream. Part of it was easy, the part about being brown. ‘Brown as mud and common as mud,’ Aaji would scream every morning waking her up. The rest of

      9 min read

    • Article

      Murder Most Fowl

      Mar 12, 2023

      Murder Most Fowl
      2 min read

    Related categories

    Reviews for The House of the Scorpion

    4.5/5

    172 ratings104 reviews

    What did you think?

    Tap to rate

    Review must be at least 10 words

    • 5/5
      This YA book is dark, but shockingly fantastic, and it has a core of what is essential about the human instinct to survive and even thrive when allowed, which is ultimately hopeful.
      The story itself is so suspenseful and fascinating that it draws you through the painful ups and the downs.
      This is a Futurism sci-fi story which extrapolates things like cloning tech, bio tech, the drug wars, political corruption and conglomerate globalization - and weaves a chilling yet also endearing (thanks to the main character) well imagined scenario of how a lot of things that concern us today could play out in the future to most of ours disadvantage.
      This is really worth the read!

      1 person found this helpful

    • 5/5
      I really enjoyed reading this book, I was able to relate having growing up my self in a relatable but not same situation where for me my parents worked for a ranch owner and we are of Mexican decent. Several differences especially that I wasn’t a clone lol, I especially enjoyed reading about Matt in his search for his identity and purpose.

      1 person found this helpful

    • 5/5
      I could listen to this narrator for days! This book is so amazing. It brings great ethical questions to the mind. Can’t wait to read or listen to the next!

      1 person found this helpful

    • 5/5
      Unexpected plot twist but very engaging one. I enjoyed listening to it!

      1 person found this helpful

    • 4/5
      Finished this book yesterday and I did enjoy it. Glad to discover it is not part of a series.

      I liked the writing. Not so sure that I liked the last part of the story but I do recommend giving this book a try. It is different than the now YA dystopian books you see everywhere. A different style. No romance. well maybe a little, but more about friendship. 3.5

      1 person found this helpful

    • 4/5
      Genre: science Fiction. This book deals with characters that are clones. Though this is not yet possible, the book limits any disbelief from the reader and explains the science. Plot: In the story the main character is battling agains society. Though he is valuable, he is still a second class citizen because he is a clone.

      1 person found this helpful

    • 4/5
      This book is definitely for older children because there is a lot of killing and grusome things that happens that young children shouldn't know about yet.
    • 5/5
      Best YA Sci Book ever.... Actually this book is a literary masterpiece of ANY/EVERY genre it is grouped in with...won YA awards but this is more than any genre it's EVERYTHING
    • 5/5
      This story was full of suspense. Had a great storyline and transitioned from chapter to chapter great. Would recommend this story to any reader. If you don't like thrillers or suspense, this book will make you
    • 5/5
      The book grabs you and won’t let go. I think Nancy Farmer‘s excellent description and words makes you feel like your there in the hot Mexican desert watching Matt’s struggle to survive, escape over the Opium Border into Mexico to find his only friend while trying to fight off the icy breath of death.
    • 3/5
      In The House of the Scorpion, Nancy Farmer slowly weaves the tale of Matt, a clone of the drug lord Matteo Alacron. Alternately pampered and tortured throughout his childhood (he slightly unbelievably goes from being kept in a pen of chicken litter to being given private piano lessons and tutoring in a few years' time), Matt grows up with a strong moral compass thanks only to his caretakers. Farmer does a good job of developing this bildungsroman--by the novel's end, Matt is a fairly complex character. Likewise, she builds her futuristic universe slowly: in the first several chapters, it largely resembles our own, but by the novel's conclusion we come to realize that this is a very different world, both in terms of technology and politics.But something intangible was lacking here. There's something perfunctory about Farmer's prose, and the characters who surround Matt feel flat. And, while the actual plot of the book is fairly interesting, Matt's movement from episode to episode feels disjointed, as if Farmer was keeping her characters at arms' length. Nevertheless, she raises some interesting questions here, not only about cloning but also about power and our genetic destinies.
    • 4/5
      Farmer's book has won many awards, most notably the National Book Award, so you do not need me to tell you whether it is well-written or interesting. Although I had not heard it particularly listed as such, The House of the Scorpion is a dystopian novel. Matt lives in the country of Opium, formed as a barrier to immigration between the United States and Mexico. Opium, as its name implies, earns money almost solely from the export of drugs. The workers are treated even worse than slaves. A steady supply of new workers come from the people in the U.S. hoping for better conditions in Mexico and vice versa. There is no better place: there is only Opium. Mexico has become a communist country, with all of the excesses and hypocrisy that brings.

      Although the story was incredibly interesting, I had trouble relating to much to the characters. They all seemed to be driven by only one personality trait, which got quite old. People have more depth than that generally. Matt and El Patron were both driven almost entirely by the desire to preserve their lives, although El Patron includes with his life his hoard. Maria wants to save all creatures who cannot save themselves. Tom only cares about screwing with people. None of the characters were particularly likable, even Maria, who could be too trusting of people despite the evidence to the contrary.

      Recommended for fans of dystopia and alternative futures. Especially recommended if you liked Neal Shusterman's Unwind.
    • 2/5
      The House of Scorpion by Nancy Farmer is a speculative fiction novel about cloning. In this story, the reader is introduced to a clone named Matt. Matt was made from the DNA of El Patron, a lord of a small country near the Mexican border. Matt was placed in a petri dish, then in the womb of a cow. Normally, at birth clones have needles injected into their brains causing them to go brain dead. However, Matt was more fortunate than any other clone strictly because he was El Patron's clone. El Patron wanted Matt to live a healthy life, so that he could be available if he needed Matt's organs. Matt was raised in a small house by a housemaid, Celia. Most clones are thought of a monstrous creatures and live in cells or worse; again, Matt was more fortunate than most clones. Matt has lived confined to Celia's house until he meets the children from the house who find him. After his discovery, Matt is taken to the house were he lives in animal-like conditions. The book then follows Matt's journey as he meets El Patron, makes friends, finds love, escapes to freedom, and more.Due to the subject matter of this text in our very politically correct society, I do not know that it could be used in a classroom setting. However, there are many different themes, ideas, and connections that can be used in the classroom. This text would have a great opportunity to be used for vocabulary and word study. Words in the text such as "treacherous, corrupt, malevolent" and other words provide a learning opportunity for students to discover word meaning through context. My major concern with this text is that parents and administrators would have a hard time supporting this text because it is about cloning. Cloning, stem cell research, and similar issues are a sensitive issues religiously and politically. I feel the same controversy would apply with the topic of the eejits, who have computer chips placed in their brains and perform required tasks, like robots. I also feel that although according to Scholastic this book is at a sixth grade reading level, I would use it in a high school English classroom due to content. I had a very hard time getting interested in this text. The first section of the book, which followed Matt from birth through six years of age, were full of information. I found the information overwhelming and it made it hard to put all the pieces of the story together. Because I had a hard time getting into the book in the beginning, I did not ever get really attached to the story. Although i enjoyed the book more as Matt got older and watching his relationships form with Maria, Celia, Tam Lin, El Patron, and other characters. However, I did find it erie that El Patron was so affectionate and interested in Matt because he saw Matt as himself.
    • 5/5
      One of the best YA books I have read. A clone of a Mexican druglord and designed to be an organ farm to prolong the original’s life, Matt struggles for survival in this fast-paced, thrilling read.
    • 4/5
      Set in the future (at least 100 years), a boy discovers he is the clone of a prominent drug lord who rules over a corrupt opium estate/country. As the boy escapes from the estate/country and from his fate, he learns about what exists outside the life he's known.The characters are dynamic and believable, albeit sometimes terrifying. The plot is complex - lots of twists and near-endings. The setting is in the future, but not so far in the future that it is unrecognizable. Author does an excellent job of creating the world inside the book. Themes include humans vs. nature and humanity vs. science permeate the novel. There are no illustrations. Cultural markers include occasional Spanish words and phrases and references to Mexican food and holidays.Highly recommended for middle and high school libraries.
    • 5/5
      The concept of this book is amazing, despite the fact that the language is not excellent. Personally, I highly recommend this book, especially to those interested in science fiction, fantasy or other worldly books. It is a fast read so why not?
    • 5/5
      Is cloning something that will be available to us for a price in the future? Let’s look at what your money will buy you today. $295.00 + $100.00 annual storage fee—You can bank your pet’s genes and have a genetic lab maintain them in case you should want them at a later date.$1700.00 + $150.00 shipping + $125.00 annual storage fee—You can bank your new baby’s cord blood so that the stem cells can possibly be used in the future for your family’s health needs. $32,000.00—This is the cost to clone your cat at Genetic Savings and Clone Inc. So far about 6 people have had this done. The cost has been reduced from 50 thousand to 32. The company is working extensively to be able to offer this service for dogs, which would have a considerably higher demand.??????—cost to clone yourself or someone you loveHouse of the Scorpion really makes you think... Here is a plot teaser for you:Six year old Matt has no parents but lives with a friendly woman named Celia in a small house surrounded by opium fields. He does not know why, but he is never allowed out of the house and is locked in when Celia goes to work each day. One day he sees some kids playing and in a desperate attempt to make contact with other people his age, he smashes a window and jumps out, landing in a pile of glass. The other kids are worried about him and take him to “the big house” to get his injuries treated. Everyone in the fabulous house reacts, trying to help him, until someone notices the tattoo on his ankle that says “Property of the Alacran estate.” Suddenly a big man gets very angry at the kids saying “You need a vet for this little beast!... How dare you defile this house?” and throws him roughly outside.
    • 5/5
      A boy is cloned for sinister purposes and must find his way through a path of evil. As he grows, the love of a few people prove to be enough to buoy him while he discovers that he is smart enough and strong enough for the life he has been given to lead, and that life is precious because it is human. This was a fabulous book, difficult to put down. That it is classified as young adult literature is far too restrictive. The protagonist's issues are easy to identify with, and despite the fanciful setting, the conflicts are so very evil, complicated and yes, believable, that the young reader will be absorbed by the thrill, while the mature reader will contemplate issues of power, life and death. I give this book my highest recommendations.
    • 3/5
      An interesting book about cloning and the possible dangers that could come of creating a clone for the purpose of staying young. This book pushes the boundaries of 'human rights' by considering what might happen if clones, with the ability to reason, were introduced into our world and lives. Not my favorite read of the year, but I think this might be more due to the reader on the audiobook I listened to it on.
    • 3/5
      Aside from the whole "Matt's a clone" thing, this doesn't read as particularly science fiction-y. Maybe a little dystopian/alternate future, but the tone feels more like historical fiction--to the extent that the first mention of a hovercraft gives a kind of mental whiplash. The story is a little slow through the first half, but then the pace (and the adventure! intrigue! drama!) picks up. Unfortunately, something in this just never grabbed me. I wanted it to--I was interested in the story, curious where it was going, even enjoying both the writing and narration styles, but I never felt like I connected with the characters. Whether that's a deficit in the writing or in my current concentration levels, I don't know, but overall I'm left with a somewhat mediocre impression. Three, maybe three and a half, stars.
    • 4/5
      The novel, The House of the Scorpion, encompasses the topics of love, lust for power, and revolution. In the beginning, the protagonist, a clone of an all-powerful drug lord, struggles with living in isolation and discovering a whole new, terrifying world. Throughout the middle, he perseveres despite the prejudice against "filthy clones" and deciding his feelings for his aweful, yet caring master. By the end, he has learned to look at things from different perspectives and about the truth of his homeland, Opium. (380/380)
    • 5/5
      Matt finds out he is a clone and searches to discover what that means and why it has happened to him. Treated like an animal, he struggles to find love... and eventual escape. This story occurs on a fantastical country between the US and Mexico, on a poppy plantation.
    • 4/5
      I loved this book to the 5th power! It gives a look into a future thats seems so realistic tat you'll want to keep reading. Its science fiction mixed with a young boy fighting himself for his life. Just when you think the book can't get any better it smacks you in your face with a beautiful love story. The ending keeps you wanting more. And I pray that there will be a part two....
    • 4/5
      I was interested in the parallels between this and The Ear, The Eye, and the Arm given that the stories are set in such different cultures. Both books seemed very interested in young characters who find themselves confronting the differences between the world they were raised in and the world they find surrounding them. The House of the Scorpion had a more bitter-sweet feel to it than The Ear, the Eye, and the Arm, but I found both very lovely. [May 2010]
    • 5/5
      This book truly deserved its Newberry Honor Medal! I find that there are many post-apocalyptic/futuristic novels that often just miss the mark. The House of the Scorpion, however, hits it spot on. The story follows Matt, who is the honored outcast in his own home. As he discovers the truth of his existence, his life shatters before him and he strives to find out who he really is.
    • 5/5
      Matt, a clone, grows up under the thumb and constant supervision of his maker, El Patron. He lives in the land of Opium, between Mexico and the United States, where normal laws don't apply and human life is hardly valued. Matt must choose between the life he knows where he has some power, and the unknown where he knows he doesn't belong.Farmer beautifully creates the world of Opium and the not-so-distant future, where cloning is commonplace, but frowned upon, and people can be bought and sold if you have the power. Matt's journey from childhood, into the understanding of his position, and finally into his choice of who he wants to be in life is at times touching, funny, horrifying, and always deeply moving. The only complaint is that, in a book that takes its time with everything, the ending feels rushed. REcommended for grades 9 and above due to violence and adult themes.
    • 5/5
      An exciting look into the future, where clones are considered animals. But one young clone, Matt, is the clone of the drug lord who rules the land that lies between the United States and Mexico. The reader becomes incredibly compassionate for Matt, who struggles to find his place in a world where most people hate him, but the man with the most power loves him - or does he?
    • 4/5
      Richly imagined, sensitively told tale of a young clone and his coming-of-age. Horrific parts balance with tenderness and the whole is both magical and redemptive. Highly recommended.
    • 2/5
      This was a great book -- you know how I like those future reality where things are a little crazy. Zombie people as farm laborers with brain chip implants, clones born and bred for spare parts, and a drug empire set up in between the US and Mexico -- this was fantastic!
    • 5/5
      This thought-provoking futuristic tale examines the ramifications of many of the moral issues we face today: embryonic stem cell research, cloning, extending life through questionable medical practices, the power of faith, the prevalence of drugs, and what it means to be human. One of the most fascinating aspects of this book is Matt’s struggle with the fact that everyone tells him he has no soul because he is a clone. Yet he thinks independently, he loves, he chooses between good and evil, he strives to improve his mind, he sacrifices his own good for the good of others, he connects with music on a level beyond mere proficiency, and he is intrinsically unique from the original Matteo Alacran. He even shares Cecilia’s faith on some level, although he thinks it doesn’t really apply to him since he doesn’t have a soul.Another interesting moral dilemma in the book is how far medicine should go to preserve life. El Viejo, El Patron’s grandson, is mocked for allowing himself to die of old age rather than creating a clone and extending his life by harvesting the clone’s cells and organs. El Viejo says that he only wants to live the life that God has given him. Others, hungry for power, create and kill many clones in order to increase the quality and longevity of their lives. They use everything from embryos to full-grown adults to preserve their earthly bodies. I also thought it was significant that Catholicism is still very much alive in Mexican culture, even though the country is now nearly as technologically advanced as the United States. This novel does not assume that faith will disappear as humanity progresses; rather, faith remains a foundation for the preservation of morality, love, kindness, and individual free will in the human race.I would highly recommend this book, although I think some of the issues and scenarios are too mature for younger children. It is very well-written and engaging as it explores issues that many people would rather not think about. Through this novel, youth are encouraged that they can make a difference in the world and stand firm against evil and corruption.