You know the right side column that lists the genres a book belongs to? I never pay attention to that so this wasn't the first time I was surprised to realize the book I'm reading is not what I thought it would be. Like I thought The House of the Scorpion would be of the supernatural genre from the blurb. Yes, it clearly talked of a clone but ... work with me here, k? It wasn't a big deal when I realized it was SciFi. What I made me say "oooooooh ..." was the fact that it is Dystopian. Yes, I'm slow.
So! I liked this. A lot. I first saw the book over a year ago at the award-winning shelf of the store I often go to and been meaning to read it but I wasn't sure if I'd enjoy it. The blurb didn't say much. But since this year I set a goal to read authors I've never read before (and that their initials, or one of their initials, should match the first letter of the month, heh) I finally got to reading it. Thank you, February. I still had inhibitions in the first couple of chapters because I didn't understand what was happening (I'm really that slow sometimes) but Nancy Farmer is a great story teller and The House of the Scorpion is actually a great story.
The story had politics and all sorts of relationships (from affairs to family to friendship) and the whole underdog rising to take the platform he deserves (yes I made that phrase up) and the works and a pretty good twist towards the end ... and also in the middle. I kid you not. In the middle. The end got a bit predictable, though, except for that sad part that ... I don't want to say here because that would be a spoiler ... and it really makes me sad.
Please excuse me as I curl up in bed and cry myself to sleep.
