The House of the Scorpion: Theme

Hey everyone! Today I am going to be discussing the theme of The House of the Scorpion. The theme is basically a universal truth that the author is trying to communicate to the reader through his/her work. This message is rarely stated, so the reader must use his/her knowledge that he/she knows from reading the text to figure it out.

My Theme Statement: A corrupt world is one without equality. Corruption will bring us down, but peace will build us up.

In the big house you weren't treated well if you didn't belong to El Patron, but if you were of El Patron's "belongings" then you never left his possession. If they didn't do as they were told, they would become brainless zombies, so they really didn't have a choice. He had the most power because of force, which is unfair. pg. 169, 170, and 274

Later on in the book, Matt escapes from El Patron's grasp. He takes a run for Aztlan,  hoping for freedom, but when he gets across he's stuck with Keepers, who send him to a plankton factory to do labour out of force. The other boys at the factory are also doing work, and he is treated the same as them. It's hard but it's fair! Later on in the story, though, we find out that the Keepers live a better life-style. Not only this, but when the boys find the tattoo at the bottom of his foot, he doesn't get treated the same. It's only his friends that accept him after this information. pg. 262, 266, 286, and 287

That brings me to my next theme of this book. I defiantly think that The House of the Scorpion provides more than one. For my theme statement of this one, I would replace the word "equality" with "friendship".

At the big house, Matt starts to develop a father-like-son relationship with Tam Lin. Tam Lin teaches Matt essential things about surviving out in the wild, and society. This information gives Matt the opportunity and the strength to continue foreword in his journey and escape. pg. 149

When Matt goes to the plankton factory, he starts to bond with a few characters. These characters go through tough moment together, which they may not have been able to push through on their own. This friendship also has trust. When Jorge accused Matt of being a clone, Chacho and Fidelio refused to believe it because of their relationship. It's a cycle. Because of the trust, they stay together and help each other which results in trust. And it keep on going until someone looses their trust. This never happens in the book, and I think that Farmer is trying to tell her readers that we need trust and friendship in this world. pg. 287, 321, 357

What did you think the theme was? Comment below, and happy reading. 

Dualed vs. Stung

Hello everyone! So I've had a poll up for a while asking which book you would rather have me read. Dualed by Elsie Chapman, of Stung by Bethany Wiggins. Unfortunately though, the poll gadget isn't working, and votes randomly appear and disappear. So instead, could you please just comment on this post which book you would rather have me read? Thanks so much! Happy reading.

Dualed: http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/13401993-dualed

Stung: http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/13517444-stung?ac=1

The House of the Scorpion: Narrative Structure

Hello everyone! Today I am going to be discussing the narrative structure in The House of the Scorpion. So yeah. Let's get started!!

The exposition lasted for way too long. And I mean way. The first section of youth was 52 pages, and that was all really dull. It started to pick up speed there, but I wouldn't call it rising action... Not much of one anyway. If I were to draw this out, which I have, the rising action would be a shallow line.

On page 370 of the book we reach the climax. Ah, good times. The excitement sure didn't last long though, shortly after, the intensity slowed down a lot, and plummeted for the next 9 pages. The last page was used as an exposition, which was way too short. I think that if the rising action started rising faster and at a quicker pace, and then the falling action to be stretched out a little bit more as well. A larger exposition would have also been nice.

I didn't like the structure for this book. It was kind of crazy and strange. If I wasn't reading this for school, I would have stopped reading this book really quickly because the rising action was just so slow. I'm glad I didn't, as the climax was worth it, but it would have been better if it was faster for at least the beginning so that it would hook the reader.

The ending was also dissatisfying. I felt like a finally got to the good part when bam. It's done. Over with.







































See what I mean? It makes you feel really lost and confused to have such a short resolution. We all say that we don't like them because they are too slow, or not important enough to be put into a novel, but after reading this book I realize how important it really is. Not only did I learn about the importance of the resolution, but also exposition, rising action, climax, and falling action as well.

There are so many good things about this book though, so don't read this and think that The House of the Scorpion was terrible. That's not what I'm saying. I still haven't discussed character, connections to real world issues, theme, or a film study. Stay tuned for those posts! Until then, I would love to know your thoughts on the narrative structure in this book. Do you agree with me? Disagree? Comment below! And happy reading.

May TBR 2013

This is going to be a really rushed post but that's okay. I need to get this up for you guys!

For this month I put all of the votes into a hat/bowl thing and pulled out three (I will be posting a video on YouTube of this process). I decided to do this because I don't have that many viewers, so there's a whole bunch of ties.

The first book that I picked out of the bowl was The Name of The Star by Maureen Johnson. This book was voted for twice, and I am super excited to read it.

The second book that I picked out of the bowl was Partials by Dan Wells. This thing is big, though not incredibly huge. It sounds so good, and I'm excited. 2 people voted on this book as well, as I got my sister to vote (but she didn't comment).

The final book that I picked out was Fracture by Megan Miranda, and I'm so glad I got this. I was been wanting to read this for ages, and I'm finally getting around to it this month. Only one person voted on this though... Oh well.

What are you planning on reading? Comment below, and happy reading.

April Wrap-Up

Hello everyone! Today I am here with my April Wrap-Up. In April I read 10 books and 1 novella, however two of those books are super short, but goodreads counts them so I'll go with it.

The first book that I read/finished in April was Mind Games by Keirsten White and I was a bit disappointed. This book was my most anticipated new-release of this year, and... it wasn't as good as I had expected. I shouldn't have been too surprised because of the reviews that I had read prior to picking this book up, but none-the-less, I was. 3 out of 5 stars. Still good, but not amazing.

The second book that I read in April was Altered by Jennifer Rush and oh my goodness. This book. This book is absolutely amazing, and I couldn't put it down. It was so addicting that I finsihed it at 2:00 in the morning. The characters were amazing, and the plot... It was just. So. Good. 5 out of 5 stars. Read it now!

The third book that I read in April was Sisters Red by Jackson Pearce and this was, again, a disappointment. Danika over at Books to Dream raved about this book, but I didn't think it was worth as much as she gave it. Again, I shouldn't have been that surprised as many people only gave it an okay review, but... Yeah. 4 out of 5 stars. Still worth the read, just not the best book ever.

The fourth book that I read in April was A Great and Terrible Beauty by Libba Bray. I have no words. The ending left me literally shaking. The plot twists were totally unexpected and overall, a super awesome read. I only gave it a 4.5 though, just because of the slow beginning. The rest of it, though, was superb! I defiantly recommend it.

The fifth book was really short, as it was the first book in the Spiderwick Chronicles Series, The Field Guide by Tony DeTerlizzi and Holly Black. I gave this book a 3 out of 5 stars, but I was expecting more. I saw jessethereader and astridthebookworm talk about these and they gave it 5 stars. For me though, the plot just wasn't there so I just couldn't give it a higher rating.

The sixth book that I read actually put me in a reading slump (which you would't be able to tell I was in from the amount of books I read but still...). This book was Eve by Anna Carey. I do not understand the hype that surrounds this book at all. It was dull and not enjoyable and ugh... 2 out of 5 stars. The only people that I would re

commend this book to is people who love cheesy romance. And I mean love.

The seventh book that I read was Pivot Point by Kasie West which is also a 2013 new release. I also really loved this book. I loved debating what team I was on throughout the story, the plot twist was crazy, and the characters and just... everything was amazing! I recommend it to everyone! 5 out of 5 stars.

The eighth book that I read was the second book in the Spiderwick Chronicles by the same authors. It's called The Seeing Stone. This book was much more enjoyable than the first. The story actually went somewhere, and it was actually a really nice read. 4 out of 5 stars.

The ninth book that I read was Under The Never Sky by Veronica Rossi. This book was the 2012 debut on my April TBR. It was fairly enjoyable, but not amazing. I gave it 4 stars. It wasn't what I was expecting at all, and it didn't blow me away.

Next I read a novella by Veronica Roth... Yes, you guessed it. Free Four. I didn't give this "book" a rating because it was only 13 pages, and I didn't think that was enough content to judge upon. That being said, I still really enjoyed it. It was really cool to hear part of the story from Four's point of view, and I think that the scene that Veronica Roth chose was very powerful. If you have read Divergent (which you should if you haven't) then I would defiantly give this a go.

The final/tenth/eleventh book that I read in April was The Treachery of Beautiful Things by Ruth Long. This was also on my TBR from April. I am unsure of what to tell you about this book. It was a bit confusing in parts and the main character wasn't very strong. To top it off, the plot didn't really go anywhere either. The plot twist, on the other hand, was well done, and the ending pulled this book up from what I thought was going to be a 2 star to a 3. I recommend that you read this book, even though that I didn't think it was that good just because it isn't too incredibly long, plus it's a stand-alone so it doesn't take too much investment. You never know, maybe you will just be blown away!

I am currently reading 3 books, the first one for school: The House of the Scorpion by Nancy Farmer. I'm scheduled to finish this on Monday, so hopefully that will happen. I am also team-reading Rebel Angels by Libba Bray (The sequel to A Great and Terrible Beauty) with Danika @ Books to Dream (link in side-bar), and the last book on my TBR, Slide by Jill Hathaway. I am 142 pages in and liking it, and expecting to finish it soon.

Be sure to look out for reviews for the TBR books for sure, as well as the first 4 books I read in April. Also, if you would like me to review one of the books that I haven't said I would, leave a comment below and I would be happy to do that for you. Happy reading!

Reading Update (6): Rebel Angels

Hello everyone! I'm just making this post to tell you about a team-reading activity that I am participating in with Danika @ Books to Dream (link on the side-bar). She's amazing, by the way, so you should go and follow her. Anyhow, throughout our reading we will be discussing certain parts in the book, and perhaps doing some special "challenges" together such as a cover to cover or something like that. It will be quite like the thing that I'm doing at school for The House of the Scorpion. Be sure to look out for a reading schedule perhaps coming soon. We haven't planned too much yet, except that we have to read to page 29 by tonight.

Leave a comment below with your ideas of what we should do together, and happy reading!

The House of the Scorpion: Setting

Hey everyone. Today I am going to be talking about the setting of The House of the Scorpion by Nancy Farmer. Also, know that this post/discussion is not spoiler-free. You have been warned.

The general setting of The House of the Scorpion is on the border separating the U.S. and what we call Mexico today (which is called Aztlán in the book) (Farmer 57). They call it Opium. If we were to go scene-specific, I could go into detail about the poppy fields (Farmer 6), oasis (Farmer 79), El Patron's house (Farmer 25) and so many more, but I am going to be talking about the main setting, the Alacrán house.

I chose the Alacrán house because it is the place where the overall plot takes place. It's where Matt is taken and kept as an animal; where he lives afterward. A secret passageway is also there with a red scorpion (Farmer 221). Now that I look into it more, it is actually on the front cover of the book as well! Although the scorpion hasn't been mentioned any other time but that scene (yet), I think that it will play a big part in the book later on. After all, Nancy Farmer chose to name her book The House of the Scorpion for a reason. Now I'm getting the idea that it is describing the Alacrán house. First of all, there is a scorpion on the arch and Rosa's name-tag (Farmer 21). Secondly, El Patron describes the people from Durango as scorpions (Farmer 57) . And of course, the passageway leading outside.

There are still a question (or two) about the setting that I have unanswered though. What is happening in this time period that could be affecting Matt's story? I'm hoping that as we read on and finish this novel study that these questions will be answered. Until then, I can only guess.

For starters, I think that the story takes place in the future. There is evidence of this in the text as well. What we know today as Mexico is now called Aztlán (Farmer 57), plus there is so many new technologies. How can El Patron live so long? It’s with the new technologies that this book includes. I can't even fathom these developments happening in the modern day, but who knows? Maybe it will happen in the future.

What else is happening or has happened that could be affecting the story? Maybe Canada doesn't exist anymore. There is no mention of its existence in the text, so it’s a possibility. But if it did, how? Perhaps there was a war. Perhaps that's why there are clones, and why people need to live so long... To repopulate. Whoa! Mind blown.

Now lets talk. What did you think of the setting? Leave a comment below, and happy reading!