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I’ve been putting off reading Nancy Farmer’s The House of the Scorpion for years, even though it’s a Newbery Honor book, because it’s Not My Thing. (Which is different from just not my thing–lowercase–because it’s a solid combination of two genres I actively avoid and a setting that holds no natural appeal for me. Many books aren’t really my thing while still being an enjoyable read for me, but others…) I avoid Sci-Fi unless it’s a great story that just happens to take place in a Sci-Fi setting, and as for Dystopian fiction, well–I generally loathe Dystopian fiction. Put those two genres together in the southwestern desert, and you’ve got a story that I have zero interest in reading. (A New England setting might tip the scales in favor of a book I was waffling about, but the southwestern desert? That’s a hard no.)
Unsurprisingly, then, I did not personally enjoy reading The House of the Scorpion. On the other hand, it’s an original premise, a captivating story, and a fairly wild ride. A country called Opium between the US and what was once Mexico? A drug lord/dictator in his 140s? Laws that establish human clones–grown in cows and then “harvested” at what would be birth–as livestock? A mass of workers called “eejits” whose human intelligence has been deadened to create mindless obedience? Not My Thing, certainly, but for readers of those genres that I don’t personally care for, an engrossing world; fans of Neal Shusterman, for one, seem likely to love it. (Even I admit to being held captive by the climax.)
There you have it, then. I get to check one more Newbery off of my list, and you get a conditional recommendation. A win-win! Now, please excuse me while I go revel in some historical fiction.