BOOK REVIEW
Title: WE ARE THE ANTS
This book was published year 2016, written by Shaun David Hutchinson.
I learned about this book when I was watching Best Books for 2018 video. It was highly recommended by the vlogger and has positive feedbacks from the readers.
Summary
It is about a depressed, low self-esteem, bullying victim high schooler who from time to time gets abducted by aliens and whose boyfriend hanged himself that he couldn’t recover from it and is self-blaming about what happened. If this was not enough, he has a dysfunctional family wherein his father abandoned them, his brother bullies him in school and at home, a grandmother suffering from Alzheimer’s disease and a mother addicted to booze. And then there is Marcus, the most popular boy in the whole town called Calypso who humiliates Henry in public but f***s him in private. Then enters Diego, a transferee who loves to read and paint and wears different styles everyday because he said he is searching for his real identity. It was revealed at the latter part of the novel that Diego had spent two years in juvenile detention center for breaking his father’s arm and fracturing his skull. But this was only to protect his battered mother who had somehow, still, defended his father. Henry and Diego became friends and later on, lovers.
Henry found reasons to save Earth and most importantly, to live.
Reaction:
Bullying
This was the first book I read with the member of the third sex as the narrator and protagonist. It was easy empathizing with the character because he is transparent and he is just like an ordinary person like us struggling with problems, except of course the aliens part. Henry does not only represent LGBT but the youth today who seem so hopeless about the future - so much for youth as the hope of the nation. Nowadays, mental disorder has become prevalent and even the youth are not exempted from this. But Henry needed help from the hospital also with Diego and Marcus. Even the other bullies in school. It can also be noted here that bully victims don’t talk about themselves being bullied rather they’d keep it and repress their anger which can push them to commit suicide. School authorities are not keen in combating Bullying , they only took action when Henry was severely attacked in the showers and was almost raped by Marcus during the school fair. This also manifests how ignorant the school is and worse, keeps a blind eye of the safety and well-being of their students. When Jesse (boyfriend of Henry) took his life, it must have been a signal that there’s something wrong but they did not do anything.
Depression
Almost all of the characters of the novel are depressed. After reading the book, I also felt the pang of depression. It was contagious and maybe, that makes it an effective book. But if your friend is suffering from depression, would you recommend him to read this book? Can this not aggravate his condition? According to Google, these kinds of books could help them. This will bring to light that there are others who are going through the same and some even have worse cases. These books could understand and comfort them. But take note, the lessons must be processed by the readers.
Writing Style
Two thumbs- up for the integration of science into literature.The language is fitting with the characters and the current society, vulgar to its core. The story is actually the extra-credit project of Henry to his science class. The first part is actually very catchy and you know what they say, go on reading if you found one.
Some dialogues were cyclical especially with Henry’s self-blaming. It would be better and more realistic if the aliens were not part of the story. Anyways, it was not revealed if the aliens were real or not. It is up to the reader to decide. For me, Henry is schizophrenic that’s why he has a parallel universe.
Favorite Quotes and Lines
Quote: Two possibilities exist: either we are alone in the universe or we are not. Both are terrifying. – Arthur C. Clarke
About life
Life is bullshit. Life is absurd. We all live in an infinite world and everything in it will eventually repeat. There are infinite copies of you and despite everyone or every motivational video or self-help book is saying that you can make a difference, the truth is, you are not a special snowflake. (I agree but in order to survive, we must think that we are special in our own ways, no matter how small these may be.)
We remember the past, live in the present and write the future. ( Right! No one forgets the past because these teach us what to do in the present and future. The future is our project. We need to write it with beautiful memories. )
About Love and Science
Other times, I think that Gravity is love, which is why love’s only demand is that we fall. (The most striking line, right?)
When Diego kissed me, I forgot about every kiss that came before. His kisses were impatient but cautious. They tested on the edge of losing control and I imagined him panting with the same kind of frenzy – stripped to the waist and covered in smears of more colors than the human eye was capable of detecting. ( I love the love scenes because they’re so vivid. When you kiss someone you love, do you really forget all the ones that came before?)
No comments:
Post a Comment