Everybody Sees the Ants - A.S. King
Synopsis: Lucky Linderman didn't ask for his life. He didn't ask his grandfather not to come home from the Vietnam War. He didn't ask for a father who never got over it. He didn't ask for a mother who keeps pretending their dysfunctional family is fine. And he didn't ask to be the target of Nader McMillan's relentless bullying, which has finally gone too far.
But Lucky has a secret--one that helps him wade through the daily mundane torture of his life. In his dreams, Lucky escapes to the war-ridden jungles of Laos--the prison his grandfather couldn't escape--where Lucky can be a real man, an adventurer, and a hero. It's dangerous and wild, and it's a place where his life just might be worth living. But how long can Lucky keep hiding in his dreams before reality forces its way inside?
Everybody Sees the Ants is one of those incredible books that is hard to talk about because it holds so much power. It's a relatively short book, yet it encompasses everything - nationalism, pain, coping, love, family, bullying, generation gaps, friendship, feminism, growing-up, and of course, the fabulous ants. A.S. King's book is such an incredible accomplishment and wonderful contribution to the YA field - I won't even scratch the surface of it here.
Following Lucky is a little heartbreaking. He's regularly bullied, and that in itself is hard to read. However, it gets worse when it becomes clear that the adults in Lucky's life know what's going on and do nothing to stop it. They pity him, but in the interest of not stirring up trouble, they turn a blind eye. It's during a particularly painful bullying incident that Lucky creates the ants, who provide escape for him. They soon become a representation of his subconscious, often enacting how Lucky really feels, but doesn't feel he's allowed demonstrate. The ants are the best part about this book, but they are a little hard to explain, so I suggest reading this book even if it is only to see the ants.
The ants aren't Lucky's only coping mechanism. He also goes to Laos in his dreams to hang out with his grandfather in the war-ridden jungle of Vietnam. Lucky's grandfather is a POW/MIA who never came home and Lucky's own family is incredibly impacted by it. His grandmother spent most of her energies trying to get her husband back and passed the responsibility on to Lucky's father. This all creates an interesting look at family and generation, but it also brings it into a national scale, examining the break down of our collective conscious - and as always, King calls upon the younger generation to rise up and be strong against the face of everything that came before them and the hands they were dealt. The inclusion of the Vietnam was was interesting, as it's still a recent memory yet is fairly unexplored in YA literature.
Finally, the women in this novel were an unexpected awesome addition to this story. Lucky's own mother has some interesting psychological things going on. Then there's Ginny, the strong-willed girl who comes barging into Lucky's life, in the trend of John Green's Margo Roth Speigleman, who shows Lucky that sometimes you have to stand up for yourself, and for other people. But, surprisingly, the character I grew to love the most and turns out to provide most of the color to the novel, is Lucky's Aunt Jodi. She's probably certifiably insane, and is quite annoying at first. Yet, as her character is slowly revealed, she becomes pitiable, and then a bit lovable. She provides a great foil for Lucky, who copes in a mental way; Aunt Jodi copes in a physical way with pills and excessive cleaning.
What's truly remarkable is this whole cast of characters show us that everyone is coping with something. We're all in this together and we just might heal ourselves by helping one another.
Everybody Sees the Ants - A.S. King
Synopsis: Lucky Linderman didn't ask for his life. He didn't ask his grandfather not to come home from the Vietnam War. He didn't ask for a father who never got over it. He didn't ask for a mother who keeps pretending their dysfunctional family is fine. And he didn't ask to be the target of Nader McMillan's relentless bullying, which has finally gone too far.
But Lucky has a secret--one that helps him wade through the daily mundane torture of his life. In his dreams, Lucky escapes to the war-ridden jungles of Laos--the prison his grandfather couldn't escape--where Lucky can be a real man, an adventurer, and a hero. It's dangerous and wild, and it's a place where his life just might be worth living. But how long can Lucky keep hiding in his dreams before reality forces its way inside?
Everybody Sees the Ants is one of those incredible books that is hard to talk about because it holds so much power. It's a relatively short book, yet it encompasses everything - nationalism, pain, coping, love, family, bullying, generation gaps, friendship, feminism, growing-up, and of course, the fabulous ants. A.S. King's book is such an incredible accomplishment and wonderful contribution to the YA field - I won't even scratch the surface of it here.
Following Lucky is a little heartbreaking. He's regularly bullied, and that in itself is hard to read. However, it gets worse when it becomes clear that the adults in Lucky's life know what's going on and do nothing to stop it. They pity him, but in the interest of not stirring up trouble, they turn a blind eye. It's during a particularly painful bullying incident that Lucky creates the ants, who provide escape for him. They soon become a representation of his subconscious, often enacting how Lucky really feels, but doesn't feel he's allowed demonstrate. The ants are the best part about this book, but they are a little hard to explain, so I suggest reading this book even if it is only to see the ants.
The ants aren't Lucky's only coping mechanism. He also goes to Laos in his dreams to hang out with his grandfather in the war-ridden jungle of Vietnam. Lucky's grandfather is a POW/MIA who never came home and Lucky's own family is incredibly impacted by it. His grandmother spent most of her energies trying to get her husband back and passed the responsibility on to Lucky's father. This all creates an interesting look at family and generation, but it also brings it into a national scale, examining the break down of our collective conscious - and as always, King calls upon the younger generation to rise up and be strong against the face of everything that came before them and the hands they were dealt. The inclusion of the Vietnam was was interesting, as it's still a recent memory yet is fairly unexplored in YA literature.
Finally, the women in this novel were an unexpected awesome addition to this story. Lucky's own mother has some interesting psychological things going on. Then there's Ginny, the strong-willed girl who comes barging into Lucky's life, in the trend of John Green's Margo Roth Speigleman, who shows Lucky that sometimes you have to stand up for yourself, and for other people. But, surprisingly, the character I grew to love the most and turns out to provide most of the color to the novel, is Lucky's Aunt Jodi. She's probably certifiably insane, and is quite annoying at first. Yet, as her character is slowly revealed, she becomes pitiable, and then a bit lovable. She provides a great foil for Lucky, who copes in a mental way; Aunt Jodi copes in a physical way with pills and excessive cleaning.
What's truly remarkable is this whole cast of characters show us that everyone is coping with something. We're all in this together and we just might heal ourselves by helping one another.
