Everybody Sees the Ants

Everybody Sees the Ants by A.S. King

Blurb:

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 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?

Review:

Only two hours earlier she was telling me how great I was because I could cook eggs. Now my egg-making means I'm a homicidal maniac. Now I might wipe out random people at a mall because I don't smile enough. Why are the adults in my life so determined to bring me down when I'm feeling good?

This could have easily turned into a "whiny book about kinda asshole teenage-boy and his super-difficult life" (a 'trope' or theme one comes across surprisingly frequently?) or into a "MPDG saves the day!" story had this book been written less competently or with a slightly different focus. This was the first time I've read a book by A.S. King and my hopes were quite high, especially because there are a couple of other books written by her that I'm very interested in, but (obviously) I was not let down. King has proven herself, from this book alone, very competent and I'm now extra-excited to get to her other books.

What struck me most were the many moments where I thought this book could derail into something I didn't like. If Lucky had been written differently he's narrative voice could have been quite annoying, if the circumstances had been different the whole book could have felt somewhat pointless, if Ginny had been written differently and had taken up a different space in the story it could have basically dragged the whole book through the mood after quite an interesting set-up. But none of this came true. Lucky seemed like such a reasonable kid and I totally understood him any why he acted the way he acted and Ginny was very interesting to read about, moreover, she helped Lucky in his period of character growth but she wasn't the reason for it. Ginny simply showed Lucky a different perspective, she helped him understand himself and others a little better the rest was up to Lucky.

Further, I really enjoyed the style of writing. Basically, I read the first chapter to see whether I wanted to start this book already and I felt like I was immediately pulled into the story (I ended up deciding to read City of Ashes first but that was because of different reasons). The writing is poignant and interesting, it's not super beautiful or anything but it has an addictive quality to it that was hard to resist. What I'm trying to say is that I pretty much flew through this book, totally immersed in the story.

However, I have to admit to struggling, somewhat, with properly connecting with the story or, rather, the characters. I think this might be because it is a book released in 2012 and many of the topics that must have been super relevant at the time have, since then, been treated manifold in many different context and I oftentimes felt like I was reading the only slightly different version of a story I knew already. I can't blame this on the book, of course, but this means, to me, that I can't give it the rating it probably deserved simply because I'm lacking the emotional attachment to Everybody Sees the Ants. 

Rating:

3.5 out of 5 stars (there's nothing else left to say).

Details:

Name: Everybody Sees the Ants

Author:  A.S. King

Publisher: Little, Brown Books for Young Readers

Pages: 280

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