Mundie Moms

Saturday, October 8, 2011

Book Review: Everyone Sees The Ants


Published by: Little Brown
Released on: October 3rd, 2011
Source: book from publisher to review
Purchase from: Amazon| Barnes & Noble


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 family is fine. And he certainly didn't ask to be the recipient of Nadar McMillan's relentless bullying, which has finally gone too far.

Lucky has a secret—one that helps him wade through the daily dysfunction of his life. Grandad Harry, trapped in the jungles of Laos, has been visiting Lucky in his dreams—and the dreams just might be real: an alternate reality where he can be whoever he wants to be and his life might still be worth living. But how long can Lucky remain in hiding there before reality forces its way inside?

Printz Honor recipient A. S. King's distinctive, smart, and accessible writing shines in this powerful novel about learning to cope with the shrapnel life throws at you, and then taking a stand against it. -quoted from Goodreads

Lucky Linderman is a character so many readers are going to relate to and he's one many people will be rooting for. This at times snarky character who mentally calls it as he sees it deals with a dysfunctional family, he's misunderstood and he's bullied in the worst way. I can't even put into words the emotions I felt while reading this book. A.S. King has done a great job with emotionally pulling me into her story. She made Lucky's situations believable, his bullying real and on more than one occasion I wished I could take Lucky out his situation and put him in a better one.

Lucky is one of those enduring characters that everyone can relate to on some level. He's a good, innocent kid who endures endless bullying, which moves beyond threats and verbal abuse to physical bullying. It's during this time I wanted to go off on every adult figure in Lucky's life who didn't do much to help his situation and give Lucky the ego boost he needed. This poor kid needed a huge dose of confidence, and a big self-esteem boost, which he gradually builds. He's someone I found easy to cheer for from the sidelines. I wanted to see him grow and I wan't to see him face his tormentor and feel that satisfaction when he finally stands up to him.

Lucky's situation and home life are ones that are sadly realistically portrayed. I spent a good part of this book feeling totally irritated at Lucky's selfish, and self centered parents. Their inability to see what was happening to their son was infuriating to me. Towards the end of the story my feelings for them changed slightly, but as a parent I couldn't get past my feelings towards Lucky's parents. I found it intriguing that Lucky developed a relationship with his late Grandfather whom he never met as he's a POW from the Vietnam war, but he's someone Lucky converses with in his dreams.

Everybody Sees Ants is book packed with a variety of emotions. It's one that will make you look at people differently whom you're around. It's one that people who have been bullied will related to and it's one people who haven't dwelt with the effects of bullying will relate to. Really it's a read the many teenagers will get. Lucky is a realistically written teenage boy who's trying to survive those "wonderful" teenager years and make do with the hand he's been dwelt. A.S. King has done a great job at realistically portraying the issue of bullying, and the effects it has on it's victim. There is some language, including the f word, and scenes of physical bullying. This is a book I'd recommend to teens 14 yrs & older.

4 comments:

  1. Wow, I can imagine that this would be pretty powerful. Wonderful review.

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  2. Pam- Thank you so much! It's definitely a book I think many readers will connect with on at least some level.

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  3. The Vietnam war is a subject that is close to my heart since my dad was a veteran of it. I'm adding this one to my must buy list!

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  4. Heather- She did such a great job with including this into her story. That's the part that intrigued me the most with the storyline.

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