Name: Emily's review of We Are the Ants by Shaun David Hutchinson
Item: We Are the Ants
Rating: 5
Author: Emily

Shaun David Hutchinson

From the author to watch ("Kirkus Reviews") of "The Five Stages of Andrew Brawley "comes a brand-new novel about a teenage boy who must decide whether or not the world is worth saving. Henry Denton has spent years being periodically abducted by aliens. Then the aliens give him an ultimatum: The world will end in 144 days, and all Henry has to do to stop it is push a big red button. Only he isn t sure he wants to. After all, life hasn t been great for Henry. His mom is a struggling waitress held together by a thin layer of cigarette smoke. His brother is a jobless dropout who just knocked someone up. His grandmother is slowly losing herself to Alzheimer s. And Henry is still dealing with the grief of his boyfriend s suicide last year. Wiping the slate clean sounds like a pretty good choice to him. But Henry is a scientist first, and facing the question thoroughly and logically, he begins to look for pros and cons: in the bully who is his perpetual one-night stand, in the best friend who betrayed him, in the brilliant and mysterious boy who walked into the wrong class. Weighing the pain and the joy that surrounds him, Henry is left with the ultimate choice: push the button and save the planet and everyone on it or let the world and his pain be destroyed forever."

We Are the Ants

After the suicide of his boyfriend, Henry deals with depression and family issues, all while wondering if he was really abducted and told he has 144 days to decide whether or not the world is worth saving.

casey

Grief is an ocean, and guilt the undertow that pulls me beneath the waves and drowns me.

We have to watch Nana's life slipping away from her like a forgotten word. I thought I understood what's happening to her, but this isn't like being robbed a penny at a time. Memories aren't a currency to spend; they're us. Age isn't stealing from my grandmother; it's slowly unwinding her.

Lucia 

Emily

It was one of those pleasant books that did not want to make me cry but slowly and surely made me love this book. 

It deals with a boy who is abducted by aliens and sees no point to save the earth but slowly, in a span of 144 days, finds meaning in his life with his family and friends. 

Even though we don't matter to the universe, our lives will matter to us. We are living in the now, and no one can take that away from us. 

We remember the past, live in the present, and write the future.

Julie Rubens

Honestly, I expected more from this book. I was very intrigued by the back of the book and I still find it a very interesting storyline but I also found it a bit shallow at times. 
On the other hand, it was a nice story with a good message so I definitely enjoyed reading it!

From the “author to watch” (Kirkus Reviews) of The Five Stages of Andrew Brawley comes an “equal parts sarcastic and profound” (Kirkus Reviews, starred review) novel about a teenage boy who must decide whether or not the world is worth saving. Henry Denton has spent years being periodically abducted by aliens. Then the aliens give him an ultimatum: The world will end in 144 days, and all Henry has to do to stop it is push a big red button. Only he isn’t sure he wants to. After all, life hasn’t been great for Henry. His mom is a struggling waitress held together by a thin layer of cigarette smoke. His brother is a jobless dropout who just knocked someone up. His grandmother is slowly losing herself to Alzheimer’s. And Henry is still dealing with the grief of his boyfriend’s suicide last year. Wiping the slate clean sounds like a pretty good choice to him. But Henry is a scientist first, and facing the question thoroughly and logically, he begins to look for pros and cons: in the bully who is his perpetual one-night stand, in the best friend who betrayed him, in the brilliant and mysterious boy who walked into the wrong class. Weighing the pain and the joy that surrounds him, Henry is left with the ultimate choice: push the button and save the planet and everyone on it…or let the world—and his pain—be destroyed forever.

shru

i was afraid i wouldn't enjoy this book, but i did. idk what to say, but for starters, i skipped school on a saturday for this book. so worth it

hhHh i bumped down the rating cuz i? dont? know?
dont hate me

Matcha Donut

I didn’t enjoy this book but I would like to praise Henry for being strong.

So what would you do if the aliens abducted you told you that the world is ending but you can save it by pushing a red button? Would you do it or would you rather let the world turn into dust?

This book reminds me so much of Ari and Dante. I pretty much love the main character, our hero Henry Denton. He's so sarcastic and awkward and hate this world we're living in. Pretty much some of them could relate in a spiritual level. There are some phrases and sentences here that I couldn't help but tear up. This book is so beautiful. So freaking beautiful. It teaches you a lot about life. How to deal with it and live with it despite the shitty things that keep happening to your life. That the world is not all about glitters and sunflowers and rainbows but you just got to move on. I want to say more but it's best to make it short.

Friendly advice: YOU NEED TO READ THIS.

roro

“We may not get to choose how we die, but we can choose how we live.”

i love books that make me have a revelation and want to completely change my entire way of living.

Denaiir

great book but oh so depressing, had to take a few breaks

i didn’t really know what to initially expect, but was pleasantly surprised. a lovely book tackling trauma, grief, and depression, through the lens of a teenage boy struggling to see the beauty in life and the purpose of living because his life is a complete dumpster fire. i did not expect to like someone like charlie more by the end of the book. nana was such a lovely character (who did break my heart on the occasion), diego and audrey were reliable friends. sped through this novel in three days.

Originally reviewed Sep 20, 2018 | Imported from my Goodreads account

Alberto

Jamieson

The universe may forget us but it doesn't matter. Because we are the ants, and we'll keep marching on
 

When people used to say to me  what do you want to be when you grow up? I'd ALWAYS say astronaut. In fact, I still want to be an astronaut .. I just don't think I will be ( unfortunately it turns out getting to space involves a shit ton of MATH and I don't do math very well.) 

But the point stands I am absolutely a SLUT for space. What can I say, stars are pretty, planets intrigue me and I want to meet me some aliens (and yes aliens are real, you can't tell me in a universe of 60 tillion planets there aren't some aliens about somewhere) 

ANYWAY, this relates, I promise. We are The Ants has space, and aliens too. Space isn't the only thing that made me fall in love with this book but it helped. The aliens helped too. But what also helped was the incredible characters, the witty dialogue, the beautiful prose, the enchanting plot line, the emotions that this book dragged out of me and had churning within the first few pages. 

 
 
by dvnwild on tumblr


Listen, I NEVER recommend contemporaries.  I DO NOT LIKE CONTEMPORARIES !! Traditionally, anyway. Of course there was some that get me all emotional. We are the Ants is a contemporary I didn't just enjoy, but fell head over heels for. I love this book. 

This book man. It's kinda The Perks of Being a Wallflower meets ET and holy shit I love it. Our main character, Henry Denton, is a victim of reoccurring alien abductions. (YES PEOPLE, aliens are a thing in this book) and yet somehow the fact the aliens abduct him all the time (And at inconvenient times might I add) that isn't even his main problem Because not only do the aliens abduct him, they've also told him the world is ending in 144 days unless he stops it. 

Actually, I wanna slow this down and sober it up a bit because it is a heavy book. And like, the space and aliens are fun but this book isn't entirely fun. Henry Denton, the protagonist, is coping with a lot. His dad walked out on his family, his mum is a mess, his unemployed college drop out brother has a pregnant girlfriend and Henry's boyfriend, Jesse, recently committed suicide. So on top of alien invasions he's dealing with a bit. He's supposed to save the world for the aliens, and he's not even sure it's worth it. 

(I KNOW THIS SEEMS ALOT OF INFO BUT IT'S NOT SPOILERS PROMISE 

This book is heavy, and it's bizarre and I love it. The main character is wonderful. I constantly have an issue with how teenage boys are written in books - I can never connect. But I connected with Henry, oh my god I loved him. I sympathised with him so much, I understood him completely and I found him to be a perceptive, thoughtful narrator who successfully gave me an existisitential crisis. And me, a catastrophic thinker, could relate a little too much to his overthinking. 

But really, I love all the characters in this. Mysterious Diego, Audrey, Marcus and Zooey, I loved them all by the end. (but not Adrian tho. Fuck Adrian. ) (view spoiler)[and especially fuck Marcus for the end.  (hide spoiler)]

The most beautiful thing about this though was the prose. The writing was literally stunning. Rich, with a wry tone and a frank perspective on the world. I enjoyed that while it was philosophical and reflective, it was also a bit deadpan and didn't beat around the bush. I liked the way this book offered a reflection on the things that worry us as people, and how it was ultimately hopeful despite all the despair and the heaviness of some of the themes. 


 

We Are the Ants covers some heavy themes and topics. I loved it for it's LGBT+ representation, but be aware there are trigger warnings for rape, suicide (view spoiler)[and miscarriage (hide spoiler)] 
Despite that I think it's important, and I'm glad this book gave an honest perspective into some of the troubles facing both the teenage lgbt+ community, but also just teenagers in general. I loved the cast of diverse characters with interesting backstories. AND I LOVED THE REPRESENTATION OF MEDICATION !! STOP DEMONISING MEDICATION IN YOUR BOOKS But this book man. .. It can be dark, and heavy and it weighs on you, you truly feel the depth and weight of this book. I adore that. I adore it. 

I loved the messages this book sent, and the way the problems and issues were tackled. I liked that things were not neatly tied in a bow, I liked the ambiguous ending. 

In fact, there wasn't much at all I didn't like (it is a 5* book for a reason). But this is one of those books that was a 5* from the opening page to the last. There was simply not a moment I did not love? I read this in one sitting pretty much and I was emotionally drained by the end, but I was in love. 

I've truly never read anything like this. For me, contemporary YA is becoming alot of the same but this stood out. I haven't been so shook by a contemporary since I read The Perks of Being a Wallflower back in 2012 or something. 

I adore this book so much. I think everyone should read it. It's raw, it's honest. A poignant insight into people, and how we so desperately try to make things matter. A reminder that we matter on a small level to those around us, that being great does not mean achieving fame and notoriety. 

And it's incredibly, disgustingly underrated and under read. This book is truly beautiful, and important and still makes me so emotional just by looking at the cover. I think about this book everyday. It deserves more attention, it's a truly beautiful book. 

It's a book about remembering and cherishing the small things, about learning to let go, about loving fiercely and making sacrifices. About remembering we are who we are, that we define ourselves. That we matter. Oh, and it's about aliens too.  


 MY "WE ARE THE ANTS" PLAYLIST


  “We're not words, Henry, we're people.
Words are how others define us, but we can define ourselves any way we choose.”

bella <3

god this book. i feel like a lot of the emotions depicted throughout the characters and mc come from a place of just raw desperation to be okay and i think that’s something that everyone can relate to. this book endures the complexity of friendship and heartbreak and grief and loss and family and so much more. the characters are all very complex and each have powerful motives to the way they are. this book is easily one of my favorites

midnightjelly

Why didn't I read this sooner? Can't imagine what kind of impact it would've had on me if I had read it back in high school.

Annie Saez

There are no words to explain how much this books broke me, I found a jewel I never thought I would, I can't say anything but that the amount of perfection carried in these pages was beyond beautiful.

THAT MF BUTTON OMG

Nicole Dykeman

I’ll start off by saying I put this off for way too long. It’s been sitting on my shelf for nearly two years now, waiting to be picked up and read, but I kept looking at it and saying “I’ll save it for another day”, procrastinating with shorter books. I didn’t want to commit to the length, or the time that it would take me to read it.

Apparently, that was a concern I never even needed to consider, because I devoured this in literally two days, and I haven’t stopped thinking about it since I turned the last page. 

Henry’s character is so lovable and heartbreaking. I just want to wrap him up in a blanket and hide him away from anything that could hurt him. He goes through hell and back in this story, but he still stops to consider what might still be good about the world. Every character is incredibly well-developed - Audrey, Diego, Charlie, even Jesse, who never actually makes a physical appearance. I loved and hated them all in their own little ways. 

This is gonna be one of my special books that goes on my “favorite” shelf, a title that is essentially synonymous with “I read this at the speed of light”. It sucked me in immediately, and then spit me back out as an emotional wreck.

jess

This reminds me a lot of The Rest of Us Just Live Here in that it is a contemporary with elements of genre fiction with a lot of focus on mental illness. And this kind of storyline is my shit, and by this kind of storyline, I mean I am very attracted to queer YA fiction with a focus on mental illness. I also like space. And aliens. And apocalyptic scenarios. I really liked The Five Stages of Andrew Brawley and I really like We Are the Ants. Henry is easy to relate to, and his character development is really good. It's a sad book without being angsty, the narration is nihilistic and frustrated without being whiny, and there are a lot of funny moments too. In case you haven't noticed ... nihilistic sad characters are my shit (cough Theo Decker, Grantaire, Nico di Angelo, Andrew Minyard). 

One thing I find funny is how Hutchinson said that Andrew Brawley was the darkest book he'd ever write and personally I find this a lot darker in some ways. 

As for things I disliked there were a lot of vague elements in the story and while it was intentional, I'd sure as heckie like to know if the planet is destroyed. What is it with impending doom books leaving us at a cliffhanger? But that's just me. It wasn't perfect but it was really good and I love Henry's character. Did I say that already? I'm going to say that again.

I liked it a lot.

P. Rose

Kind of left me empty as i read it, honestly. I was hoping for a kind of sci-fi story, but this leaned more towards a thought experiment kind of thing. It gives a more realistic view on life compared to other books of this sort that i've read. It's nothing life changing, but it gives you a perspective on how important relationships are in our lives, and how it gives us the drive to keep going. Really loved the scenes with the grandma.

cora rolfes 

i’m actually really excited that i finished this book so i can write a review. i’ve had so many thoughts. 

the bad: 

it could use less weird innuendos. especially at the beginning. it’s bad 

a lot of it is kind of inconsistent. he gets dinner with his family and then after walks with his friend to ihop? and he reads about Diego’s past but still wants to know about it? some things just don’t make sense. 

for the first 80% of this book, there’s no development. i swear he has the same conversations in his head at least twenty times, and he says the same things over and over and over. it’s all i love jesse and i don’t wanna press the button a million times. it’s unbearable and stupid. he’s also very hypocritical. he knows it’s not audrey’s fault but he’s still mad at her but he’s not really mad at her he’s mad at himself and that’s one thought. it’s bizarre and confusing and i think it just needs to be refined a lot more and the character development at the end needs to be more gradual.

the nude model joke. bad. 

it’s impossible to keep track of henry and diego’s relationship. he like breaks up with him but the they’re talking again in the next chapter? maybe i’m just dumb but i don’t get it 

the length. because i swear it’s just the same scenes over and over again, and it could have been shorter at least. it’s not like it was 800 pages but i think a 200 or even 300 page book could have worked. 

even after finishing the book, there’s a lot of things we don’t get about Henry. His issues felt kind of vague, and i think they didn’t really manifest in one way that was like an identifiable fix. 

the amount of time they say space boy. 

the good

surprisingly melissa, there were things i liked about this book 

i like his relationship with Marcus. not as in i ship them because that’s an abusive relationship, but as in i think it was good for plot development and it was a good story element. i dislike a lot of the characters and i like marcus because he’s got layers that we don’t even explore. he’s more complex than the main character(which is an issue technically because the whole book is ab henry’s emotions) and i find him interesting. 

i liked the end, i just wish the pacing was better throughout the book. i’m not gonna elaborate because i don’t wanna have to hit the spoiler button but i like how he resolved his issues (although i don’t think a week was long enough to get over it but whatever) 

this last one is gonna have spoilers in it just a warning 
















i liked the whole alien thing because we don’t know if it’s real or not even by the end. i can’t quite remember if they started coming after or before jesse died or what but i like how once he starts to pull his life together they come less and less. i like to think they aren’t real idk.
























okay back to no spoilers. 



so yeah two stars because it seemed like a first draft. it needs better pacing, weird jokes, and less contradictions.(i’d also appreciate it if henry has a more specific or interesting problem but whatever) that’s all. bye. how do i end this. idk. bye.

A Time Best YA Book of All Time (2021) From the “author to watch” (Kirkus Reviews) of The Five Stages of Andrew Brawley comes an “equal parts sarcastic and profound” (Kirkus Reviews, starred review) novel about a teenage boy who must decide whether or not the world is worth saving. Henry Denton has spent years being periodically abducted by aliens. Then the aliens give him an ultimatum: The world will end in 144 days, and all Henry has to do to stop it is push a big red button. Only he isn’t sure he wants to. After all, life hasn’t been great for Henry. His mom is a struggling waitress held together by a thin layer of cigarette smoke. His brother is a jobless dropout who just knocked someone up. His grandmother is slowly losing herself to Alzheimer’s. And Henry is still dealing with the grief of his boyfriend’s suicide last year. Wiping the slate clean sounds like a pretty good choice to him. But Henry is a scientist first, and facing the question thoroughly and logically, he begins to look for pros and cons: in the bully who is his perpetual one-night stand, in the best friend who betrayed him, in the brilliant and mysterious boy who walked into the wrong class. Weighing the pain and the joy that surrounds him, Henry is left with the ultimate choice: push the button and save the planet and everyone on it…or let the world—and his pain—be destroyed forever.

Danni Puckett

Recomend

I got this book thinking it was just sci-fi but it turned out to be way more than that and had a lot about depression. Really recommend reading even if you don't like sci-fi

Victoria P

i had no clue what this book was about until i read the back just before start reading it and such a good decision! 

this book was very gut wrenching for me. the depiction of depression it had was as if the author himself took all of my feeling and thoughts, organized them and wrote them in the book. 

the way henry missed jesse all throughout the book felt like a dagger in my chest. i have not experienced that (thank you so much universe) and i hope i never have to go through something like that but it really resonated within me. 

i’m so happy i read it. i’m so happy with the message at the end. it doesn’t really matter, we’re just specks of dust in this infinite infinite universe. just enjoy what you have right now, that’s all that matter.

“There’s an amazing world out there for you to discover, Henry Denton, but you have to be willing to discover yourself first.”

I fell in love with Henry and Diego and Audrey. Ugh, i love stories about friendships!

Sarahi Flores

(disclosure- This was an audiobook I ended up listening to) I picked this one up because it involved aliens. Especially leaving the sake of humanity in the hand of a child, what more could you want in a novel?

CAUTION this is a semi-spoiler review! Read at your own risk!!!

This book contains:
Attempted rape, violence, mental illness, bullying, suicide, and a whole lot more.
Well upon finishing this audiobook, I was left with one word, What the f*ck??
Ok so this so called aliens is more of a metaphorically speaking than I was led on. This goes deeper than what the synopsis cared to explain. It sorta left me feeling pretty heavy. This is not a light hearted book so if you think you can handle it. Don't get me wrong, the story was spot on. However, It's a sensitive subject for young readers. I would mainly recommend it for readers who are not feeling down.
The protagonist, Henry, is just looking for answers almost everyone tends to ask themselves. He had to mourn and deal with so many things that can be hard to handle and I felt pretty bad for him.
Nevertheless, I gave this book four stars because of the realism of how one feels when they are in the state of despair. It's an emotional rollercoaster, it's vivid, and raw. It's a beautiful chaos. This is mainly a review of how the novel left me.

spepp

Morgan Moeller 

This was a great book, it was so fascinating and interesting. This book talks about love, depression, dealings with death, alchohol, drugs and so much more. What a great book.

Giulia Popovici

I'm not sure what the right words for such an ambiguous and unique book would be. I feel like I could never fully express my feelings the right way.

This was a journey of grief, love, friendship, loss and most importantly: life.
I loved every part of it. This book makes you realize that nothing and everything matters at the same time. Whatever we do, the universe won't care, so live life to the fullest.

(SLIGHT SPOILER AHEAD!!) 

I feel unsatisfied by the open ending, as I really wanted another abduction, but I'm sure the sluggers will have abducted him one minute before midnight in order to toy with his human emotions and make Henry think he lost his opportunity to save the world weeks ago. After all, they do experiment on him quite a lot ;) 
(Also, I'm fairly convinced Ms. Faraci is a slugger under cover, and nothing will make me believe otherwise.)

This book was so good. I started a book club with a bunch of my real life friends, and this was the first book that we decided to read. I am very grateful that it was amazing.

Henry Denton, the main character, is a boy plagued with many hardships and one overwhelming decision. Should he save the world?

This book is an incredible journey, and one that everyone should experience. Over the course of the novel, Henry has to learn what it means to live and that sometimes one doesn't need to move on.

At this point, I don't even know what to say about this book that could possibly describe how I feel about it, so I'll just let the book speak for itself and close this out with an amazing quote.

 "So, when you're offered bacon for breakfast, do you refuse because you're worried about what's going to happen when it's gone?"

"No."

"No!" Audrey smacked me in the chest. "You eat that bacon and you love it because it's delicious. You don't fret over whether you'll ever have bacon again. You just eat the bacon."

Emily &
We Are the Ants by Shaun David Hutchinson

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We Are the Ants by Shaun David Hutchinson