Reviews tagging 'Addiction'

We Are the Ants by Shaun David Hutchinson

17 reviews

acesiever's review

challenging dark emotional hopeful reflective sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Addiction, Blood, Alcohol, Death, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Physical abuse, Violence, Child abuse, Hate crime, Injury/Injury detail, Mental illness, Sexual violence, Suicide, Suicidal thoughts, and Toxic relationship

greta_reads's review

dark emotional funny hopeful informative mysterious reflective sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.5

(sorry, english isn’t my first language) Wow. I really did not know what to rate this book. Because throughout most of it I really, really hated it. But I did not dislike it because of the way it was written or the story itself, but purely because of the fact that it had me in such a depressed and tense mood. The style that the story was written in wasn’t my favorite, but it felt authentic, even though I found it very hard to love the characters even if they were very relatable in part. So overall I‘m very torn, weather to recommend this book or not. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Alcohol, Emotional abuse, Suicide, Violence, Injury/Injury detail, Pregnancy, Blood, Child death, Death, Rape, Abandonment, Pandemic/Epidemic, Domestic abuse, Addiction, Alcoholism, Physical abuse, Suicide attempt, Body shaming, Bullying, Dementia, Dysphoria, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Sexual assault, Toxic relationship, and War

Moderate: Drug use and Drug abuse

Minor: Fire/Fire injury

sppixie's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.0

It's really difficult to listen to the main character's inner thoughts and dialogue. He is sometimes logical, sometimes jumps to conclusions, sometimes totally irrational, etc. Perhaps this was intended to get into the mind of a character his age; however, I found it really annoying and was prone to whiplash.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Panic attacks/disorders

Moderate: Self harm, Violence, Suicidal thoughts, Sexual violence, Hate crime, Dementia, Rape, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Classism, Abandonment, Pregnancy, Toxic relationship, Suicide, Homophobia, Drug use, Injury/Injury detail, Toxic friendship, and Child death

Minor: Outing, Miscarriage, Addiction, Self harm, and Vomit

juliaisnotalright's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes

4.0

Boy gets abducted by aliens and has the choice to stop the apocalypses.
But this book is so much more than science fiction, actually,

the aliens are just a metaphor for depression

It’s a book about mental health, dealing with depression, suicide and death in general. 
The beginning was interesting but towards the middle it got a tiny bit boring but the ending was great but kinda predictable just like some of the plot.
IMO it’s kinda a mix of the perks of being a wallflower and Aristotle and Dante discover the secrets of the universe.
Would recommend to every teenager but check the trigger warnings !

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Mental illness, Suicidal thoughts, Death, Dementia, Rape, Addiction, Violence, Bullying, Drug use, Grief, Miscarriage, Pregnancy, Suicide attempt, Sexual assault, and Sexual violence

jeweleemc's review

tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Dementia, Addiction, Chronic illness, Cursing, Rape, Grief, Homophobia, Alcoholism, Gaslighting, Miscarriage, Suicide, Bullying, Death, Domestic abuse, Alcohol, Mental illness, Sexual assault, Drug use, and Emotional abuse

mrbean's review against another edition

dark reflective sad fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

A visceral journey about finding one's raison d'être against an ocean of adolescent existential despair, We Are the Ants lifts and carries its philosophical themes with a spark of hope and strength of the indomitable human spirit. However, the novel's sheer compression of relentless suffering into a single singularity causes it to collapse in on itself. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide, Physical abuse, Rape, Toxic relationship, Sexual assault, Bullying, and Homophobia

Moderate: Domestic abuse, Mental illness, Grief, and Addiction

Minor: Dementia and Self harm

maggiegirouard's review

challenging emotional reflective sad fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Pregnancy, Toxic relationship, Physical abuse, Dementia, Suicidal thoughts, Sexual violence, Sexual harassment, Suicide, Sexual assault, Miscarriage, Bullying, Emotional abuse, and Death

Moderate: Self harm, Alcoholism, Miscarriage, Panic attacks/disorders, Mental illness, Terminal illness, Death, Drug abuse, Violence, Addiction, Child death, Cursing, Vomit, Pregnancy, Blood, Drug use, Forced institutionalization, and Injury/Injury detail

chrisljm's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.25

3.25; Objectively, this is a good story and it was written very well. I see why so many people love it and why it means so much to them, and I understand it can be especially important to those who’ve read it during specific times in their life. But subjectively it was hard for me to read because it was so incredibly bleak and depressing, and I didn’t enjoy that.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcohol, Blood, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Chronic illness, Death, Drug abuse, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Physical abuse, Pregnancy, Self harm, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Suicide attempt, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, and Vomit

Moderate: Abandonment, Domestic abuse, Homophobia, and Sexual content

Minor: Mass/school shootings, Rape, and Racism

davidbythebay's review

challenging dark emotional hopeful inspiring reflective sad fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

I am crying. Wow. I was a little skeptical based on the premise, but it did intrigue me enough to read this. I am so glad I did. This book sums up life in the best way: we keep marching on even if we don't have the answers and we can never get them. This was amazing, BUT check the trigger warnings! 

I was so enthralled by this, I lost track of time while reading. It was an immensely entertaining and sometimes sad book that brought sad tears and happy tears to my eyes. Beautifully written, this took a teenager's point of view but made him mature, yet adolescent. Henry was not a child and he was not an adult caught in a child's body. As Henry is gay, like many LGBTQ+ people, he has grown up and matured early so that he can combat the bullying and dangers of this world. His situation has provided even more instances by which he has had to grow up far too fast. I can't tell you how many times I've been told or my LGBTQ+ friends have been told how mature we are for our ages. It comes with the territory I guess. But having this mature teenaged perspective is dead on perfect. 

I am absolutely going to read more by this author given how wonderful this book is. 


⚠️ TW: violence, physical violence, abuse, parental abandonment, bullying, depression, suicide and suicidal ideation, sexual assault, pregnancy, miscarriage, loss, grief, neglectful parent, memory loss, talk of sexual situations (not in detail). ⚠️

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Dementia, Domestic abuse, Grief, Rape, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicide, Toxic friendship, Toxic relationship, and Violence

Moderate: Addiction, Pregnancy, Sexual content, Abandonment, and Child abuse

mitsubachigirl's review against another edition

challenging dark reflective tense fast-paced

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Mental illness, Toxic relationship, Grief, Pregnancy, and Suicidal thoughts

Moderate: Alcohol, Dementia, Sexual assault, Vomit, Child death, Death, Emotional abuse, Miscarriage, Rape, Suicide, and Torture

Minor: Addiction and Cancer