Reviews tagging 'Rape'

We Are the Ants by Shaun David Hutchinson

94 reviews

jrrconsul's review

dark emotional reflective sad medium-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Rape, Suicide, Suicide attempt, and Suicidal thoughts

hycintho's review

medium-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

2.75

Angst coming of age with sprinkle of sci fi in a contemporary way. I guess I'm over the angtsy rebel phase and got frustrated by the main's pessimistic outtake. But I guess that says a lot about me.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Suicide, Homophobia, and Kidnapping

Minor: Rape

kascjam's review

dark emotional reflective sad slow-paced

2.0

The main reason I rate this book so poorly is because of the way it was presented to me. At my local library, it was on a shelf titled "Books that will give you hope". I thought to myself, damn, I could use some of that right now. And the title stuck out to me, as well as the blurb, so I checked it out.
 
I finished this book in roughly a day and a half. Not because I was so enamored by the story or anything, but because it was genuinely so depressing I had to know if there was some shred of hope that might be presented in the end. I cried more times than I could count, which. I guess that counts for something. Points for evocative writing, I guess?
 
But um, seriously, any depressing thing you can imagine happening to someone, it happens in this book. I'm not even joking. At some point I thought to myself, Jesus Christ. Well, at least it can't get any worse, right? And then it got worse.
 

Additionally, the scene towards the end with the rich closeted kid attempting to sexually assault Henry felt extremely unnecessary. Like, it's not out of character for the rich kid (I forgot his name) to react terribly and do something crazy, but, I mean. Come on. It was the one thing that I was like, well, at least they didn't go there. And then it did go there.
 
And the ending? I'm still mad about it. I know the message it that like, the future is uncertain but we should appreciate what we have now, but what a letdown. Granted, as I mentioned before, I was reading this expecting something more inspiring than...whatever that was. But still. So much is still left unanswered -- and this book is somehow like four hundred pages! 

Not to beat a dead horse here, but also, why the hell were there randomly scenarios in which the world ends just peppered in throughout the book? (Rhetorical question; I know why.) It was already sad, and it didn't add anything to the story, in my opinion, save for making me break down more than already was. And yes, I probably should have just taken the L and put the book down at some point, but I was so invested and certain the ending would be worth it that I couldn't get myself to.

 

Maybe under different circumstances, I would've enjoyed this book. I did like the overall concept, to be fair; it was just incredibly depressing for, as far as I could tell, no real reason.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Dementia, Self harm, Bullying, Suicide attempt, Rape, Physical abuse, Toxic relationship, Homophobia, Suicide, Suicidal thoughts, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Grief, and Death

Moderate: Miscarriage

deleore's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Sexual assault, Domestic abuse, Child death, Miscarriage, and Death

Moderate: Rape

teaselkie's review against another edition

challenging emotional sad slow-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Bullying, Suicide, Toxic relationship, and Mental illness

Moderate: Rape, Pregnancy, Miscarriage, Injury/Injury detail, and Dementia

brianna_reading5's review against another edition

emotional reflective medium-paced

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

4.5

this book got into some really deep, complex topics and, while i don’t think every topic was thoroughly explored to its fullest extent, most of it was really wonderful and powerful to read. i really felt this journey that henry goes through alongside him, and the way his grief manifested into so many different facets of his life just really struck a chord with me. the whole “we’re all gonna die someday” message is not something particularly new, but i think this novel was able to hone in on that message better than most other YA books i’ve read - and i think the whole button situation really allows for that. also i felt so bad for henry the whole time like he really just could not catch a break i’m very happy with how things ended for him 

do check tws before reading! this book gets a bit darker than i’d originally anticipated

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Death, Grief, and Suicide

Moderate: Miscarriage and Rape

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

mary_jinxedit's review

dark emotional inspiring reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness, Grief, Toxic relationship, Suicidal thoughts, Bullying, Emotional abuse, and Suicide

Moderate: Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, and Suicide attempt

vicixyz's review against another edition

adventurous emotional funny hopeful sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Grief, Suicide, Homophobia, and Outing

Moderate: Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, Mental illness, Rape, Alcoholism, and Toxic relationship

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