Reviews tagging 'Abandonment'

We Are the Ants by Shaun David Hutchinson

21 reviews

chris_reads's review against another edition

dark emotional funny inspiring reflective sad slow-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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide, Dementia, Toxic relationship, Suicidal thoughts, Dysphoria, Mental illness, Sexual harassment, Bullying, and Grief

Moderate: Emotional abuse, Medical content, Pregnancy, Sexual assault, Abandonment, Alcohol, Violence, and Miscarriage

Minor: Torture, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Blood, 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

bookloverwitch's review

emotional reflective sad medium-paced

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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Sexual assault, Rape, and Sexual harassment

Moderate: Suicide, Homophobia, Suicidal thoughts, Abandonment, and Biphobia

ang_mendoza's review

dark emotional inspiring reflective medium-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? Yes

4.0

While the beginning leans heavily into a teenage angst I struggled to get behind, Henry grew on me and I found myself rooting for him not to make any particular choice but to find a good reason for what he chooses. Diego is also somewhat of a saving grace in the company of many characters I found difficult to redeem. I don't really think this book is the most profound story but it's still thought-provoking and engaging.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, and Grief

Moderate: Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Miscarriage, Mental illness, Sexual violence, Violence, Alcoholism, Drug abuse, Homophobia, and Dementia

Minor: Abandonment, Rape, War, and Pregnancy

cheye13's review

dark emotional 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: Toxic relationship, Hate crime, Bullying, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Sexual assault, and Homophobia

Moderate: Injury/Injury detail, Miscarriage, and Violence

Minor: Vomit, Body horror, Torture, Abandonment, Alcohol, Cursing, and Dementia

half_bloodreader's review against another edition

challenging dark reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

5.0

Written in 1st person, past tense. 

YA LGBTQ+ sci-fi 

"They tell themselves that this is the year things will happen, never realizing that things are always happening; they’re just happening without them" 

This is heavy! The book touches on mental health, depression, grief, bullying, the lingering effects of child abandonment. 

Henry must decide whether or not the world is worth saving. The problem is his life and that of everyone who matters to him is the worst. And Henry can't seem to get a break from physical and verbal attacks, as well as family problems. He is grieving and trying to make sense of his boyfriend's suicide, and he still hasn't come to terms with his father leaving his family. Above all else, Henry blames himself for everything bad that has happened, sometimes even feeling like he deserves some of the awful things that occur. 

Are the aliens real? Does Henry have avoidant personality disorder? It sure fits his feelings of inadequacy and how much impact negative comments have on his psyche. The book isn't interested in concrete answers, but on the journey from trauma & painful experiences, and in the characters. 

Henry for sure is dealing with depression, like me. There were so many intrusive thoughts, as well as despairing and misanthropic thoughts about the lack of value in a world as awful as ours that hit old wounds and ever healing scars. 

Like super cool bff Audrey said:
 "Depression isn’t a war you win. It’s a battle you fight every day. You never get to stop, never get to rest. It’s one bloody fray after another. Jesse got worn down and didn’t think he could fight anymore"
 "Jesse didn’t die of a broken heart, Henry; he died of a broken brain. It took a lot of therapy for me to understand that Jesse committed suicide because he was sick. It wasn’t my fault, it wasn’t his fault, and it sure as hell wasn’t your fault."

Although they also call suicide selfish, despite having acknowledged it is illness, I believe it's more to do with how they feel as the ones left behind, than an outdated pov on the subject. We still have a long way to go in the mental health department. 

"Do you want me to press it?"
"I think I want you to want to press it." 

New boy with a past* Diego is as striking as his art. He challenges Henry, and I'm glad he was there for him in so many ways. I hope he heals too 

I am uncomfortable with how Henry's relationship with Charlie was handled. It is more than just siblings fighting, it is violence and abuse. I understand Charlie was making an effort for his baby, but his verbal abuse was especially awful. There's things you just don't say! 

Marcus is just something disgusting and slimy stuck on the sole of my shoe 

*everyone has a past and is dealing with stuff here, which actually is pretty realistic 

Tw: attempted sexual assault 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Sexual assault, and Violence

Moderate: Homophobia

Minor: Miscarriage, Suicide, and Abandonment

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

reeseyyy's review

dark emotional funny reflective sad medium-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

Oh my gosh this was so well written. 

We are the Ants is a very dark, but touching story of a young teenager, named Henry Denton, who lost someone very close to him, and never fully dealt with it. The way Hutchinson brings in science fiction to (what seems like) a completely normal world amazes me to this day. The author makes every character seen in their own struggles, even ones that not everyone will like. Reading the story unfold made me feel like henry was truly telling his story, and we got to watch him finally accept himself.

Witnessing how characters like Marcus would act towards “space boy” is definitely a terrible thing to witness, however the way Hutchinson handled it was very well written. Anyone reading could tell that Marcus was not a good person, but we all still feel bad for him because he’s not where he needs to be with himself in life. (however the Marcus on the football field makes me hate him.) 

Audrey and Diego both gave Henry so much hope that he needed from losing Jesse. I mean, is the world really worth saving if Henry lost the one thing that made life seem beautiful? The question: Should he press the button? Henry had every right to ask everyone if they would press the button. The world can be a terrible place, and saving it could cause so much hurt towards others. His brother’s wife losing her child, or just Jesse losing himself. Henry could be portrayed as a someone evil human, but all he was was struggling to figure out how to handle himself and his own life. 

Did he really get abducted? Henry sending in his journal to his science teacher shows how much he grew throughout the story. Diego or Audrey wasn’t the only reason he was saved, he was the person who allowed himself to overcome his own obstacles. Now towards the end the readers can believe that he wasn’t really abducted and that that was his way of giving himself something else in his mind, but no one will really know.

The end. The last sentence in the book. This is what got me. It is such a moving line that really concluded the whole story and what it was sending out as a message. “We are the ants and we’re still marching along”. We are all ants in this huge world but we all have a small part and will continue to march along and play it. It was such a sweet way to end the book and that is one of the reasons I love it.

Overall I love love love this book and will definitely read it again. If you are struggling or just need something to read I would 100 percent recommend this, however it is very powerful so make sure you’re in the right headspace. 

TW: Suicide, Bullying, Sexual Assault

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Suicidal thoughts, and Suicide

Moderate: Abandonment, Miscarriage, Sexual assault, and Sexual harassment

ashleycmms's review

challenging dark emotional hopeful lighthearted reflective tense medium-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? It's complicated

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Addiction, Alcohol, Blood, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Cursing, Death, Dementia, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Physical abuse, Pregnancy, Sexual assault, and Violence

Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Homophobia, and Suicidal thoughts

being_stupid's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying and Suicidal thoughts

Moderate: Mental illness, Miscarriage, Sexual assault, Suicide, and Toxic relationship

Minor: Abandonment