Everybody Sees the Ants

Feb 02, 2012 Lora rated it 5 of 5 stars Recommends it for: fans of YA realistic fiction told from a male's POV; Maja

Recommended to Lora by: Emily May

Shelves: g-ya-realistic, favorites, lib-read, surprised-me, quality-ya-fic

I'm so, so glad I decided to give King another try despite my mixed feelings over her Printz Honor, Please Ignore Vera Dietz. Everybody Sees the Ants is an astonishingly wonderful gift to young-adult literature, one that I feel extremely fortunate to have read.

Since the age of seven, Lucky Linderman has been having dreams in which he visits his grandfather in the prison camp where he's resided since being listed as MIA in the Vietnam War back in 1972. When his grandmother died, she asked Lucky...more I'm so, so glad I decided to give King another try despite my mixed feelings over her Printz Honor, Please Ignore Vera Dietz. Everybody Sees the Ants is an astonishingly wonderful gift to young-adult literature, one that I feel extremely fortunate to have read.

Since the age of seven, Lucky Linderman has been having dreams in which he visits his grandfather in the prison camp where he's resided since being listed as MIA in the Vietnam War back in 1972. When his grandmother died, she asked Lucky to get her husband back, and the dreams started that very night. Coincidentally, this was also the same day Lucky began being bullied by Nader McMillan. So are these dreams really a way to get his grandfather back and hopefully heal the wound Lucky's father's always had from having never met his own father, or are they just a way to escape the harsh reality that is Lucky's life?
Another escape comes in the form of a summer vacation with his mother in Tempe, Arizona. There, Lucky bonds with his Uncle Dave, dodges an unnecessary intervention orchestrated by his pill-popping Aunt Jodi, and meets a beautiful older girl who shows him another side of life. Everybody Sees the Ants is a masterpiece that should not be overlooked by anyone who enjoy its genre.

If every story I read and its characters were as original and appealing as Everybody Sees the Ants and its characters are, I dare I say I'd get nothing done save for reading. Although all of the characters are unique and serve their purpose to make the story what it is — an amazing, inspiring example of human life and its struggles — one character in particular stood out.
I've not fallen nor cared for a character as much as Lucky in a long, long time. With each sentence, word, action — he stole my heart and made me root for him more and more with the turn of each page. He is a young, bullied kid who's not even had his first kiss yet. He's a boy with an impossible mission to save his grandfather. He's a little insecure, a proud mama's boy, and an awesome cook. He's an incredible character and all I wanted was to give him a big hug and smooch on the noggin, if such a thing were possible. I dare you not to fall for Lucky Linderman.

Upon finishing this little gem, I felt an overwhelming since of gratification and elation. It's hard to find a book that makes you feel like turning back to the first page and starting all over again, but I felt just that when I reached the end of Everybody Sees the Ants. I didn't feel ready to leave these characters, their story and lives.
Although I wasn't completely sold after reading Please Ignore Vera Dietz, I could tell that King was capable of greatness and she proved my instinct right when she wrote this story. This just shows that you shouldn't judge an author by the first book of theirs you read.

This is a book I'll cherish and reread many times in future, always enjoying it more each time. Highly, highly recommended. 4.5 stars(less)

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Mar 30, 2012 Emily May rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: ya-na, 2012, contemporary

A.S. King: "Everybody Sees the Ants originated from an idea that we are all prisoners. An idea that bullying is a widely ignored form of torture. An idea that only we can choose to escape from our own prisons. An idea that no one can take something from us if we don't give it."

This is a very powerful novel. It is a story for everyone because it's true that everyone has to had to face some form of shit in their lives in one way or another. Every day all over the world people are being hurt, sexu...more

A.S. King: "Everybody Sees the Ants originated from an idea that we are all prisoners. An idea that bullying is a widely ignored form of torture. An idea that only we can choose to escape from our own prisons. An idea that no one can take something from us if we don't give it."

This is a very powerful novel. It is a story for everyone because it's true that everyone has to had to face some form of shit in their lives in one way or another. Every day all over the world people are being hurt, sexually abused, put down, bullied... friends and family members die, or change, or leave, or join the army and never come back. This book is Lucky Linderman's story.

Lucky Linderman is a boy who has been bullied constantly since he was seven, a boy who's grandad never returned from Vietnam and who's dad never got over it. His mum spends her time swimming to avoid facing their dysfunctional homelife, his uncle has numerous affairs while his aunt battles her need for pills, and Lucky escapes to the only place he can be the man he's always wanted to be: his dreams. At first glance, Lucky Linderman is probably nothing like you, his life may even sound to you like any typical piece of melodramatic fiction... but as this novel progresses you will eventually see how all of us have a little bit of Lucky inside, no matter how well we hide it or how well we've managed to cope with it.

For me, Everybody Sees the Ants wasn't quite as powerful as Please Ignore Vera Dietz, mostly because it didn't break my heart. It is also much stranger, more unique in style and execution, some people may be put off by this. But still, in my opinion, this book is for everyone. For all of us. Because whether or not we can relate to Lucky's individual story doesn't matter so much. We've all experienced life's crap at times. When someone has hurt us, humiliated us, when we've lost someone or a relationship has broken down, when things didn't work out like we'd hoped they would, and when our family and friends couldn't understand. The ants are our worries, our fears, our failures, our insecurities, and when it all comes down to it, we've all seen the ants.(less)

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Jul 23, 2011 Crowinator rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: arcs, booklist-review, ya, 2011-reads, contemporary, magical-realism, a-good-cry, favorites, favorites-read-in-2011, school-hard

Actual rating: Is it lame to say 4.5 stars?

So this review is long, inadequate, and perhaps a bit rambling and confusing. It doesn't really have plot spoilers (this is a quiet book where not a lot happens, action-wise), but it does have thematic spoilers, so read at your own peril. It's always harder to write about the books that really mean something to me, as opposed to the books I merely like a whole lot, and I can't do it without that. If you want to avoid even the thematic spoilers, just re...more

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Dec 04, 2011 Isamlq rated it 4 of 5 stars

A.S. King has a knack for writing Quirky Characters. His mom, his dad, the bully, his grandfather, Uncle Dave and, Aunt Jodi and Lucky in particular: all are very different from what I am used to.

Squids and Turtles… I love how the boy thinks. How he’s put the people in his life in certain boxes and thinks of them that way and yet all at once he’s is completely right about what he thinks and funny, if veering a little toward the oversimplified. His parents: they not be perfect. It was incredibly...more A.S. King has a knack for writing Quirky Characters. His mom, his dad, the bully, his grandfather, Uncle Dave and, Aunt Jodi and Lucky in particular: all are very different from what I am used to.

Squids and Turtles… I love how the boy thinks. How he’s put the people in his life in certain boxes and thinks of them that way and yet all at once he’s is completely right about what he thinks and funny, if veering a little toward the oversimplified. His parents: they not be perfect. It was incredibly frustrating how their talks of doing something as opposed nothing went. There had to be a middle ground, no? At least in the end there’s a reason for their quirks… so now in my mind is a couple trying their best, just not knowing how to go about it.

Mega Quirk: Think of safe places and happy places and one is not likely to come up with a prison camp in jungles of unknown with a grandfather gone missing decades before… but that’s just how Lucky thinks. But it’s in such a place where a version of Lucky that’s sure and confident shows up. (I’m not sure I’m happy about this.) I did appreciate how through this link he gains something.

There be Others... all as quirky as the others. His Uncle is perfect at first… but not so much later. And it’s Lucky’s discovery about him that explains away a lot of Aunt Jodi’s…ergh… quirks. Or Hair, who is perfect and beautiful and confident at night with her crew cut friends and ninja running through parks and yards only later to change with the whistling! My eyes did buggeth out.

Here’s the thing though: all their quirks have a reason behind them. Am I happy about this… or would I rather have had a bunch of fellows acting the way they did, with no reason in particular? Some of those reasons, by the way: upsetting and unsettling.

And I say it again: Unsettling. Despite the unconventional way it's told, there's a lot to take in. Lucky has his issues but he is not alone in that respect. The adults are just as messed up as he is.

READ THIS.

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Dec 28, 2012 Raeleen rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: own, received-as-gift, 2012, favorites

FREAKING AMAZING, YOU GUYS. I might actually do a book review/discussion on this.... we'll see.

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Jun 20, 2012 Jason rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: fantasy, mystery, young-adult

After reading Please Ignore Vera Dietz, I wanted to read another A. S. King book. Everybody Sees the Ants did not disappoint.

Lucky Linderman has a squid for a mother and a turtle for a father. His father stays in his shell after losing his father during the Vietnam War. Lucky's grandpa was never found, and his grandma's efforts in the POW/MIA resulted in her head against the wall. Lucky's mother copes with her life and shattered husband by swimming laps repeatedly at the city pool where she brin...more

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Sep 09, 2011 Laura rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2011-mt-bookpile

This is a great book for any boy who has been bullied and who feels as though his parents (and, ok, most others) don't quite understand him. Lucky's life has been filled with trying to avoid Nader, the school bully, and dealing with his chef father's near disappearance from his life. Complicating all this is the fact that his grandfather was declared MIA during Vietnam, something his father and paternal grandmother never quite got over.

Most readers will have seen the MIA/POW flags and stickers,...more

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Oct 01, 2011 Cassi aka Snow White Haggard rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: kindle, galleys, read-in-2011, ya

I always appreciate books that contain intelligent discussion about depression. So often that conversation is trite, trivial and about how you can fix your life if you just do a, b, and c. Then it's always the goth or the emo kid who's depressed, never the smart or pretty people. Depression doesn't happen to them!

Except that it can happen to anyone.

Everybody Sees the Ants by A.S. King doesn't talk down to people struggling with depression or bullying. It takes more of a conversational tone. This...more

I always appreciate books that contain intelligent discussion about depression. So often that conversation is trite, trivial and about how you can fix your life if you just do a, b, and c. Then it's always the goth or the emo kid who's depressed, never the smart or pretty people. Depression doesn't happen to them!

Except that it can happen to anyone.

Everybody Sees the Ants by A.S. King doesn't talk down to people struggling with depression or bullying. It takes more of a conversational tone. This book is an "issue" book without being an "issue" book in the traditional sense. It deals with bullying, depression and suicidal thoughts. But it does it in a cool, creative way that I've come to expect from A.S. King.

CHARLOTTE: Nah. I'm fine. Everyone thinks about this shit, don't they?
GRANDDAD: I have.
ME: Me too.
CHARLOTTE: But I'd never do it.

I've never read a passage about depression that felt more true. Because yes I've felt that too and I've said that. Last year when my grandfather died and my longterm boyfriend proved he wasn't up to snuff, I was right their with those characters feeling like life sucked. Feeling like I wasn't sure if it's worth it. (I should note that I was really close to my Papaw. And spoiler alert: It is worth it, eventually).

This book isn't told in a straight linear narrative. It's told from the perspective of what happened at school, then his summer vacation in Arizona, then the dreams where he visits his missing grandfather in a Vietnam POW camp. Switching between the perspectives keeps the dark subject matter from weighing down the novel but also shows Lucky's internalization of his problems. In his dreams is where he works through the bullying, the depression and his loneliness. His MIA grandfather is his best friend and the person he can talk to about everything.

The adults in this novel are just as disastrous at the teens. At times I just want to yell at them, but it adds to the realism of the story. Often adults just don't get bullying. (Read this article about how even the terminology we use is often wrong: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/09/23/opi... ). This novel shows how the inaction of adults allows bullies to reign. Sometimes parents even create the bullying situation by justifying their kids actions or being bullies themselves. This novel is very aware that bullying doesn't just die with high school but is something adults deal with it too.

If you would've told me that I'd like a book about bullying this much I wouldn't have believed you. But AS King has a very stylish, fun and honest way of tackling the difficult subjects. "Issue" books don't have to be straightforward because life is not straightforward. This is a book that anyone can read about bullying without feeling like it's a trite treatise on the evils of high school. I think it's an important and relevant subject matter that's handled in the way that's somehow quirky and fun even while talking about serious subjects like depression, bullying and suicide. Don't believe me? Then read the book for yourself.

Even though it's not published yet I'm really glad I read this during banned book week. This is often the type of book that gets banned yet teens need to read books like this.
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Feb 08, 2012 Cornmaven rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: high-school

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

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Jun 15, 2013 Jodi Papazian rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: ya-reads

I really enjoyed this book. I read it because it is a 2014 High School Nutmeg Nominee, not expecting to like it. Based on the short description on the back, it just seemed a little weird to me. That was not at all the case.
The story follows Lucky - an awkward, bullied kid - through his summer in Arizona with his aunt, uncle and mother while also flashing back to the events of a very painful freshman year of high school. Each chapter also features a dream sequence where Lucky finds himself in...more

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May 23, 2013 Seth McDiarmid rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: eng356, books-1-16

I wanted to read this book for two reasons.

Enigmatic titles excite me. The first time I heard it, I knew I could not rest until I too had seen these ants everyone else had allegedly been seeing.

Second, I fall easily in love with narrative styles that pit the character against his or her own brain. That's where life's biggest battles are fought. I adore A.S. King for crafting an excellent allegorical device in Lucky's dreams. It had me hooked, and caring deeply about every character, and by the...more I wanted to read this book for two reasons.

Enigmatic titles excite me. The first time I heard it, I knew I could not rest until I too had seen these ants everyone else had allegedly been seeing.

Second, I fall easily in love with narrative styles that pit the character against his or her own brain. That's where life's biggest battles are fought. I adore A.S. King for crafting an excellent allegorical device in Lucky's dreams. It had me hooked, and caring deeply about every character, and by the end I believed, even if Lucky didn't, that each one of them could overcome the cracks that King wrote into them. These characters are all at once sickeningly human, and fragile, and yet they all have their moments of greatness.

The one thing I take issue with is the way King chooses to approach sex. I feel determined to vocalize, as I have before, that all too often modern YA authors treat the sexuality conversation like a literary version of the Penis-Vagina game, each of them trying to prove they "get" teens and "relate" by showing that they can say the P or the V or the F word louder, or that they aren't afraid to write a more graphic scene, when less explicit details could get the same point across without reeking of sensationalist pandering.

But, again, it didn't keep me from enjoying the book. That alone should tell you how good King is at this.

I recommend this book to mature readers. It's main message is empowering people who think they're weak to rise above their circumstances, which I think any high school student anywhere is in desperate need of. However, I think it's almost more a book for parents--learn what your teenage kid really wants and needs from you. Step up to the plate, and so will they.

Three words for young folk: discretion, discretion, discretion.

Warnings:
Sex: A lot of P and V and P and V and that whole "what you're still a virgin?" vector. Some pretty awful sexual harassment, too.
Drugs: Smoking and Alcohol, by teens and adults.
Language: F-bombs left and right for a good stretch in the middle
Violence: Intense and pretty disturbing bullying.

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Apr 10, 2013 Valeria rated it 5 of 5 stars

Have you ever liked your dreams or your fantasy better than your reality? Has your reality ever sucked so, so much you just want to drift into your own world more and more?
Lucky Linderman is all of us, or at least every one of us who at some point hated our own life. Lucky escapes his weak, bullied self by trying to save his grandfather in his Vietnam-war dreams.
What is not possible in our magic and unreal dreams? We can be as strong, old, and fearless as we would like to be, but resolving your...more

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Apr 05, 2013 Alec M rated it 4 of 5 stars

The story Everybody Sees The Ants by A.S. King is a good story for young adults to read. It is enjoyable and yet teaches a very important lesson by giving the reader insight into a bullied kids life. This book is similar to the book speak by Laurie Halse Anderson because in both the main character had been bullied and in both just a year before the book started, the main characters had a pretty good life with their friends. The King uses good descriptions, anecdotes and the side stories such as...more The story Everybody Sees The Ants by A.S. King is a good story for young adults to read. It is enjoyable and yet teaches a very important lesson by giving the reader insight into a bullied kids life. This book is similar to the book speak by Laurie Halse Anderson because in both the main character had been bullied and in both just a year before the book started, the main characters had a pretty good life with their friends. The King uses good descriptions, anecdotes and the side stories such as his dreams to show everything that the kid experiences.

In this story the author uses good descriptions of people and places to help you visualize what is going on. “Aunt Jodi nods at me. Her double chin multiplies when she does this.”(64). From these two short sentences alone the author tells you that aunt Jodi is not the type of person that enjoys touching and hugging people. This also tells you that she is a heavier set person. So the author used two sentences and is already putting images in the readers mind.

Another aspect that the author used is anecdotes. To prevent the story from getting too long, the author adds in little anecdotes about lucky’s past and the bullying that occurred in the past. “He turned toward me and peed on my sandals. On my feet. On my shins.”(20). This helped show the torture that lucky had to endure when he was younger. Most people think of calling names as bullying, but lucky experienced the bullying on a whole different level. The anecdotes help show that all throughout the book.

One main event in Lucky’s family was when his grandpa went Missing In Action. Because of this unfortunate event, his family is devoted to the POW/MIA cause. That also lead to the dreams Lucky repeatedly had about trying to save his grandpa. In these dreams, Lucky learns a lot of important life lessons. The dreams also show the reader that Lucky is desperate for someone to rely on and someone to give him advice. One time he questioned himself about what he did in his dreams when his grandpa disappeared during one.“Did granddad disappear because he because he’s ashamed of me?”(57). This shows the reader that Lucky works hard to try to make his family proud, and that his grandpa was the main person Lucky went to for advice and help.

All throughout the book, King builds on the characterization of Lucky and other characters using a variety of different techniques. This keeps the reader wondering what they will find out next and what will happen next. (less)

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Feb 17, 2013 Alicia rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: boy, dysfunctional, historical, humor, odd, outdoor-adventure, romance, war

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. Lucky's family is falling apart because his father is distant and his mother swims to get rid of her feelings, leaving Lucky to deal with the aftermath of his grandfather's POW/MIA status from the Vietnam War, his constant bullying at the hands of a few boys he can't shake, and that he doesn't feel like a man unless he's in his dreams.

Lucky's mom takes them to his aunt and uncles in Arizona for a few weeks but it's just out of the frying pan and into the fire because his aunt is a pill-popping...more

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Feb 10, 2013 Melissapalmer404 rated it 5 of 5 stars

Book #14 Read in 2013
Everybody Sees the Ants by A.S. King (YA)

This is a young adult realistic fiction book and I enjoyed it. Lucky is a high school student who is getting bullied by a real jerk named Nader. His father's advice is to ignore it, and that is what most of the adults do too, since Nader's father is a hot-shot lawyer and people are intimidated by him. On top of that, Lucky's grandmother, on her death bed, makes Lucky swear to rescue her husband, a POW/MIA from the Vietnam War. Lucky's...more

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Nov 23, 2012 Suad Shamma rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: own, 2012

I first bought Everybody Sees the Ants because it had such great reviews and an even better synopsis.

A boy that retreats into his dreams to escape reality, and finds himself in war-ridden jungles? A place where he can be anyone he wants to be, a better version of himself even? A place where it becomes so easy to submerge yourself into, rather than live your life? How awesome does that sound? I thought for sure this book is going to be worth the read.

Sadly, it wasn't.

Yes, as many reviewers have s...more I first bought Everybody Sees the Ants because it had such great reviews and an even better synopsis.

A boy that retreats into his dreams to escape reality, and finds himself in war-ridden jungles? A place where he can be anyone he wants to be, a better version of himself even? A place where it becomes so easy to submerge yourself into, rather than live your life? How awesome does that sound? I thought for sure this book is going to be worth the read.

Sadly, it wasn't.

Yes, as many reviewers have stated, this book deals with a lot of important topics such as abuse, bullying, sexual harassment, feminism etc. that readers may find interesting and appealing. But just because a book deals with such issues does not a good story make.

Here's what you need to know about our protagonist Lucky, who, as it happens, is anything but. His dad is what he calls a 'turtle' due to the fact that he hides in his shell and has no backbone, and his mom is a 'squid' due to her obsession with swimming laps to escape her life.

Lucky makes the mistake of asking the students at his school if they were to commit suicide, what their method would be for his course project. This one question makes everyone think he needs help as he must be prone to suicide. Lucky's life takes a turn to the worse as Nader McMillan (the school bully...no scratch that, the town bully) makes his life completely unbearable to the point where his mom packs their bags and decides they need to leave town for a little while.

In those dreams Lucky escapes to, he meets up with his grandad who has been MIA since 1972. He believes that it is his mission to save his grandad and bring him back home.

This book had many great themes, but the writing and the plot just didn't do it for me. The plot seems too weak, there are many things that go unexplained, and near the end it all seems very rushed as if A.S. King ran out of ideas and needed to wrap it up. I also never understood how a boy at high school terrorized an entire town and was able to get away with bullying and sexually harassing kids for as long as he did.

All in all, a fair book, but I don't think I'd be recommending it to anyone.

Finally, if I was a man born in 1951 I would have been the 25th person to be called in to report for induction into the military. That's as unlucky as it gets. (less)

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Nov 17, 2012 Owen rated it 4 of 5 stars

I'm really happy that I finished this book because it is one of those ones that I get from the library so many times but never read because it wasn't on the top of my books to finish first.

Everybody Sees The Ants, I would say, is mainly a book about not just bullying itself, but overcoming bullying and finding strength to stand up to bullies. The protagonist of this book is Lucky Linderman, a boy who certainly feels unlucky. He is average, but it seems to him that certain things are always happ...more I'm really happy that I finished this book because it is one of those ones that I get from the library so many times but never read because it wasn't on the top of my books to finish first.

Everybody Sees The Ants, I would say, is mainly a book about not just bullying itself, but overcoming bullying and finding strength to stand up to bullies. The protagonist of this book is Lucky Linderman, a boy who certainly feels unlucky. He is average, but it seems to him that certain things are always happening to him that make him not average. Like the questionnaire he came up with: If you were going to commit suicide, what method would you choose? His survery didn't get the results he wanted, just a bunch of adults questioning his mental state. Lucky's family is a bit crazy, his grandfather went missing in the war, and he describes his parents as animals (his mom a squid due to her obsessive swimming habit, and his turtle father, the one who always hides at work and only cooks for his family). On top of this, Lucky has only a few friends and is constantly being bullied by a boy named Nader. (I know, that isn't a real name. I thought the same thing.)

Things get so hard for Lucky to deal with, so his mom brings him to Arizona to stay with his aunt and uncle. He learns that his family isn't the only one with problems. The best thing that happens to him is meeting Ginny, a ninja girl as he describes her. She is a bit mysterious and has many different sides to her. She takes him to her play and to see a billboard of her, and he falls a bit in love. One day, Ginny comes to him with her head shaven. Her mom had hit her and Lucky realizes how to be strong not just for himself but also for others. I think this is one of the most important parts of the story.

Lucky eventually returns home and confronts Nader. He is nervous but he realizes that he feels a lot better for being strong enough, mentally. By the end of this book, he is a completely changed person.

Perhaps you are wondering about the title. Lucky has these delusions in which ants talk to him and sort of mock the situations he is in. In his dreams, he visits his grandfather in Vietnam and eventually learns that "everybody sees the ants", meaning everybody has problems.

I think the fact that I didn't know anything about this book before reading it is good because I didn't expect anything or be let down by it falling short of my expectations. Not that it did fall short, I just think some people might wish that it had more plot. But honestly, the book is mostly about the character development and the author does a great job with that. Also, the ending was so great, it almost made me change it to a five star book, but I decided to stay with four stars.
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Nov 11, 2012 Nic rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: made-me-cry

Wow. Just really, really wow. Note to self: sometimes when you hear a book is awesome, maybe you should read it right away. I blazed through this in, like, three or four hours, and it is AMAZING.

I guess the only (slightly spoilery) thing that I'm unsure about is that, despite excellent messages on how to handle a bully and how to fight hate with action that isn't hate, the author clearly felt a need to have the bully get punished at the end (physically beaten by the boyfriend of a girl the bully...more

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Aug 24, 2012 Sue Cowing rated it 5 of 5 stars

Every once in awhile, a novel is written and published that stands on another level of imagination entirely, even from the author's other books. The fallout from the Vietnam War, and particularly from the clandestine operations in Laos, still shapes two generations of Lucky's family. Each member develops an M.O. of denial and escape: Mom"the squid" dives into the swimming pool, Dad retreats into his turtle shell, and Lucky into a vivid fantasy world that puts me in mind of Guus Kuijer's THE BOOK...more

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Jul 17, 2012 April Hochstrasser rated it 4 of 5 stars

Lucky is one of those boys who gets bullied because of his size, personality and refusal to fight back. The individual acts of bullying are brought forth throughout the book as flashbacks, with the most horrendous one happening to someone else but leaving scars nevertheless. The summer after his freshman year in high school, Lucky is bullied again by his arch nemesis, Nader McMillan, who scrapes Lucky's face repeatedly against the concrete at the city pool where Nader is a lifeguard.

Left with a...more

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May 02, 2012 christine cooper added it · review of another edition

Liesl, our children's buyer, had bugged me and bugged me to read this book for weeks before I finally started it. I'm glad she did, it's well worth the pestering.

Lucky Linderman's parents are having marital issues and Lucky's getting bullied -- harassed and assaulted verbally, physically, and you could certainly argue sexually -- by a jerk at school for years. His father is a turtle: living in regret, loss, and confusion from not having his father around (who was a POW/MIA in Vietnam). His mom...more

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May 02, 2012 Meg rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: young-adult

Lucky Linderman is anything, but lucky. He has withdrawn parents. His father reverts into his shell (Lucky calls him a turtle) every time there’s trouble, and his mother is obsessed with swimming (Lucky calls her a squid).
Oh, and there’s this bully, Nader McMillan. Not just your average schoolyard bully, but a full blown violent, psychotic sociopath, who is bent (pun intended) on making Lucky’s life so miserable that Lucky just maybe losing his sanity as well. He is seeing imaginary ants after a...more

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Apr 08, 2012 Talyn rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: ya-novels, teen-issues, mental-illness, humor

I avoid books that have anything to do with war, specifically because war novels bore me. Even a book where one of the subjects is a person who has been in a war I avoid. It's just me. But I was stunningly surprised by this book.

Lucky Linderman starts his narration off with informing the reader that he got in trouble at school for handing out a questionnaire entitled "If you could commit suicide, which method would you choose?" . He then tells us that he wasn't suicidal or depressed and that peo...more I avoid books that have anything to do with war, specifically because war novels bore me. Even a book where one of the subjects is a person who has been in a war I avoid. It's just me. But I was stunningly surprised by this book.

Lucky Linderman starts his narration off with informing the reader that he got in trouble at school for handing out a questionnaire entitled "If you could commit suicide, which method would you choose?" . He then tells us that he wasn't suicidal or depressed and that people shouldn't be up in arms about it and be hauling him off to the counselors and staging meetings with his teachers and principal.

So we have someone who is a little dense , no surprises there since he is a teenaged boy. Another thing, Lucky doesn't feel LUCKY on account that his Dad does everything he can to avoid him and his mom, his family's basically given up on the idea that his grandfather--whom went MIA in the jungle during the Vietnam War -- will return to them alive or dead, and he is plagued by a bully who is obviously one of those big tough guys that loves to push around anyone smaller than him.

So classic teen angst heading your way. Or not.

Lucky is just trying to keep his head down and get through life without all these annoying flies and whiney bugs in his ear all worried about him. He just wants to get this douchebag off his back and quit picking on him, he wants his Dad to just talk to him for once, and he wants a sign that his grandfather is alive. He escapes reality by dreaming of himself in the very jungles that he believes his grandfather still lives in, and chats with his long-lost relative as if they've known each other all their life (Grandpa didn't get to see Lucky's Dad grow up, or even get to see Lucky as a baby, no duh).

It's a tale of trying to run away from all that's bothering you, to hunker down and pretty much meditate within yourself of all that causes you suffering and pain in this world, and finally, when the time is ready, you emerge from within yourself and stand up to face the demons tormenting you. (view spoiler)

It was very well written, with a great main character and nice supporting cast. The grandfather was cool to read about too, and the transformation of the scab into different U.S. states was a hoot to read as well (did I just say "hoot"? What am I, an owl?) . That part, though, when he said that his scab rubbed off on his pillow due to it being all wet from the aloe lotion? Ewwwww....Sick.

I recommend this book for anyone who wants to read about a kid trying to get through loss, trying to hold onto faint hope, and trying to rid himself of a bully physically and emotionally torturing him everywhere he turns.
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Feb 29, 2012 Meg rated it 4 of 5 stars

Lucky Linderman is anything, but lucky. He has withdrawn parents. His father reverts into his shell (Lucky calls him a turtle) every time there’s trouble, and his mother is obsessed with swimming (Lucky calls her a squid).
Oh, and there’s this bully, Nader McMillan. Not just your average schoolyard bully, but a full blown violent, psychotic sociopath, who is bent (pun intended) on making Lucky’s life so miserable that Lucky just maybe losing his sanity as well. He is seeing imaginary ants after a...more

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Feb 25, 2012 Robin Cicchetti rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: bullying, family, fiction, friendship, relationship, school-fiction, young-adult

Lucky isn't that Lucky. He is relentlessly bullied and his parents are powerless to intervene and advocate for him because they are paralyzed by their dysfunctional marriage. A social studies assignment to design a survey and chart the results goes horribly wrong when Lucky decides to poll students about which method of suicide they would choose. Not a good idea. After a particularly brutal attack, Lucky's mom takes him away to visit family in Arizona, and give them both a break from the pressur...more

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Feb 17, 2012 Christina G rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: ya-ya-ya

3.5 stars. Another YA book about bullying (just read Leverage by Joshua Cohen), though with some fantastical elements thrown in.

What I loved about this book was how flawed the adults were and how complicated the family dynamics felt. And the book was well-structured - the parallels between the characters would probably make it a good book for discussion. I also liked learning a bit more about POW/MIA families, which wasn't something I'd taken the time to familiarize myself with before.

What I di...more

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Feb 02, 2012 Kendra rated it 4 of 5 stars

Ever since reading Please Ignore Vera Dietz, A S King has been one of my favorite authors. Her writing is clever and thought-provoking, humorous but serious. I was a little torn between giving this book a 4 and a 5, but ultimately I didn't love it quite as much as Vera, so I went with a 4.

This story is narrated by Lucky Linderman, a less-than-lucky teenage boy who is discovering that life is very hard. He's in trouble at school, he's the perpetual victim of bully Nader, his parents seem ill-equ...more

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Jan 24, 2012 Oscar rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2011-2012

Everybody Sees the Ants is about a 15 year old high schooler named Lucky, who is not all that lucky. It all starts with his grandfather who never came back from the war in Vietnam. This causes his father to keep a distance from him and his son, since he never really had a dad. His mother spends time at a pool to distract herself from her family issues. And he is constantly bullied by this guy named Nader and Lucky neverspeaks up, he always says he is ok. But one day Nader pushes too far and so...more

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Jan 16, 2012 Charlou Lunsford rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: ya

Layers, so many layers. It's about bullying, but that is way too simple. For a book about a boy, it has plenty to say about girls. Can you escape in your dreams when they have a reality? If you say every high school kid should read this book and it should be on reading list, will kids read it? Lucky, 15, has a mother who is a squid and a father who is a turtle. It seems the only one who will listen is his grandfather who didn't come home from the Vietnam War. Of course it's all a dream, but he c...more

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Jan 03, 2012 Marisa rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: boybooks, ya

Really, really fantastic book which I imagine would be equally appealing to girls or boys. Raises some pretty serious questions, and will undoubtedly get kids interested in the Vietnam War draft, without being at all dry or preachy. I must have been very focused on reading, because I have not passages dog eared at all until the very end of the book. And some of thing I did dog ear are really terrible quotes taken out of context, even though they gave me goosebumps re-reading them. And one of the...more

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