We Are the Ants by Shaun David Hutchinson
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
April 7 – 18
There are a few things Henry Denton knows, and a few things he doesn’t.
Henry knows that his mom is struggling to keep the family together, and coping by chain-smoking cigarettes. He knows that his older brother is a college dropout with a pregnant girlfriend. He knows that he is slowly losing his grandmother to Alzheimer’s. And he knows that his boyfriend committed suicide last year.
What Henry doesn’t know is why the aliens chose to abduct him when he was thirteen, and he doesn’t know why they continue to steal him from his bed and take him aboard their ship. He doesn’t know why the world is going to end or why the aliens have offered him the opportunity to avert the impending disaster by pressing a big red button.
But they have. And they’ve only given him 144 days to make up his mind.
The question is whether Henry thinks the world is worth saving. That is, until he meets Diego Vega, an artist with a secret past who forces Henry to question his beliefs, his place in the universe, and whether any of it really matters. But before Henry can save the world, he’s got to figure out how to save himself, and the aliens haven’t given him a button for that.
Review – I loved this book it was beautifully written and it has amazing characters . Henry has been taken by aliens since he was 13 but now there is a big reason the world is going to end and he has to choose to press the button or let the world end . Henry’s boyfriend committed suicide and he’s trying to deal with that and he’s fooling around with a guy who calls him Space boy . Then he meets Diego vega who is new and is hiding his past they start to hang out Henry’s brother dropped out of college and got his girlfriend pregnant his grandmother is loosing her memories his father left and he doesn’t know why . Henry was attacked in the shower at school and he knows it was Marcus and he doesn’t want to tell . He ends the hook ups with Marcus , he skips class with Diego but his car won’t start so Audrey sees them and offers them a ride . Audrey and Henry use to be friends but when Jesse died there was a rift between them when she just left but she ended up going to a hospital but never told Henry . on thanksgiving Henry goes over to Diego’s and they have a BBQ and they end up kissing and then he was taken by the aliens again this book was beautiful it made me laugh and it made me cry so many times . Henry finds out why Diego was sent to live with his sister his father was abusive and so he took out his anger out back on him and was sent to juvi . On new years Henry and Charlie throw a party and Diego and Henry start making out and then some but they are stopped when there is something wrong with Zoe there was a lot of blood and she ends up loosing the baby . Henry and Diego “Break up” he goes to the winter fair with Audrey and he sees Diego’s painting of him and then he runs away and he’s crying and he runs into Marcus and he attacks Henry and tries to rape him but Henry gets away when Diego finds out he punches Marcus and Henry checks himself into a place to get better with his grief when he gets out he goes to Charlie’s wedding and then Diego’s back they kiss he didn’t press the button who knows what will happen I loved this book so much so beautiful.
Favorite Quotes:
Dreams are hopeful because they exist as pure possibility unlike memories , which are fossils long dead and buried deep.
page 136
There’s an amazing world out there for you to discover, Henry Denton , but you have to be willing to discover yourself first .
The bell rang , saving me and we all rose like pavlivian dogs , eager to run to our next classes. Except Diego . He was still sitting , like he was waiting for me to say something, but I didn’t know what. Finally I said , what if I don’t give a shit about the world ?
Diego gathered out trash and frowned . I’d say that’s pretty fucking sad .
Why ?
Because the world is beautiful .
Page 99
The sluggers don’t always return me totally naked , but when they do , I assume it’s because it amuses them to watch me attempt to sneak from one end of calypso to the other without being arrested for indecent exposure .
page 18
that’s the problem with memories : you can visit them , but you can’t live in them”
Dreams are hopeful because they exist as pure possibility unlike memories , which are fossils long dead and buried deep”
because sometimes it’s easier to start over with a clean slate than drag the baggage of your past with you wherever you go.”
“We may not get to choose how we die, but we can chose how we live. The universe may forget us, but it doesn’t matter. Because we are the ants, and we’ll keep marching on.”
We remember the past, live in the present, and write the future.”
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