‘Sometimes I think that gravity may be death in disguise. Other times I think that gravity is love, which is why love’s only demand is that we fall’- Henry Denton
We Are the Ants is a terrifyingly beautiful depiction of misery and loss.
It is with great anticipation that I started reading We Are the Ants by Shaun David Hutchinson, as I am an absolute addict to emo books that have their fair dose of melancholy and ephemeral beauty.
The book was excellent in every single way, and the writing is truly reminiscent of Vincent Van Gogh’s paintings. Should ‘Starry Night’ have come alive and greeted us in the way a painting depicting melancholy can.
The book starts with a ubiquitous adage that all of us are familiar with and many of us have thought multiple times. ‘Life is bullshit’. Which, in my opinion, it really can be sometimes. But that’s a topic of debate for some other day. Around this adage, the author has managed to weave a tale of epic proportions.
The premise of the entire book is based around the one question.
If we knew the world was going to end, but we had the power to stop it, would we?
The misery of the protagonist- Henry Denton- is often the driving point of the story. Henry Denton has a grandma with Alzheimer’s who’s slowly losing her ability and will to live. His father abandoned him at a very young age and he constantly believes that he was the one who drove his father away, his mother who is in fact a very accomplished chef who went to culinary school in France, is now a waitress who is held together only by her habit of chain smoking. His brother, Charlie Denton, dropped out of community college and has knocked up a girl who he intends to marry and have the child with. His best friend betrayed him by not being with Henry in the moments of his worst grief after the only person he loved- Jesse Franklin- his boyfriend committed suicide without ever giving Henry an inkling of why he would have killed himself. To top it all off, his school who has constantly physically and verbally abused Henry is also his perpetual one-night stand.
The icing on the cake is that, aliens have been abducting Henry for a few years. These aliens have been experimenting on him in multiple ways. Henry can’t easily communicate with them, since they are only able to communicate via ‘yes’ and ‘no’ questions.
One day the aliens pose Henry a choice. He can press a red button. He has 144 days to press this red button, and him doing so will prevent the destruction of the entire Earth. But does he even want to save the Earth?
However, it takes an artist of magnanimous will and ability to construct a story of fixing and beauty and fulfilment all while retaining a tone of sarcasm and dark humour. Shaun David Hutchinson has somehow, managed to write a very comforting book without descending into the frivolities of a Hallmark movie and still retaining the certain emo vibes because of which I dived into this book.
Throughout the course of the book, Henry manages to find a way to live. A desire to live after confronting his anger and sadness surrounding his dead boyfriend and also manages to befriend the new guy Diego- who might just be the reason Henry wants to live.
There are many memorable moments in this entire book, with each and every character somehow trying to get over the misery and sadness in their life.
The most striking moment in the book is when Henry asks Jesse’s mother
“If you knew the world was going to end, but you had the power to stop it, would you?”- Henry Denton
“Yes”- Mrs. Franklin
“Why?”- Henry Denton
“Because Jesse believed that life wasn’t worth living, and I refuse to prove him right.”- Mrs. Franklin
The book has the ability to motivate you to live.
It was by far one of the best books I’ve ever read and I am going to advocate for this book so bad, ‘cause it is freaking amazing. It’s the best. Never again will you read a book of such sadness and happiness. It takes a great man to weave a story of beauty and happiness from so much sadness and melancholy.
To end the review on a good note. I conclude by including this statement which was propagated through book multiple times, as a motivator for everybody to live. And to live happily.
“We remember the past, live in the present, and write the future.”
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