Lucky Linderman didn't ask for his life. He didn't ask his grandfather not to come home from the Vietnam War. He didn't ask for a father who never got over it. He didn't ask for a mother who keeps pretending their dysfunctional family is fine. And he didn't ask to be the target of Nader McMillan's relentless bullying, which has finally gone too far.
But Lucky has a secret--one that helps him wade through the daily mundane torture of his life. In his dreams, Lucky escapes to the war-ridden jungles of Laos--the prison his grandfather couldn't escape--where Lucky can be a real man, an adventurer, and a hero. It's dangerous and wild, and it's a place where his life just might be worth living. But how long can Lucky keep hiding in his dreams before reality forces its way inside?
I have heard the greatest things about A.S King for a long time now, and I really wanted to discover some of her powerful works. Everybody Sees the Ants was the one that attracted me the most.
It follows a young teenager who, despite being called Lucky, does not seem to be so. Indeed, he has to fight, everyday, a bully who tries to make him miserable. But more than that, he has to fight teenagehood, a far more long and difficult ordeal. Desperate for more, Lucky finds solace in his dreams, where his encounter with the grandfather he has never known teaches him, in a scary and dangerous place, hope.
I have read quite a few books about teenagers, because it is by far, for me, the most interesting time in people's lives. But very often, the stories that we are told from their point of views lack coherence, interest or depth. Here, A.S King did a wonderful job. Lucky is a real teenager. And by that, I mean that he is presented as I have always wanted a teenager to be: he has to face bullying, true, but he also has to face many more difficulties, among them dealing with his family, discovering girls (but not in that cheesy, pointless kind of way), becoming someone.
Lucky was one of the only fictional teenagers that I could relate to: not because I used to be bullied or had some strange dreams about some family that I never knew, but because he really questions himself. He feels guilty, about a lot of things; yet, he does not end up moaning and complaining all the time, but rather accepts that he has to face difficult times. It does not mean that he is ok with it, but he knows some things are out of his reach for the moment, and yet he tries to fight. Through Lucky's eyes, what I saw was the idea that youth is hard, but life has more to offer than that; wait, keep faith, and you'll be rewarded.
If I had to sum up this book in one word, I'd probably choose awareness. I think it's the main feature of Lucky's, and the major value that the reader can draw from his story.
Let's talk about the writing, now. I won't be able to describe it, because it is unique. It is beautiful, yet not too much: A.S King has a very special way to present things, to make them clearer and more personal - who has a squid for a mother and a turtle for a father? It is really poetic without losing sight of the main point.
The only drawback, I would say, was that the dreams that Lucky have were sometimes a bit rushed: not that they should be properly explained, of course, because they are way more powerful if implicit, but sometimes they lacked something for me to really get my attention.
Let's sum up.
I LIKED
- The poetic and powerful writing
- The character development of Lucky and the true depiction of family relationships
- What it meant to ME and how it made me feel
I DID NOT LIKE
- Some of the dreams and the atmosphere in them
I'm so glad that it was the first book that I read this year !
Now, tell me: what book by A.S King should I read next? :)
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