We Are the Ants by Shaun David Hutchinson

"We Are the Ants is a hybrid YA novel, with elements of sci-fi, coming of age and romance thrown in. Henry is struggling at home—his mum hasn’t coped since his dad left, his brother bullies him, and he’s losing his grandmother to Alzheimer’s. He watches his fellow students drive around in flash cars, while his family just struggle to get by. And he lost his boyfriend to suicide. But on top of all that, he’s regularly kidnapped by slug-like aliens, who now want him to decide whether the Earth will end. Thanks to his brother telling everyone in school about the abductions, his fellow students call him Space Boy, and bully him mercilessly. Henry isn’t really sure whether the Earth is worth saving. Despite the pretty out there premise of the alien abductions, We Are the Ants is mostly a high school coming of age story. It’s pretty dark and brutal at times, more so than average. Henry is dealing with a lot of things, and has an understandably bleak outlook on life. His voice is really distinctive, veering from alienated distance to dark humour. The voice was really the first thing to grab me about the novel..."

'Life is bullshit'라는 문장으로 시작해서 'I didn't know if the world was going to end tomorrow, nor did I care...'라는 문장으로 끝나는 YA 계열의 소설이다. 친구의 자살, 학교생활의 어려움, 가족의 의미, 본인의 정체성, 우정의 회복, 사랑의 시작, 외계인, 인류의 멸망 등의 다양한 이야기를 나름 재밌게 풀어쓴 작품이다. 유머러스한 표현이나 심플하지만 개인의 심정을 잘 보여주는 표현들은 좋은 참고가 된다. 다만 YA 계열치고는 가끔씩 등장하는 성적표현등은 읽는데 부담을 줄 수도 있다. 

 

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