Anthill by Edward Osborn Wilson is a book by a renowned biologist that takes a way of looking at life derived from insects. I read a review of this book in "Science News" and it really caught my interest.
Started: 2/1/2015
Completed: 3/4/2015
Recommendation: Interesting read for a naturalist
Recommended By: Science News Magazine
Words and concepts for which I sought help:
Assize -- a court that sat at intervals in each county in England and Wales to administer the civil and criminal law
Bowdlerize -- remove material from that is considered improper or offensive, especially with the result that it becomes weaker or less effective.
Commonweal -- the common good
Ineffably -- too great or extreme to be described in words
Morganatic marriage -- a marriage across different classes
Postprandial -- during or relating to the period after dinner or lunch
Saccade -- rapid movement of the eye between fixation points
Review:
This is an excellent effort by a biologist to be a novelist. It is not a great novel, however. The characters are largely flat and oddly caricatures (from free-loving feminist to good ole boy to vigilante). The main character experiences a transition from gun hater to gun lover (odd given the naturalist bent, but that is at least explained in terms of target shooting), but the transition seems sudden, without any clear explanation, and doesn't move the story forward. One is left wondering why it ever was presented as a minor theme in the book.
The protagonist is followed from boyhood to manhood, but with none of the expected transitions. There is one description of a female love interest, but it feels stilted--like it was put in place to move the plot forward (which it does) but left hollow around that goal. It is easy to criticize, hard to generate, so my criticism comes from the potential that I feel was lost, not really an effort to find fault. Relationships, in general, are defined and then never develop ("Uncle" who is a sponsor of naturalist activities, father who offers a few words of wisdom that carry through the book but who is virtually non-existent from high school forward, uncle who is so interested in the protagonist that he funds college and grad school, but basically disappears once his role as a plot mover is complete, etc).
I so want to like this book. I found it hard reading, honestly, until I reached the "Anthill Chronicles" where the author's love of ants pours out and suddenly the book reads easily through the end despite awkward transitions and, frankly, bizarre interactions on all fronts. The story seems focused on the concept of change from within, but none of the characters themselves show evidence of that change. There are some rather odd loose ends that dangle over the protagonist even at the end of the book (which is OK, but it just seems strange that big issues are resolved, but the smaller issues that moved the plot line are simply left unfocused). It feels like the author was racing down a road, dragging us along, and using trail markers to identify where the story is going to be briefly examined, passed, and not to have a lasting impact. Maybe it is that the craft of writing a novel is so difficult that to hope a botanist can excel at both his field and writing a novel is simply too much to ask.
So, the plot is a bit compelling. The basic question is: how can one person save an environmental area within the law? This question is addressed throughout the book, but the answer seems forced--if you go to Harvard Law and spend a lot of time studying you can find a way to thread the needle with a possible solution. I will not give away the ending but allow it to be said that this outcome could easily go either way. I did like the emphasis on conflict resolution, but it seems to me that the protagonist comes to this understanding of conflict resolution in a vacuum. We are informed of the protagonists approach without ever understanding how he came to it--it appears as a revelation to the reader.
Like the author classifies ants, the reader gets a relatively quick classification of the people met in the book (sort of the caricatures mentioned above) and they all but wear white hats or black hats. The protagonists passion is well conveyed, but his positions have no nuance. He resists the mild advances of his secretary (possibly to stay within his lawful concept) but is otherwise portrayed as someone who will pursue opportunity (love or otherwise) whenever it presents itself. It would have been much more interesting even on little side plots for him to have some desire to do one thing but the will power to do another, or to give in to temptation on some things while managing to not on others. Something more human might have taken the shine off the symbolic white hat. It is unclear why something like the secretary's interest ever comes up if it is only to be ignored virtually out of hand unless it is to reinforce the bright white hat which needs no reinforcement.
So, if you are a naturalist, green, or earthy-crunchy want-to-be this book will likely be an enjoyable read. If you are a strong feminist, "eco-nazi," strongly religious, or politically conservative, this book will likely grate.
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