Helpful Score: 1
Mr. Wilson's first foray into fiction, and he should stick to nonfiction. The only interesting part of the entire book is the section about the actual Anthills, which apparently was adapted from his previously written nonfiction. The rest of the book is entirely uninteresting unless you want to reminisce about your childhood in the Southeast US or about your college time at Harvard and in Cambridge, MA. At the end when Mr. Wilson realized there was no climax to the story at all he invented a new antagonist and resolved it both in the last two chapters of the book. Very little structure to the story which seemed to be just Mr. Wilson taking a trip down memory lane. In an aside there is a hilarious description of the main character's college girlfriend and her "promiscuity". He writes that she wanted to "fulfill every desire, every orifice". Mr. Wilson's strong point is neither fiction nor writing female characters. Save yourself the time and boredom and just read Mr. Wilson's book "Ants". Again the only part of the book that was interesting at all was the section which is supposed to be the main character's thesis on Ant's, which was actually adapted from Mr. Wilson's previous nonfiction work "Ants".
Helpful Score: 1
I was mesmerized by the middle third of the book (The Anthill Chronicles). Because I live in the Pensacola/Mobile area, I greatly enjoyed reading about Raff's early years & his appreciation of the flora and fauna of South Alabama. I do have to agree with most other reviewers, though, that the "post FSU days" were a letdown. In particular, the story's climax was a disappointment. Perhaps Dr. Wilson lowered his standards because he was advised that it would be more amendable to a movie deal if mindless & trite action were injected?
Helpful Score: 1
Slow to start, then very interesting discussion of the environment and ant society. The end was sudden and not well developed. Good feel for southern life and customs. Often presents contrived stories of a boy growing up with overbearing father.
