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A review by aneides
Anthill by Edward O. Wilson
2.0
This is the first full-length work of E.O. Wilson's that I have been able to finish; although the science is right up my alley, something about his style of nonfiction writing irritates me. Even though Anthill is a much easier read than Wilson's denser nonfiction, he is clearly not a novelist.
Anthill can be roughly divided into three sections. In the first, we meet Raff, a boy growing up in the Deep South who becomes fascinated with the natural history of the animals at a local lake. We learn about these animals and their habitat with Raff, as well as learning some particulars of the history and culture in and around Mobile, AL, which is moderately interesting. Under the tutelage of a professor who has befriended him (and is also the narrator), Raff studies the local fauna and eventually makes his way to study biology at a that prof's university. The second section, more of a brief interlude, is ostensibly Raff's senior thesis research and it tells the story of ant colonies over several seasons at his beloved lake. This section is highly interesting and completely engaging but it is, alas, very brief. The third section sees Raff going to law school and coming into his own as a defender of wildlands, eventually to save his own little corner of nature from a confederation of evil developers.
Wilson tries to draw parallels between an anthill, the human family and society at large, but this attempt mostly falls flat. He also expresses the thought processes of humans- especially Raff's mother and uncle- in terms that evoke ideas of natural selection and the economics of ecology. This is a clever idea- and is clearly intentional- but it just doesn't work for me. Raff's thoughts, on the other hand, seem very facile and it is difficult to believe that he is indeed a brilliant student... or that the "narrator" is smart enough to have a PhD himself. Other characters' thoughts and locutions seem alien and sinister (possibly intentional, but again, it doesn't work) and Raff's perceptions of his fellow students seem to come from a man of a much older generation. Finally, the last section of the novel- the only section that has a real (human) plot- feels slapped together and tacked on.
Hopefully Wilson had fun writing this novel- he certainly deserves a change of pace in his literary endeavors and might have become a respectable novelist if he'd started writing fiction at a younger age.
Anthill can be roughly divided into three sections. In the first, we meet Raff, a boy growing up in the Deep South who becomes fascinated with the natural history of the animals at a local lake. We learn about these animals and their habitat with Raff, as well as learning some particulars of the history and culture in and around Mobile, AL, which is moderately interesting. Under the tutelage of a professor who has befriended him (and is also the narrator), Raff studies the local fauna and eventually makes his way to study biology at a that prof's university. The second section, more of a brief interlude, is ostensibly Raff's senior thesis research and it tells the story of ant colonies over several seasons at his beloved lake. This section is highly interesting and completely engaging but it is, alas, very brief. The third section sees Raff going to law school and coming into his own as a defender of wildlands, eventually to save his own little corner of nature from a confederation of evil developers.
Wilson tries to draw parallels between an anthill, the human family and society at large, but this attempt mostly falls flat. He also expresses the thought processes of humans- especially Raff's mother and uncle- in terms that evoke ideas of natural selection and the economics of ecology. This is a clever idea- and is clearly intentional- but it just doesn't work for me. Raff's thoughts, on the other hand, seem very facile and it is difficult to believe that he is indeed a brilliant student... or that the "narrator" is smart enough to have a PhD himself. Other characters' thoughts and locutions seem alien and sinister (possibly intentional, but again, it doesn't work) and Raff's perceptions of his fellow students seem to come from a man of a much older generation. Finally, the last section of the novel- the only section that has a real (human) plot- feels slapped together and tacked on.
Hopefully Wilson had fun writing this novel- he certainly deserves a change of pace in his literary endeavors and might have become a respectable novelist if he'd started writing fiction at a younger age.