"A wildly original blend of social horror and razor sharp satire, The Anthill is a searing exploration of privilege, racism, and redemption in the Instagram age.:
Such an interesting concept - looking forward to reading.

The anthill had a truly chilling atmosphere. Introducing such shock and terror in an everyday location truly made it all feel more real.

Maria Carolina returns to her hometown in Columbia after a 20 year absence. She meets up with her old friend/the child her mother rescued from poverty and raised, Matthias, and volunteers at his after school program/community outreach centre.
I was interested in reading this after viewing the synopsis, but I didn’t enjoy this book unfortunately. I was expecting a bit more of the supernatural/spooky and the book just didn’t deliver and never fully explained. I found it incredibly hard to make it through this one as there were absolutely no quotations, leaving me to wonder if certain sections were in-fact dialogue or just the main characters thoughts. The main character is also referred to as “the new volunteer” for most of the book, which was confusing.

I started this book a while back and could not get into it inspite of the interesting premise. I finally got around to picking it up again and I found it to be a strange book. The constant referring of the protagonist as 'the volunteer' created a disconnect for me. The story is about a woman coming back to her motherland to reconnect with a friend and attempt to remember the time she spent there before she moved to England at 8 years of age. Parts of the book are narrated by Matty and his talking directly to Lina in his head. The book also seems to deal with him forming a separate identity from her but I felt that it took too long for the characters to develop and their histories to be revealed.

The audiobook was engaging to listen to and I liked the variety of characters. The backdrop of the Anthill acted as a heartbreaking setting to learn about Columbia. Though the book premise made it sound like horror, a lot was in Lina's head and I wasn't able to follow the story very well. There just wasn't enough suspense for me to enjoy this book more. As a drama, it was good., hence rating 2.5.

Many thanks to the publisher for providing me a complimentary review copy for an honest review.

This is a hard book to review, it was a hard book to read too. I was really intrigued by the blurb, "an intoxicating ghost story told through the eyes of a young woman returning to her homeland of Columbia to seek redemption for a past she can't really remember..." but this book wasn't at all what I expected. It's a dramatic, visceral, story full of raw hurt and anger. The writing is occasionally disjointed and the supernatural element is a bit distracting but overall it is an absorbing read that explores how trauma shapes identities and countries, how people reconcile their pasts with their present.

This was an incredibly intense and gripping read, that definitely had some tough moments to get through. There is pain and trauma, and there is definitely darkness in this book. It was at times, fast past while others slow and dramatic. I have a hard time putting words to a lot of my thoughts, but I definitely enjoyed this book greatly.

Carolina has returned to Columbia after a twenty year absence. When Carolina also known as Lina was eight years old her mother died. Lina’s father decided it was best the two of them return to his native England.
Lina decides to take a break from working on her doctorate to visit the country of her birth. Her childhood friend Matty is running a nonprofit after-school centre. The centre depends on volunteers to run the programs. Lina decides to help the centre and get reacquainted with her friend. Many things have changed during her twenty year absence from Medellin including Matty.
I found The Anthill to be a strange sort of story. There was a mystical and eerie quality to the narrative. The characters were unique and the country itself felt like a character. The writing was strong and the descriptions were vivid. The Anthill was such powerful and intricate novel I feel it would be worth reading a second time.
Thank you to Netgalley and Penguin Random House Canada for allowing me to read an advanced edition of The Anthill in exchange for my honest opinion.

Twenty years after leaving Medellin, Colombia, Lina returns to the city to face the demons of her past. Encountering Matthias, who runs the Anthill, a refuge for street children, means facing her feelings for him and the secrets he harbors.

Once I got started on this book, I found that I couldn’t put it down.

This book is a horror story, has a lot of unexplained twists and turns, and jumps point of views very rapidly... and these are all things that I don’t like in books.

But there’s something about The Anthill that pulled me in from the very beginning. It’s a raw book; it’s a difficult book; it’s a book that both feels extremely real and unreal all at once. Reading this book was a visceral experience for me: I often got chills down my spine, or felt my stomach twist and turn, or had my heartstrings tug at the most heart wrenching and heart warming scenes. It pulled me in enough that it affected me, and reading such a powerful book during these days isn’t for everyone.

Again, this wasn’t an easy book to read, but it was one that I am happy I picked up this year. I really, really wish that the book had answered more of my questions, but I guess that it really drove home the point that sometimes, life just won’t give you the answers that you are looking for, no matter how much you want them.

Basically, I see a bunch of literature students get together someday to analyze the heck out of this book.

I’d like to thank Bond Street Books for the free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. The Anthill was published just a few weeks ago - it’s ready for purchase.

#TheAnthill #Netgalley

Lina lost her mother in a traffic accident at eight years old. Leaving Medellin when her father sends her to boarding school in England, Lina has to leave behind her life and best friend, Mattias.

Twenty years later, Lina travels back to Medellin thinking she needs to return to the country of her birth and hopefully find something to keep her from living so aimlessly. She also hopes to reconnect with Matty, who has grown into a respectable man running programs for children.

Lina realizes their childhood bond is something that won’t be revived mostly due to Matty’s disinclination for openness. Instead of finding a place to anchor her drifting self—Lina never felt settled in England and hoped to be accepted in Colombia, she ends up with more question marks about her life, who she is and where she belongs.

From what I read in the book blurb I was expecting something else, however, The Anthill is a well-written, thought-provoking, and interesting read.

Thank you to NetGalley and Penguin Random House Canada Bond Street Books, for the read of Julianne Pachico, The Anthill.

Opinions expressed in my reviews are my own.

At the tender age of 8 under circumstances she can't really remember, Lina left Colombia behind. Now she's back and trying to reconnect with her childhood friend Matty, who has grown up to run an organization that's part daycare, part sanctuary for the children of Medellín. Lina, adrift in her life, has come to Medellin to find an answer to herself, an anchor to keep herself from floating away. Instead, she finds herself an outsider in the country of her birth, trying to recapture a feeling of belonging that may be gone forever.

Complicated and messy, the Anthill is an engrossing novel. While I was only partially sold on the initial concept, I was drawn further into the world. The Anthill follows Lina's rhythm, pulling you into her disassociation and forcing you to look at the world through her anxieties. It's an effective way to connect us to the main character even as it the book begins referring to her as the "new volunteer".

One thing to note is that even though it was recommended to me as a horror novel, it's not one. There are horrific aspects and the disassociation I mentioned gives things an eerie quality, but if you're looking for horror int he sense of monster attacks or psychopathic murderers stalking co-eds, this is not the right book for you.

Instead it's a ghost story. A modern day, ghost story about us and the things that we do to ourselves, to the people around us, and to our dreams in order to feel something.