Everybody Sees the Ants is outwardly about bullying, but it’s really about many things, including masculinity, self-respect, and standing up for yourself. It’s really creative and like many of King’s books, has more than a touch of magical realism.

Lucky Linderman is a passive Pennsylvania kid. Unfortunately, he’s also got a big target on his back because the meanest bully in town has made it his personal mission to punish Lucky just for existing. Nader favors physical punishment, and the book’s inciting incident is when he injures Lucky significantly enough that Lucky’s mom takes him away to Arizona after school’s out. This introduces Lucky to two more adults—his aunt and uncle—who become important in his life.

Prior to the book starting, Lucky managed to get himself in hot water over an assignment. He was supposed to create a survey question for a class, and his offering was, “If you were going to commit suicide, what method would you choose?” Not the most well-thought-out thing, since it got the school and his parents all freaked out and convinced he was suicidal. And he isn’t overtly suicidal, even if he is supremely unhappy with his life. But there are definitely red flags that go up throughout the book that indicate to the reader that things aren’t quite healthy in Lucky’s head, even if he doesn’t see it himself.

It is significant to the story that none of these supposedly well-meaning adults seem to think anything needs to be done about Nader, or at least they don’t do anything about it. His father avoids Lucky and his mom by spending all his time at work; his mom avoids dealing with anything—including her own marital troubles—by swimming lap after lap at the pool.

Passivity is a major theme in the book, and Lucky has to learn to overcome his. His grandfather helps him through his dreams, where Lucky attempts to rescue the man who’s officially MIA in Laos from the Vietnam War. It’s in the dreams where Lucky actually feels powerful. His grandfather even helps him see that he’s not crazy even though he sees ants—a little group of characters that appeared because of all the stress with Nader. They follow Lucky around and comment on his life, giving voice to his fears. As the name of the book implies, everybody’s got a little bit of the crazy in them because that’s part of being alive—all people have some things in their lives that make them feel out of control.

One of the great strengths of the book is the numerous supporting characters. As you’d expect in a book from King, the characters are all deeply drawn and interesting. The adults especially are as flawed as Lucky (if not more). The writing style is uncomplicated and it fits Lucky’s voice perfectly. There isn’t really a strong plot per se, but the story doesn’t suffer for it as we live Lucky’s complicated life with him.

Overall, Everybody Sees the Ants is a solid exploration of bullying and building self-respect—and it’s funny, too.