Book Blurb:
When Sally Samuelson was eight years old, her golden boy brother Ellis went missing the summer he graduated high school. Ellis finally turned up at the bucolic Bug Hollow, a last gasp of the beautiful Northern California counterculture in the seventies. He had found joy in the communal life there, but died in a freak accident weeks later. From that point, the world of the Samuelsons never spins on the same axis, especially after Julia, Ellis’s girlfriend from Bug Hollow, shows up pregnant on their doorstep. Each Samuelson has sought their own solace: Sybil Samuelson pours herself into teaching and numbing her pain after the loss of her beloved son; her husband, Phil, had found respite in a love that developed while he was working as an engineer in Saudi Arabia; Katie, the high achieving middle Samuelson, comes home to try and make peace with her mother after a cancer diagnosis. And Sally has become the de facto caretaker to Eva, the child Ellis never knew.
My Review: 4 stars
Bug Hollow by Michelle Huneven is a beautifully written story of love, loss, and the far-reaching effects of grief upon the Samuelson family. Interestingly, I happened to read this book at the same time as The Irish Goodbye and they both had eerily similar plots with sisters and parents dealing with the death of a child. What amazes me is how authors can have such similar plots, yet the stories are so different and both so good!
Bug Hollow is a place where Ellis, the golden boy, goes for a week away with his buddies after high school. Instead of coming home at the weeks end, he decides to stay there as he falls in love with Julia, a girl staying at Bug Hollow. The two are inseparable until Ellis’s family shows up to bring him home. Once home, a freak accident occurs that alters the family’s existence that has repercussions for decades. Julia’s pregnancy, the caretaking of her daughter, Sybil’s diagnosis, Phil’s history in Saudi Arabia are all part of this engaging and compelling story.
I really enjoyed reminiscing the in the 70s timeline. I also found POVs from each character and chapter quite thought-provoking. No doubt that I’m going back to Huneven’s back stock of books as I really enjoyed her way with words.
Quotes I liked:
Funny how the days you weep, you can also have the fullest, deepest laughs.”
