family drama
Bug Hollow is a house in the woods where the oldest Samuelson child, Ellis, hid himself from his family for two months in the summer after his senior year of high school in the 1970s. From there, meaningful events take place which ripple into others’ lives.
This family drama is told from multiple points of view including some outside of the core family. The novel covers multiple decades but not chronologically. Some viewpoints cover periods prior to those already shared and some jump ahead quite a bit. One character, Sally, got three sections in her viewpoint. Everyone else only got one section, I believe. Near the end of the novel, one of Sally’s sections described events that really didn’t have anything to do with the Samuelsons. It was mostly a self-contained plot that didn’t have any meaningful overlap with any of the other sections. My only guess as to why Michelle Huneven included this section is that she wanted the reader to get a feel for the character, Mrs. Wright, so that we could understand her a little more before she played a pivotal role in the next revealed segment. Or maybe she just wanted to insert an LGBTQ+ story in her novel. Whatever the reason, that segment went on way too long and felt out of place. Otherwise, I thought Huneven did a good job crafting this tale.
I don’t have much more to say about this story but I enjoyed getting to know the characters. There was hardship in the pages of this novel but also joy and success. This is a story about family, loss, and new connections…..beginnings and endings. Life goes on.
The audiobook narrator, Emily Rankin, had a terrific vocal repertoire and was a great voice actress. She gets an A for her performance.
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