Michelle Huneven is a must read for me and has been since Jamesland a way long time ago. I loved this family drama - sad and full of heaviness but also the beauty of being alive.

Eek! This is my favorite kind of story: the quiet interconnectedness of a family and the people on the periphery of their individual lives. Spanning decades, we see their relationships, decisions, mistakes, and good deeds come full circle. Such a lovely read. Thanks to NetGalley and The Penguin Press for the pleasure!

Thanks to Penguin Press and Net Galley for the advanced reading copy for review. All opinions are my own.

This was a pleasant and quick read but I think it went off the rails at the end so I'm giving it 3.5 stars.

This is the story about the Samuelson family. Engineer Phil and teacher Sib live in Altadena, CA with their three children, Ellis, Katie, and Sally. When a freak accident claims the life of Ellis, the family is never the same again. This book chronicles how each character is affected and shaped by the ripples the loss creates.

For about the first 65% of the book I was really engaged as the book was told in a timeline format. But then Huneven started moving around in time, telling backstories about Phil and Sib. She introduced new characters and spoke less of the Samuelson children, which was disappointing because I really liked them and would have liked to know more about their lives over the years.

I read Michelle Huneven's Search a few years ago and was so excited to see that she had a new book out this June. While Search was all about a church's search for its next pastor, Bug Hollow is a family story spanning decades. We meet the Samuelson family when recent high school grad Ellis leaves home for a camping trip only to meet a girl and fall in love. What happens after this one camping trip impacts the entire family for years to come. The story is told through different perspectives and skips ahead and back through time. But this story works! I loved the characters and am sad the story is over. I can't wait to recommend Bug Hollow widely.

Some of the characters will frustrate you, but stick with it. BUG HOLLOW is simply a gorgeous novel. The shorter length works very well, and I appreciate how the length means the novel moves along at a nice pace and never feels stuck. The structure --- focusing each chapter on a different family member--is ingenious and works extremely well.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for an advance e-galley; all opinions in my review are 100% my own.

3 stars.

This award winning author (including the James Beard award!) brings a tale about the Samuelsons, a family in Altadena, California (which made me very sad.) Sally was eight, her sister Katie, 14 and her golden boy brother, Ellis was seventeen the summer Ellis disappeared for the summer. It was after he graduated from high school and just before he was headed to Ole Miss on a baseball scholarship. He had gone on a trip with some high school friends and just didn’t come back.

Turns out he had been living at a group home. His parents found home through an ad in a newspaper, went up, met his girlfriend and brought him home. But he was still in love with Julia, a college student who was, after their two months together, pregnant. But neither she nor Ellis knew that before he headed to Oxford and died, just days after his arrival.

When Julia discovers her pregnancy she goes to the Samuelsons to see if they want to raise the baby. They do, but after their two death of Ellis, each member of the family is damaged. This is the story of a family dealing with grief.

I enjoyed this but wonder how much I’ll remember about it long term. This is one I might change my rating on. Katie and Ellis are mostly ciphers here. I enjoyed the portions set in the Middle East.

I love every single thing I've read by Huneven and this is yet another impressive work to add to the list. Why isn't she one of our most awarded authors?

I know Michelle Huneven has had a long and successful career; I also suspect I'm not the only one who was eager to read more after encountering her work through Search. This was an altogether different but thoroughly enjoyable tale of four generations of one California family. I was constantly surprised at where Huneven took us in laying out there history, but enjoyed every stop along the way.

Wow! I loved this book and read it in one day. I liked how each chapter focused on a different family member and segment of life. I cannot imagine the author’s work in creating so many detailed storylines but making them all fit together. Beautifully done. Giving it 4 instead of 5 stars simply because I didn’t agree with some of the choices the characters made. But, I know that we are all flawed too, and beauty can and does come after our mistakes!