Cicada

by J. Eric Laing

A family and community become swept-up in a tempest of violence and tragedy. After John Sayre starts slipping off at odd hours from the family farm, his wife Frances begins to suspect that he’s joined a newly-revived chapter of the Ku Klux Klan. By the time their young son discovers the corpse of a lynched black man along the side of a nearby dirt road, Frances Sayre has had enough. But John hasn’t joined the ranks of the murderous KKK as his wife fears. Just the same, John’s secret has the potential to destroy their marriage, if not so much more. What comes to pass over those heated days of summer, none on any side could have imagined, or wanted.

Genres: Fiction, Historical Fiction, Historical, Drama, Literary Fiction, Contemporary

262 pages, Kindle Edition

First published December 1, 2011

Reviews

[Sharon Jones]

The story line started out pretty slow but it picked up after a while. Characters were adequately described. The story described the strength of the people in the south as they battled against heat, drought, and racism.

[Lynn]

I had difficulty connecting with any of the characters,other than Buckshot. At least I had a clue what mattered to him.

[Mary White]

J. Eric Laing's novel Cicada manages to be two things at once: a bird's eye panorama of a small Southern town and an intimate study of the characters inhabiting the town. Melby is in the midst of a hot, torpid summer and Buckshot Sayre has just stumbled upon a lynched corpse, the first glaring sign that the town's local Ku Klux Klan chapter is back to business. This story is full of wonderfully drawn characters but centers on the Sayre family: father John, tormented by a past mistake and about to experience a brief rejuvenation, mother Frances, a loyal wife beginning to have many doubts about her life and place, and their son Timothy "Buckshot," an imaginative, honest child with the innocence of youth.

Laing sets a lush, evocative scene. The townspeople cohabit with the larger world of animals and insects; the behaviors of each follow the natural order of predator and prey and at times, seem entirely illogical. There is a ratcheting up of tension, echoed in the sounds and sights of the wild: as neighbor turns on neighbor, the mockingbirds stalk and quarrel and the cicadas struggle against outside forces to fulfill their life cycle.

Cicada is a beautifully written novel, full of wise perspective and insight and yet, it was a page-turner too. Others have called the book noir but there's a touch of Southern Gothic here too. The exquisitely drawn world, the story's tragic yet satisfying conclusion and the vivid array of characters will stay with me a long while. Truly a wonderful read.

Mary Vensel White, author of The Qualities of Wood

[Kevin Bergeron]

Other reviewers have compared Cicada to the works of William Faulkner. It reminded me a lot of another—lesser known—American southern writer, John Yount. Laing has a sure command over his subject, story, setting, themes, and characters. The story works in every way; on every level, from every angle, on every page. Laing writes with a true, unflinchingly honest yet compassionate voice that is straightforward and pure as spring water; a natural born storyteller. This is a literary work of many elements that connect to form a compelling and emotionally powerful story.

Much of the story is told as seen through the eyes of the young (ten or eleven years old?) Timothy “Buckshot” Sayre, reacting inwardly to events in the adult world over which he has no control and cannot fully understand, including his coming upon the scene of a lynching, and the disintegration of his parents’ marriage. The author remembers what it was like to be a child, and makes you remember.

Even as the book explores the darker corners of human nature, there is always a gentleness, an affection and generosity of spirit for people, community and family, for nature and animals in their quiet struggles with life and death. The characters and descriptions are so clear that there’s a quality that is cinematic, as though you’re watching a movie. The climactic shootout scene is so vivid it appears to be playing out in slow motion.

So much more I could say, but one hallmark of a really good book is that it can’t be adequately described; it just has be read.

[Diane Dickson]

Cicada by J Eric Laing is not an easy read, peppered throughout as it is with uncompromising descriptions of nature in the raw and man at his best and worst. What it is though is gripping and enthralling. This book takes the reader into the Southern States of America and the intrigues and lies behind the operations of the KKK, the interaction between whites and negroes, the law abiding citizens and the ne’er do wells of small town America. Seen in large part through the eyes of a child it shows the reader big skies, hard lives, love and hatred. The subject matter is often ugly but at times the prose is quite beautiful. If you liked The Help you may well enjoy this story, but Cicada is no pitcher of iced tea but rather a jelly jar glass of strong moonshine that will hit you in the back of the neck as it reaches the climax. Even as the ends are drawn together and eventually tied the sadness of lives lost and loves forsaken stayed with this reader. Highly recommended. I don’t like to give five stars as it seems artificial praise but in this case I have no choice and in my very humble opinion the book deserves every one of them.

[Mike]

This was entitled Cicada but this was not her story and the clicking beasts made only atmospheric background appearances. In fact the story lacked decent shape and the ending was rather less of a wrapping up, more of a running down.
The writing itself gave a good sense of time and place and one might imagine that travel rather than novel writing was the strength. For instance there are half a dozen long paragraphs regarding cicadas and mockingbirds, mostly the latter, that seemed to have no relevance to the human drama to be unfolded. There are quite a number of extraneous human and animal characters who add nothing to the story and should be excised or be given a narrative purpose, be it never so small.
The writer can write gentle, well-observed prose but needs to tailor this skill into a more structured pattern. The focus appears as if it should be on Buckshot but the whole thing is blurred and loses pace and drama because of it.
Generally the dialogue rang true and the boy's tone of voice was accurate. There were also few editing errors such as, “comments cast in dispersion”, and this was a well presented work and an easy read. Shame about the narrative framework.

[Rick]

J. Eric Laing's short novel is one of those in which you find yourself immersed not only in the story, but in the setting. Within the first pages of Cicada, Laing uses prose to paint a picture that perfectly describes the relentless heat and humidity of a small town in the deep south, making the weather almost a pivotal character in his novel.
The story captures the reader from the first page, and--like the heat--doesn't relent.

This is a story of love, labor, childhood and childhood lost. Set in the not too distant past, Lainge tells a story of a family caught in the midst of personal battles and racial tension.

I loved this book for "carrying me" to its setting and for the well developed characters Lainge shared with me. It is a thought provoking, well written story. Cicada is often funny (when dealing with the young boy Buckshot), but ultimately very serious and disturbing.

This book is one that you will keep and reread. Its characters and setting are haunting, and the book almost demands a revisit to further digest and fully appreciate them.

[Annette]

The writing was lovely, but the prose got in the way of the story at times. His sweeping descriptions about the heat, birds, cicadas and other things in nature spoke of the intense heat of summer. It gave you the impression of both the environment and the people inhabiting the town as simmering, ready to boil over into some sort of violence.
I wish I had felt more for the characters, but with the exception of Buckshot, no one else garnered my love or sympathy.
Still an interesting read.

[Lori]

This story takes place in the south, when segregation and discrimination was commonplace. The story is split between white families who don't appreciate the evil they hear at church or in town about the black families moving in nearby, and the those who perpetrate the evil. In the crossfire is a young boy. It's a tragic story, but not without hope. I picked it up for free on my Kindle. This highly rated book did not disappoint.

[Adam]

The author is clearly a gifted writer, but he needs to work on improving his storytelling. It was easy to become immersed in this novel, but it ends abruptly. Perhaps the novel would read better if it simply ended immediately following the climax, but to continue the way it did dragged my rating down from five to three stars. Either go more into depth about what happened after the climax, or leave it completely up to the reader.

[Megan]

Honestly, I think I bought this for my Kindle because it was so cheap-- about $3, rather than three times that for plenty of other books. It sat there in my queue for quite awhile before I picked it up and absolutely devoured it while sitting on a beach in Thailand. It's short (just over 150 pages), but still manages to soak you in images of a sweltering Southern summer and the lives of all its characters in tension and tragedy.

[Amanda Sauer]

Just couldn't finish it. It had nothing to do with the content. It just seemed to jump around and at 50% there were new characters being introduced. Just not enough characterization. Buckshot started to get my interest but then the story would jump around some. Life is too short to just keep reading to read...I quit! Glad it was free on the kindle

[Zoe Jussel]

What an engaging and disturbing book. The deep south, a young boy, bigotry, love, and hate all rolled up into an iconic tale of a certain time. I really found this book well written with reminiscences of Faulkner and other strong writers who make your gut clench. It was one of the free books I get sent daily, so didn't expect it to be quite this good.

[Peggy Euteneier]

Beautiful, evocative writing and a compelling story -- and it was a Kindle freebie! The reading experience was marred somewhat by the large number of typos. Where are the proof-readers when you need them?? But the writing was excellent. I will definitely look for more works by this author.

[Peggy]

A Kindle freebie-but I thought it was a good read. Typical of some of the freebies-it could use a more editing. I liked the story and the writing was good . Worth looking at future books by this author.

[Therese]

$0.0

[Robert]

A good idea, and some nice descriptive writing are offset by overly omniscient narration and simplistic characterization. It was a free download on the kindle, so I can't complain.

[Viki]

Story of the havoc the Klan had on a small town in the South. After a climatic point in the story, it seemed as if the author just got tired and quit writing.

[Sally]

Not sure, I exactly "liked" it. It was a good, though difficult, read. Difficult in that the story was very raw and depressing. Well-written though.

[Dan]

What a good book! Beginning to end this one is a keeper!

[Juliet Lescynski]

Wish the characters had been developed more...could have been a really good book.

[Sue Moorhouse]

This book really breathed the American South to me. Very engrossing, with sympathetic characters whose fate the reader cares about.

[Maria Lawson]

Possibly the best free Kindle book I have stumbled across. I would have gladly paid for it now knowing how enjoyable it would be.

[Arra]

[Cherylbaghernejadgmail.com]

Excellent book

I loved this book and I couldn't put it down after I started reading it. It was a story about real life.

[Kathryn]

Haunting story of lives that converge in the South during the 1950s. Really liked it.