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Cicada Summer
A woman, her grandfather, and her lover quarantine in the remote lakeside wilderness—where their world splits apart at the seams.
In the summer of 2020, with a heat wave bearing down and a brood of periodical cicadas climbing into the trees, Husha mourns the recent death of her mother while quarantining with her ailing grandfather, Arthur, at his lakeside cabin in remote Ontario. They’re soon joined by Husha’s ex-lover, Nellie, who arrives without explanation to complete their trio.
Also among them is a strange book, discovered by Husha while cleaning out her mother’s house. When she, Arthur, and Nellie begin to read it together, they learn that her mother’s last missive was a short story collection, crawling with unsettling imagery and terrifying transformations. As the stories bleed into their cloistered life in the cabin, they must each reckon with loss, longing, and what it means to truly know another person. Incantatory and atmospheric, Cicada Summer is a dazzlingly original novel about how we grieve and care for one another.
In the summer of 2020, with a heat wave bearing down and a brood of periodical cicadas climbing into the trees, Husha mourns the recent death of her mother while quarantining with her ailing grandfather, Arthur, at his lakeside cabin in remote Ontario. They’re soon joined by Husha’s ex-lover, Nellie, who arrives without explanation to complete their trio.
Also among them is a strange book, discovered by Husha while cleaning out her mother’s house. When she, Arthur, and Nellie begin to read it together, they learn that her mother’s last missive was a short story collection, crawling with unsettling imagery and terrifying transformations. As the stories bleed into their cloistered life in the cabin, they must each reckon with loss, longing, and what it means to truly know another person. Incantatory and atmospheric, Cicada Summer is a dazzlingly original novel about how we grieve and care for one another.
272 pages, Paperback
First published June 18, 2024
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6806 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 53 reviews
April 21, 2024
This was more like a 3.5, rounded up.
I had a little trouble connecting to the stories within a story, even though normally I enjoy those types of writings.
The author did a great job of conveying the emotions of Husha going through grief and how to move forward with life and love.
It was a quick read, in a good way.
Won an ARC copy of this one through the goodreads giveaway. Not necessarily something I gravitate to but was a refreshing change of pace.
I had a little trouble connecting to the stories within a story, even though normally I enjoy those types of writings.
The author did a great job of conveying the emotions of Husha going through grief and how to move forward with life and love.
It was a quick read, in a good way.
Won an ARC copy of this one through the goodreads giveaway. Not necessarily something I gravitate to but was a refreshing change of pace.
May 31, 2024
Cicada Summer so artfully captures the dream-like, dissociative state during that summer of 2020. We follow Husha, grieving the recent loss of her mother, Arthur, Husha's grandfather, and Nellie, Husha's ex-lover, as they hunker down in a remote lakeside cottage amidst the heat and song of the emerging cicadas. After finding a collection of short stories from Husha's mother, story layers on story as the group works through the strange and surreal writings.
The writing in this is beautiful and the stream of consciousness pairs well with the content but the organization and overall set-up in this one just didn't work for me. Reading the acknowledgements and finding out a lot of the short stories in Husha's mother's book were stand-alone short stories previous to this book makes a lot of sense. The book felt very disjointed and would've been much more successful as a short story collection as the storyline with Husha, Arthur and Nellie never really developed or had much substance past the surface-level.
Thank you to NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review! 🫶
The writing in this is beautiful and the stream of consciousness pairs well with the content but the organization and overall set-up in this one just didn't work for me. Reading the acknowledgements and finding out a lot of the short stories in Husha's mother's book were stand-alone short stories previous to this book makes a lot of sense. The book felt very disjointed and would've been much more successful as a short story collection as the storyline with Husha, Arthur and Nellie never really developed or had much substance past the surface-level.
Thank you to NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review! 🫶
May 14, 2024
[arc review]
Thank you to NetGalley and W.W. Norton & Company for providing an arc in exchange for an honest review.
Cicada Summer releases June 18, 2024
“She called it the Cicada Summer because that’s how she wanted to remember it—in noise, the sound of the cicadas screeching from the trees, a white sustained vibration in her ears.”
In the summer of 2020, Husha spends her time in quarantine with her grandfather and ex-lover in a remote cabin in the wilderness.
Left behind and written by her late mother is a short story collection that Husha discovers and starts to read.
I found it quite difficult to get through this one as it was intentionally repetitive and quite fragmented structurally. Very little of it is told from the cabin in the present day.
Incorporated throughout is some weird body horror in which multiple bumps of eyeballs grow on the surface of a scalp. I have trypophobia so I found this to be too grotesque.
In addition to that, the narrative was often written in convoluted riddles that were nearly impossible to wrap my head around:
“She’s well, she’s nothing, nothing matters about well in the nothing that inhabits her brain. She’s now, in the space between not yet and already and since. In the space between the not yet here and the already happening and the since then, the afterward, what she used to call now. Now the now sees forward and backward.”
Once I reached the section that had 160 consecutive questions (yes, I counted), I lost interest.
cw: suicide/overdose, miscarriage
Thank you to NetGalley and W.W. Norton & Company for providing an arc in exchange for an honest review.
Cicada Summer releases June 18, 2024
“She called it the Cicada Summer because that’s how she wanted to remember it—in noise, the sound of the cicadas screeching from the trees, a white sustained vibration in her ears.”
In the summer of 2020, Husha spends her time in quarantine with her grandfather and ex-lover in a remote cabin in the wilderness.
Left behind and written by her late mother is a short story collection that Husha discovers and starts to read.
I found it quite difficult to get through this one as it was intentionally repetitive and quite fragmented structurally. Very little of it is told from the cabin in the present day.
Incorporated throughout is some weird body horror in which multiple bumps of eyeballs grow on the surface of a scalp. I have trypophobia so I found this to be too grotesque.
In addition to that, the narrative was often written in convoluted riddles that were nearly impossible to wrap my head around:
“She’s well, she’s nothing, nothing matters about well in the nothing that inhabits her brain. She’s now, in the space between not yet and already and since. In the space between the not yet here and the already happening and the since then, the afterward, what she used to call now. Now the now sees forward and backward.”
Once I reached the section that had 160 consecutive questions (yes, I counted), I lost interest.
cw: suicide/overdose, miscarriage
June 22, 2024
For some reason Google algorithms decided to start showing me news about this year's double cicada brood in the US. I suppose because of my interest in environmental humanities that shows in the trace of my online activities. That was mostly the reason why I jumped for an opportunity to read this novel when I saw the title and the cover. The cover's great, but the story and I did not click, unfortunately. I found the motifs - pandemic, global warming, death, grief, trauma - doing their business of being in the stories next to each other uncommunicatively, while the stories were sometimes great (the fish with the eyes is going to haunt me) and sometimes not.
May 30, 2024
This was... I don't even know what this was. It was a bunch of super weird short stories inside of a larger story about grief, which on the surface sounds incredible but the execution was kind of chaotic. The short stories were very creepy and had a few too many body horror elements for my comfort level. This book also had no quotation marks which is a pet peeve of mine. That being said, I didn't hate reading it and I actually highlighted a lot of really beautiful prose—Erica McKeen is clearly an incredible writer and should definitely write more horror and short stories. I became very engrossed in many parts of this book. I do think that overall it was a little disjointed so it didn't fully quite come together for me.
Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for the eARC!
Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for the eARC!
August 2, 2024
the best part was the cover. kind of disappointed i didnt like it! tbh, when i read in the acknowledgments that the author had written/published the short stories previously, i thought to myself “oh was this a way to put together those short stories?”. overall, i felt like the writing was very beautiful and interesting, but it was just not what i was expecting. it was extremely dark, cynical, and depressing. and it upset me that the main character didnt even like cicadas. :( i do appreciate discussion of having insane dreams during the pandemic because that happened to me too. i think too, this isnt the type of book im used to so maybe im being too harsh. i think this is one of the only books ive read with dialogue without consistent quotation marks. very artsy.
July 5, 2025
This should have remained a short story collection as it was originally intended to be.
The overall plot (based on the synopsis) had such promise, but when they introduced the “book” full of short stories left behind by Husha’s mother it made no sense.
Yes every story was centered around grief, but nothing flowed together.
The overall plot (based on the synopsis) had such promise, but when they introduced the “book” full of short stories left behind by Husha’s mother it made no sense.
Yes every story was centered around grief, but nothing flowed together.
November 23, 2024
*3.5*
I’m not entirely sure what I just read. I picked it up for the cover, chose to keep reading for the weird and haunting imagery, and finished it in hopes that it would all come together for me at the end but I’m not quite sure it did.
Set in the summer of 2020, this captures the heady, hazy, thick and stagnant air of that summer so perfectly. And for that and the visceral imagery, I loved it.
But much like the end of summer 2020, I’m feeling like I’m not entirely sure what just happened or how much of it happened to me.
So if nothing else, this book gave me a very unique and specific experience, and a lot of juicy word pairings. so I cannot deny the art and talent happening here, but it was hard for me to feel very connected to the characters and the story.
I’m not entirely sure what I just read. I picked it up for the cover, chose to keep reading for the weird and haunting imagery, and finished it in hopes that it would all come together for me at the end but I’m not quite sure it did.
Set in the summer of 2020, this captures the heady, hazy, thick and stagnant air of that summer so perfectly. And for that and the visceral imagery, I loved it.
But much like the end of summer 2020, I’m feeling like I’m not entirely sure what just happened or how much of it happened to me.
So if nothing else, this book gave me a very unique and specific experience, and a lot of juicy word pairings. so I cannot deny the art and talent happening here, but it was hard for me to feel very connected to the characters and the story.
March 7, 2024
I still find my mind wandering to the book, thinking about the odd stories thru out and how they impacted the characters. A compelling book that has left me feeling unmoored and contemplative
September 24, 2024
This book paired so well with Covid isolation I cannot recommend it enough (the book not the virus)
June 10, 2024
5 stars
If I was asked to describe this book it would be thought daughter and the lesbian version of “Call Me By Your Name,” but with more atmospheric longing, and the comparison of cicadas to life. And a grotesque reading of a book within a book.
“Cicada Summer” being my first book I’ve read by Erica McKeen truly captures the feeling of the sun setting on a hot summer day, with the lone thoughts that I’ve felt during the pandemic (which is the timeframe this book is set in.)
I also feel that if each of the stories in the book were actual novels, I would read and collect all of them because they’re actually really intriguing and added onto a sub-genre of horror.
I look forward to reading more Erica McKeen and I thank Goodreads for an ARC copy in a giveaway!
If I was asked to describe this book it would be thought daughter and the lesbian version of “Call Me By Your Name,” but with more atmospheric longing, and the comparison of cicadas to life. And a grotesque reading of a book within a book.
“Cicada Summer” being my first book I’ve read by Erica McKeen truly captures the feeling of the sun setting on a hot summer day, with the lone thoughts that I’ve felt during the pandemic (which is the timeframe this book is set in.)
I also feel that if each of the stories in the book were actual novels, I would read and collect all of them because they’re actually really intriguing and added onto a sub-genre of horror.
I look forward to reading more Erica McKeen and I thank Goodreads for an ARC copy in a giveaway!
July 28, 2025
more like a 3.5 just because i don't love some of the themes here but i'm always just so in awe of this woman's writing i'll just go ahead and round it up. she's seriously so so so skilled
July 4, 2024
I literally never write reviews but this is one of the best books I have read in a long time. I happened upon an advanced reader copy and thought the cover looked cool so I grabbed it and I am sooooo glad I did. As someone who has grieved a parent I feel like the author does a good job of showing how confused that can make a person. I also just really liked the concept of reading a book within a book. Overall I highly recommend this book.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
November 6, 2024
The best Introduction I’ve read in a while... also, the styling of this book is impressive.
***
This would have worked better for me if it was a short story collection. I'm giving 4 stars to the book that Husha's mother wrote, but this is not that book, so 2 stars.
***
This would have worked better for me if it was a short story collection. I'm giving 4 stars to the book that Husha's mother wrote, but this is not that book, so 2 stars.
July 12, 2025
"(This is not a novel.)" True to advertising, Cicada Summer is not a novel. The narrative centers around a young woman, Husha, who spends a pandemic summer with her maternal grandfather and her ex-girlfriend soon after her mother dies ambiguously. As Husha sifts through her mother's apartment, she finds an unpublished collection of short stories written by her mother. The narrative alternates between these stories and the pandemic summer. The stories are fairly disturbing, filled with unsettling imagery and plot details completely at odds with the mundanity of daily life sequestered in a cabin in the woods. Silence centers the writing, and while silence might be that of fulfillment and peace, this ain't it. It's the silence of not truly connecting with each other, of not having resolution, of isolation.
Don't look for a narrative arc, suspense, or resolution. These elements are absent. But "A novel is a mirror walking down a road." Like a mirror, McKeen's writing is filled with sensory language and close observations. At times, McKeen's imagery is overwrought and undisciplined, but I'd plow through because her images called up my own memories and made me look at the world around me differently, with more awareness of details. In that vein--the narrative construct of Husha, her mother, the pandemic summer, and the short stories feels like a means to use stories that McKeen had already written and published. That said, the stories are varied, interesting, and provocative. I'd read them again.
I look for insights into life and the human condition when I read. But that is a lot to ask of a novel, isn't it. Cicada Summer rejects the idea of closure or making meaning of events. A box of possessions Husha's mother leaves behind illustrates this ambiguity. Thinking of water as a metaphor for quantifying life: ". . . the water belonged to no one . . . the movement of the water was unmanageable-- . . . there was something enigmatic in its simplicity, its liquid homogeneity, that would always resist possession. There was something as elusive as emptiness, something as slippery as heat, in its sustained, unvarying fluidity" (90). No attempt to reduce life to pithy statements here. "There are some sacred things that reach up behind words but never grasp them by their lettered edges. Some sacred sloping that must not be linguistically touched and fondled. Some unsearched moments must remain" (231).
Don't look for a narrative arc, suspense, or resolution. These elements are absent. But "A novel is a mirror walking down a road." Like a mirror, McKeen's writing is filled with sensory language and close observations. At times, McKeen's imagery is overwrought and undisciplined, but I'd plow through because her images called up my own memories and made me look at the world around me differently, with more awareness of details. In that vein--the narrative construct of Husha, her mother, the pandemic summer, and the short stories feels like a means to use stories that McKeen had already written and published. That said, the stories are varied, interesting, and provocative. I'd read them again.
I look for insights into life and the human condition when I read. But that is a lot to ask of a novel, isn't it. Cicada Summer rejects the idea of closure or making meaning of events. A box of possessions Husha's mother leaves behind illustrates this ambiguity. Thinking of water as a metaphor for quantifying life: ". . . the water belonged to no one . . . the movement of the water was unmanageable-- . . . there was something enigmatic in its simplicity, its liquid homogeneity, that would always resist possession. There was something as elusive as emptiness, something as slippery as heat, in its sustained, unvarying fluidity" (90). No attempt to reduce life to pithy statements here. "There are some sacred things that reach up behind words but never grasp them by their lettered edges. Some sacred sloping that must not be linguistically touched and fondled. Some unsearched moments must remain" (231).
August 5, 2025
Holy hell, this was one of the worst books I have ever read. I have many complaints here.
First, this book was not at all what was advertised. Yes, she did spend time with her grandfather at his cottage during covid after her mother died. But that is NOT what this book was about. This was a set of short stories that she tied together by saying they were in her mother's journal. But the mother's journal doesn't reveal anything about her mother. As a matter of fact, she goes out of her way on numerous occasions to say that very thing.
Second, the stories were so disturbing on many levels. I am sure maybe they were symbolic of emotions, and I am not smart enough to know what. But damn, these were so very twisted, and I just didn't understand what hell I was reading.
Third, the theme clearly was mother daughter relationships. This is certainly interesting as these stories are in her mother's journal, and from what was described of her mom's relationship with her mother, it was a good one. But there are stories of moms almost killing their babies because they are overwhelmed and might have postpartum depression or one where a girl stitches her mouth closed after her mother's death and many more twisted ones. I was trying to figure out the correlations, but I gave up.
Maybe this book will resonate with others. There was some beautiful prose in a few lines, and she definitely could give a master class on figurative language embedding with the senses to create an atmosphere. That's why it still receives one star. But I didn't feel much plot. The characters were not open to the reader, and when they were, it was weird, twisted, confusing, and a little sick. Maybe I just didn't understand or like these characters. I really did try. This book was just not for me.
First, this book was not at all what was advertised. Yes, she did spend time with her grandfather at his cottage during covid after her mother died. But that is NOT what this book was about. This was a set of short stories that she tied together by saying they were in her mother's journal. But the mother's journal doesn't reveal anything about her mother. As a matter of fact, she goes out of her way on numerous occasions to say that very thing.
Second, the stories were so disturbing on many levels. I am sure maybe they were symbolic of emotions, and I am not smart enough to know what. But damn, these were so very twisted, and I just didn't understand what hell I was reading.
Third, the theme clearly was mother daughter relationships. This is certainly interesting as these stories are in her mother's journal, and from what was described of her mom's relationship with her mother, it was a good one. But there are stories of moms almost killing their babies because they are overwhelmed and might have postpartum depression or one where a girl stitches her mouth closed after her mother's death and many more twisted ones. I was trying to figure out the correlations, but I gave up.
Maybe this book will resonate with others. There was some beautiful prose in a few lines, and she definitely could give a master class on figurative language embedding with the senses to create an atmosphere. That's why it still receives one star. But I didn't feel much plot. The characters were not open to the reader, and when they were, it was weird, twisted, confusing, and a little sick. Maybe I just didn't understand or like these characters. I really did try. This book was just not for me.
June 18, 2024
This book just was not for me. I think there are elements that I found enjoyable... but few, and overall I found it difficult to get into and to enjoy.
The book is about Husha, whose mother died at the beginning of Covid. Husha is spending the lockdown in her grandfather's cottage; with him and her girlfriend Nellie. Husha finds a book written by her mother and they read it together.
A lot of the book is made of these short stories - in between parts about Husha, Nellie and the grandfather Arthur - and they are... a weird mix of stories, most about bodies, either growing strange things (a woman's body becomes covered with eyes), or more generally about illness and motherhood. These are themes I find interesting but I hated the execution. Mostly what I disliked was the writing: either long sentences that stopped making sense after a while; the dialogues - no inverted commas, hard to follow, mundane in a way that tries to be profound - and the style in general, somewhat repetitive. McKeen hardly uses pronouns, so all the characters' names are repeated all along: Husha does this. Husha thinks that. Husha wonders about whatever. Husha walks to the kitchen. Husha pours some tea.
I found it overall unpleasant and I am not even sure the stories would have worked better by themselves - they felt unfinished and chaotic, and the book looked like it had been put together hastily. I hate to leave such a poor review; and I can see more positive ones, so I don't mean to discourage anyone from giving it a try.
Free ARC received from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.
The book is about Husha, whose mother died at the beginning of Covid. Husha is spending the lockdown in her grandfather's cottage; with him and her girlfriend Nellie. Husha finds a book written by her mother and they read it together.
A lot of the book is made of these short stories - in between parts about Husha, Nellie and the grandfather Arthur - and they are... a weird mix of stories, most about bodies, either growing strange things (a woman's body becomes covered with eyes), or more generally about illness and motherhood. These are themes I find interesting but I hated the execution. Mostly what I disliked was the writing: either long sentences that stopped making sense after a while; the dialogues - no inverted commas, hard to follow, mundane in a way that tries to be profound - and the style in general, somewhat repetitive. McKeen hardly uses pronouns, so all the characters' names are repeated all along: Husha does this. Husha thinks that. Husha wonders about whatever. Husha walks to the kitchen. Husha pours some tea.
I found it overall unpleasant and I am not even sure the stories would have worked better by themselves - they felt unfinished and chaotic, and the book looked like it had been put together hastily. I hate to leave such a poor review; and I can see more positive ones, so I don't mean to discourage anyone from giving it a try.
Free ARC received from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.
December 2, 2024
The structure of this book made it difficult to read. The attempt to write it with poetry prose does not work in a novel. I am so angry that spent money on the book. My time is limited and I wasted several days reading this in my downtime. Please don't be fooled by the synopsis on the back. There is more structure and plot than what is in the novel.
The strange fish with multiple eyeballs was the most interesting part of the novel. There is a horror feel to the moment. However, this short story, like the others has no resolution. There is no insight as to why Husha's mother committed suicide. There is no clear resolution to the story. The main characters are an afterthought compared to the collection of incomplete short stories. That, combined with the terrible, whimsical writing style made this book terrible!
I don't particularly appreciate writing negative reviews. I know how hard it is to write a novel. But something had to be said about this one. Please, do better.
How did this get published?
The strange fish with multiple eyeballs was the most interesting part of the novel. There is a horror feel to the moment. However, this short story, like the others has no resolution. There is no insight as to why Husha's mother committed suicide. There is no clear resolution to the story. The main characters are an afterthought compared to the collection of incomplete short stories. That, combined with the terrible, whimsical writing style made this book terrible!
I don't particularly appreciate writing negative reviews. I know how hard it is to write a novel. But something had to be said about this one. Please, do better.
How did this get published?
July 4, 2024
After reading Erica McKeen's first book, Tear, I immediately looked to see if any other of her books were available. Lucky for me, Cicada Summer was available for pre-order, and I only had to wait about a week. The writing style in Tear had me captivated the entire time, and I was anxious to see how this new book would hold up.
Cicada Summer exceeded my expectations and then some. I have never been so fascinated by an authors style as I am with Erica McKeen's. I can't quite seem to find the words to describe it either. I keep telling everyone I know they need to pick up both of her books. I really hope they do. I would love to see this author get the credit she deserves. Also, after reading this second novel, I find myself wondering if it's all fiction or if any of these stories are influenced by real-life events. It's not often a book makes me curious about the life of the author, but these certainly do. I highly recommend Tear and Cicada Summer. And I can't wait for what comes next.
Cicada Summer exceeded my expectations and then some. I have never been so fascinated by an authors style as I am with Erica McKeen's. I can't quite seem to find the words to describe it either. I keep telling everyone I know they need to pick up both of her books. I really hope they do. I would love to see this author get the credit she deserves. Also, after reading this second novel, I find myself wondering if it's all fiction or if any of these stories are influenced by real-life events. It's not often a book makes me curious about the life of the author, but these certainly do. I highly recommend Tear and Cicada Summer. And I can't wait for what comes next.
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April 6, 2024*Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an advance reader copy of this novel in exchange for an honest review*.
Cicada Summer follows Husha as she quarantines with her grandfather. They are quarantining at her grandfather’s lakeside cabin in remote Ontario. Her ex-lover, Nellie joins them. Husha finds a strange book whilst cleaning her dead mother’s house. She finds a journal which contains short stories.
This book was an okay read but not something I’ll think about again. Personally I didn’t find the short story elements interesting but I also struggled to care about Husha. It wasn’t bad at all just not to my taste. I would still recommend this but I can’t say I’ll think about it again. It just wasn’t what I was expecting at all and it feels pretty empty to me.
Cicada Summer follows Husha as she quarantines with her grandfather. They are quarantining at her grandfather’s lakeside cabin in remote Ontario. Her ex-lover, Nellie joins them. Husha finds a strange book whilst cleaning her dead mother’s house. She finds a journal which contains short stories.
This book was an okay read but not something I’ll think about again. Personally I didn’t find the short story elements interesting but I also struggled to care about Husha. It wasn’t bad at all just not to my taste. I would still recommend this but I can’t say I’ll think about it again. It just wasn’t what I was expecting at all and it feels pretty empty to me.
May 27, 2024
I really enjoyed "Cicada Summer" by Erica McKeen. This is a powerful novel which portrays a chosen family during the pandemic as well as facing the aftermath of Husha's mother's death. I appreciate how McKeen's depiction of grief shows how it can be visceral but also come up in mundane tasks like doing laundry. "Cicada Summer" contains a book within a book with stories written by Husha's mother, including some that contain elements of horror. There are also poignant themes of aging, vulnerability and devastation and whether one can really know anyone else, including our own parents. Thanks to W.W. Norton and Company and NetGalley for the eARC. "Cicada Summer" will stay with me for a long time.
August 18, 2024
This was such a strange and wonderful book. I knew I would love it when a character declares that happiness is a myth--joy exists, but it's a temporary state, happiness (the imagined feeling of sustained or permanent joy) does not actually exist. This is a book of short stories, and also, maybe, a novel. It tackles death, grief, and the structure of literary tales. It was also extremely creepy. McKeen managed to capture something about the uncanny experience of the first pandemic summer as well. Ghost stories find their place in the bizarre isolation of pandemic lockdown. Things seem to happen well outside the regular realm of life. Both suicide and the pandemic create a world that is off kilter and this story throws both these themes into the mix.
May 26, 2025
Bumping up review from 4 to 5 because as it’s sat with me i can’t stop thinking about it.
Cicada summer
By Erica McKeen
A girl, her ex, her grandpa, her dead mom’s book and a million cicadas in the middle of nowhere during the summer in a cabin… what could go right?
…
One of the most terrifying experiences is losing someone, but then ya know throw some gory short stories and imagery about eating cicadas and they might be equally terrifying. Erica did something I think very few authors can do, make you really love bugs and have the most beautifully written metaphors and themes using said bugs.
In the way the grandpa said we are lucky to experience a cicada summer because they only happen every 17 years, that’s how lucky we are to love. We are lucky to go through the pain, regret and heartache to care about someone so much that letting go, hurts so much. We are so lucky to love people enough to grieve them. We are so lucky to love people enough to let them go.
I’ll be thinking about grandpa and his cicada spiel. I’ll be thinking about Nellie and how she’s never been good at sticking around. And I’ll be thinking about Hursha and her mom, sitting by a lake hoping for just a little extra time.
Quotes:
“Did you know cicadas will keep mating even as their own bodies break down?”
“When she thinks of cicadas, she also thinks of sunlight— the cicadas but also sunlight has begun to get everywhere, get into everything..”
“And along with the cicadas and the sunlight, Nellie—“
Cicada summer
By Erica McKeen
A girl, her ex, her grandpa, her dead mom’s book and a million cicadas in the middle of nowhere during the summer in a cabin… what could go right?
…
One of the most terrifying experiences is losing someone, but then ya know throw some gory short stories and imagery about eating cicadas and they might be equally terrifying. Erica did something I think very few authors can do, make you really love bugs and have the most beautifully written metaphors and themes using said bugs.
In the way the grandpa said we are lucky to experience a cicada summer because they only happen every 17 years, that’s how lucky we are to love. We are lucky to go through the pain, regret and heartache to care about someone so much that letting go, hurts so much. We are so lucky to love people enough to grieve them. We are so lucky to love people enough to let them go.
I’ll be thinking about grandpa and his cicada spiel. I’ll be thinking about Nellie and how she’s never been good at sticking around. And I’ll be thinking about Hursha and her mom, sitting by a lake hoping for just a little extra time.
Quotes:
“Did you know cicadas will keep mating even as their own bodies break down?”
“When she thinks of cicadas, she also thinks of sunlight— the cicadas but also sunlight has begun to get everywhere, get into everything..”
“And along with the cicadas and the sunlight, Nellie—“
November 27, 2025
McKeen's style of writing is so particular in this book. Well-honed, confident -- but it isn't for everyone. It jumps around narratively, between characters, between meta-stories. And the descriptions and dialogue sort of bleed into each other like cicada noise. And her genre defies any clear-cut category, her plot meanders. It all feels so deliberately confusing, but that's why I like it. Unfortunately, these days I just want plot and a clear sequence of events, like in her phenomenal debut Tear, which is why this isn't 5 stars... It's not a McKeen thing, just a me-thing. But I love this author so far and I can't wait to read what she does next. A true experimental queen of horror and Canadian gothic.
July 1, 2024
Cicada Summer by Erica McQueen drew me in from the very start. The way it is written is right up my street and I was immediately intrigued and captivated. It explores themes of grief, longing and the complexities of human relationships. As the periodic cicadas emerge during the heatwave and pandemic in 2020, Husha mourns the death of her mother as she quarantines with her grandfather, Arthur, and ex-lover, Nellie. Together, they read Husha’s late mother’s unsettling short stories. I loved how these stories were interwoven within the lives of Husha, Nellie and Arthur, how they applied to their lives, and the stories they shared as a result of reading the collection together.
April 7, 2025
You ever get told a joke and it goes way over your head? Or perhaps feel like the dumbest person in a room full of Mensa attendees? I’m left with that feeling after reading this. As if it was written for brains far more advanced than mine. I know I was supposed to get a story on processing grief but I’m not sure I understand how this story in a story accomplished that? Did I miss something deep? Profound? Maybe. Probably. I don’t know how to feel about this after reading it. I don’t know that the bookseller who recommended it to me understood that I’m apparently a lot more simple minded than even I thought I was. Disturbing. But that could be the point.
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March 22, 2024If you like reading stories within a story then this is the book for you. After losing her mother, Husha moves to Canada to care for her ailing grandfather, Arthur. Husha’s ex-lover, Nellie, also shows up without explanation, her timing like the rhythm of the cicadas surrounding them. When Husha cleans out her mother’s house, she finds a collection of strange short stories; reading these stories gives the three a chance to consider each other, loss, and how to deal with their grief.
April 4, 2024
I won a copy of this one in a Goodreads giveaway. This is a 2.5 rounded up for me. Yes, I finished it, but I didn't particularly enjoy it. Also, if you're not a fan of lots of bug imagery, this book probably won't be for you (cicada legs between the teeth, etc.). It wasn't a particularly compelling read and the story within a story format didn't work well in this one for me, though I usually enjoy that approach.
December 25, 2024
Took me a while to get used to the format of having short stories within the context of the larger story. The short stories had very vivid imagery and the topics of the stories made me feel quite unnerved… overall this book did a good job of conveying the grief, despair, isolation, and love that the characters were feeling. Not sure if I would read again or recommend… need more time to form coherent thoughts about this
April 28, 2025
Cicada Summer by Erica McKeen
A story within a story. Husha discovers her mothers short story collection following her death by suicide. Caring for her grandfather while they struggle with their grief and questions they begin reading the stories out loud.
Poignant, heartfelt depiction of a family trying to make sense of mental health, their grief and the impact of suicide on those left behind.
A story within a story. Husha discovers her mothers short story collection following her death by suicide. Caring for her grandfather while they struggle with their grief and questions they begin reading the stories out loud.
Poignant, heartfelt depiction of a family trying to make sense of mental health, their grief and the impact of suicide on those left behind.
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