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Bug Hollow
A decades-spanning family saga featuring the messy but loving Samuelson clan trying to make sense of the world after the loss of their son Ellis
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 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.
Michelle Huneven is “known for five enthralling novels, which chronicle the lives of middle-class Americans in her lushly conjured native California, as her characters struggle with addiction, excruciating romances, and resounding losses as they continue to seek meaning and a way to be good” (American Academy of Arts and Letters). She captures the Samuelson clan with glorious precision and the deepest empathy as they fracture and rebuild again and again.
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 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.
Michelle Huneven is “known for five enthralling novels, which chronicle the lives of middle-class Americans in her lushly conjured native California, as her characters struggle with addiction, excruciating romances, and resounding losses as they continue to seek meaning and a way to be good” (American Academy of Arts and Letters). She captures the Samuelson clan with glorious precision and the deepest empathy as they fracture and rebuild again and again.
286 pages, Kindle Edition
First published June 17, 2025
About the author
Michelle Huneven
10 books433 followersI am the author of four novels.
I was born in Altadena, California just a mile from where I live now. I college-hopped (Scripps, Grinnell, EWU) and landed at the Iowa Writer¹s Workshop where I received my MFA.
My first two books, Round Rock (Knopf 1997) and Jamesland (Knopf 2003), were both New York Times notable books and also finalists for the LA Times Book Award. My third novel, Blame, (Sarah Crichton Books, FSG, 2009), was a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award and also a finalist for the LA Times Book Award. My fourth novel, Off Course, (Sarah Crichton Books, FSG, 2014), is coming out April 1, 2014.
Along the way, I’ve received a GE Younger Writers Award and a Whiting Award for Fiction. For many years my “day job” was reviewing restaurants and writing about food for the Los Angeles Times, the LA Weekly and other publications. I’ve received a James Beard award (for “feature writing with recipes”) and an assortment of other awards for food journalism.
I’m presently teaching creative writing to undergraduates at UCLA and writing the occasional bit about food. I live with my husband Jim Potter, dog (Piper), cat (Mr. Pancks), and talkative African Grey parrot (Helen) in Altadena.
I was born in Altadena, California just a mile from where I live now. I college-hopped (Scripps, Grinnell, EWU) and landed at the Iowa Writer¹s Workshop where I received my MFA.
My first two books, Round Rock (Knopf 1997) and Jamesland (Knopf 2003), were both New York Times notable books and also finalists for the LA Times Book Award. My third novel, Blame, (Sarah Crichton Books, FSG, 2009), was a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award and also a finalist for the LA Times Book Award. My fourth novel, Off Course, (Sarah Crichton Books, FSG, 2014), is coming out April 1, 2014.
Along the way, I’ve received a GE Younger Writers Award and a Whiting Award for Fiction. For many years my “day job” was reviewing restaurants and writing about food for the Los Angeles Times, the LA Weekly and other publications. I’ve received a James Beard award (for “feature writing with recipes”) and an assortment of other awards for food journalism.
I’m presently teaching creative writing to undergraduates at UCLA and writing the occasional bit about food. I live with my husband Jim Potter, dog (Piper), cat (Mr. Pancks), and talkative African Grey parrot (Helen) in Altadena.
Ratings & Reviews
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 1,116 reviews
July 16, 2025
This is a compelling family story…one that where the loss of a family member echoes through the lives of the rest of them through the generations.
Each section focuses on a different family member.
I enjoyed it.
Each section focuses on a different family member.
I enjoyed it.
June 11, 2025
Don’t be fooled by Michelle Huneven’s warm welcome. She can be just as capricious and brutal as real life. Her new novel, “Bug Hollow,” begins with a perfectly calibrated bit of domestic comedy set during a golden summer in the mid-1970s. Ellis Samuelson — the sweetest, smartest son any parents could ask for — has just graduated from high school and driven off on a week-long road trip with some buddies.
The first intimations of trouble start dripping in when his friends come home and report, “Ellis decided to stay away for a few more days.” Apparently, he met “some girl” on a beach near Santa Cruz. More time slips by. Ellis doesn’t return for his job as a camp counselor, but a few postcards suggest he’s having a blast working at an ice cream parlor. “I’m extremely happy here,” he writes, “so please don’t worry.”
Yeah, right.
“I knew we shouldn’t have let him go off like that,” his mother, Sib, says. “One fast girl on a beach and he’s a goner!” A straight-A kid with a full scholarship to Ole Miss: What if he doesn’t come back in time for college? “Something’s fishy.”
“I’m sure he’s fine,” his father says. “It’s high time he gave us something to worry about.”
Not to be dissuaded, once Sib learns Ellis is camped out at a place called Bug Hollow in Boulder Creek, she throws everybody — the dog, too! — into their VW van, and they barrel off to....
To read the rest of this review, go to The Washington Post:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/books/...
The first intimations of trouble start dripping in when his friends come home and report, “Ellis decided to stay away for a few more days.” Apparently, he met “some girl” on a beach near Santa Cruz. More time slips by. Ellis doesn’t return for his job as a camp counselor, but a few postcards suggest he’s having a blast working at an ice cream parlor. “I’m extremely happy here,” he writes, “so please don’t worry.”
Yeah, right.
“I knew we shouldn’t have let him go off like that,” his mother, Sib, says. “One fast girl on a beach and he’s a goner!” A straight-A kid with a full scholarship to Ole Miss: What if he doesn’t come back in time for college? “Something’s fishy.”
“I’m sure he’s fine,” his father says. “It’s high time he gave us something to worry about.”
Not to be dissuaded, once Sib learns Ellis is camped out at a place called Bug Hollow in Boulder Creek, she throws everybody — the dog, too! — into their VW van, and they barrel off to....
To read the rest of this review, go to The Washington Post:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/books/...
August 22, 2026
I love a story rich in characters and a plotline that dives in deep, and this one did just that. It's a story of various members of a blended, complex, messy family. Ultimately, it shows that there is great abundance in connection—and an unconventional beauty in it if you allow for it.
July 21, 2025
I thought Bug Hollow was pleasant enough. It’s about the Samuelson family and their relationships as viewed over a period of about 50-years. It was funny, it was sad, it was touching. The disappointment, though, lay in its predictability, which I found to be a huge letdown. I did consider DNF-ing it, but I always held out a tiny bit of hope that it might yet surprise me. 🙁It did not. And though I’m not a fan of books that leave me with more questions than answers, neither do I enjoy books that tie everything up in a neat little bow!🎀 This book did that, and left me kind of wondering why I’d even bothered.
But please don’t let my review influence your decision to read it, or not, because most readers quite liked the book. It’s simply my opinion, alone, that…
“... once–it–becomes–predictable–no–one's–interested–anymore” 🥱 3-stars ⭐⭐⭐
But please don’t let my review influence your decision to read it, or not, because most readers quite liked the book. It’s simply my opinion, alone, that…
“... once–it–becomes–predictable–no–one's–interested–anymore” 🥱 3-stars ⭐⭐⭐
June 23, 2025
I liked the first chapter a lot. Unfortunately, it went downhill from there for me. I might have liked this more if I had been expecting a series of short stories about interrelated characters. I expected a cohesive story, however, so I was disappointed. The characters are multi-faceted and complex, but the reader doesn’t live with any of them long enough to really get a sense of who they are. I got to the end of the book and still didn’t understand the rationale behind many of the unconventional, unkind, or self-destructive decisions made by the characters.
June 19, 2025
The stories in this book were not cohesive. As soon as I settled into a storyline there was a jump to something different. We didn’t get to see character growth with all the time jumps. I didn’t like it.
June 21, 2025
Strong Anne Tyler and Elizabeth Strout vibes. I loved it.
June 24, 2025
Bug Hollow is a family saga, following the Samuelsons as they grapple with the unexpected loss of their son and brother, Ellis, and how this tragedy, along with other choices made, impacts their lives in the decades that follow.
Primarily set in California, there is some back and forth, from past to present, and each chapter focuses on a different character. It wasn’t confusing and I enjoyed reading various perspectives and learning more about each person involved in the story.
Bug Hollow is my second book by Michelle Huneven and I can confidently say, I am a fan! Her writing is engaging. I was very interested in the complicated dynamics of the Samuelsons. This was a great family saga — 4.5 stars
Primarily set in California, there is some back and forth, from past to present, and each chapter focuses on a different character. It wasn’t confusing and I enjoyed reading various perspectives and learning more about each person involved in the story.
Bug Hollow is my second book by Michelle Huneven and I can confidently say, I am a fan! Her writing is engaging. I was very interested in the complicated dynamics of the Samuelsons. This was a great family saga — 4.5 stars
June 11, 2025
I don't have a whole lot to say about this book except don't pick it up if you are easily offended by the sanctity of marriage being broken in some way, that happens a lot. I liked this and devoured it in just over one sitting. I'm not sure how much longer I'll be thinking about it, but consider it great summer reading.
June 28, 2025
I was kind of engaged in it, but it lacks the introspection and sadness I was expecting from the set-up. It was more of a story about what happened but not how it felt.
August 8, 2025
This book focuses on the Samuelsons, and the lingering impact of a family tragedy. Phil is a project manager for an engineering firm. His wife Sibyl is a teacher. They have three children – Ellis, Katie, and Sally. It reads as a series of episodes, focusing on one family member at a time, as they experience life’s ups and downs. Do not go into this book expecting a story of a 1970s commune. The titular Bug Hollow, a dilapidated house in the California countryside, only appears in the initial episode and one other. The characters grow and change in a time frame that covers almost fifty years.
I had previously read Huneven’s wonderful novel Search, which set my expectations very high. Unfortunately, Bug Hollow seems very similar to other books I have read whereas Search was unique. I enjoyed the first half, and found it reasonably enjoyable as family dramas go, but it feels a bit “cobbled together.” I liked it but tend to prefer a more flowing narrative. At any rate, do not let my review put you off. Some of my friends have given it 5-stars.
I had previously read Huneven’s wonderful novel Search, which set my expectations very high. Unfortunately, Bug Hollow seems very similar to other books I have read whereas Search was unique. I enjoyed the first half, and found it reasonably enjoyable as family dramas go, but it feels a bit “cobbled together.” I liked it but tend to prefer a more flowing narrative. At any rate, do not let my review put you off. Some of my friends have given it 5-stars.
June 29, 2025
4.5 stars. A college freshman goes missing one summer and it’s what happens after he returns home that flips the Samuelson family life on its head. Tragedy, family dynamics, begins in the 70s and spans over the next forty years. I loved so much I read in one sitting. Pub. 6/17/25
September 12, 2025
I so loved this book! How did she do it?—a novel so touching, funny, sad, light, deep and gorgeous all at once.
A beautifully rendered story of California family through several decades, beginning in the 1970’s. While there is a “plot” (or a series of them), it is more like snapshots woven through time as things interconnect—so maybe more of a film strip?—thus I’m finding it hard to tell you what it’s about. One could call it a “character study”—but of a family, not of one person. Plus, to share much of these particular storylines is to give spoilers. But for me, it is the superb writing itself that was compelling. It is such an exquisitely imagined and rich portrait of lives being lived. I was constantly surprised and often charmed by the narrative, often with a (never cynical nor jaded) low-key humor at how life treats the living.
Poignant, sad, happy, warm, funny, sweet…it left me feeling very full and glad to have read it. We follow this family and their life events: grief right up front, romances and marriages, pregnancies, child-rearing and…just family experiences/relationships, and life unfolding. Things are woven into the timeline in a back and forth manner to some degree, though mostly moving forward through about half a century to the present. The creativity of the author in how she weaves and connects the characters through time and experiences was ever interesting and satisfying, and even during rough relations or tragedies, often exuded subtle tones of warmth, even the wider meanings of love, as themes.
Does this sound vague? I apologize. I don’t know how to describe this marvelous piece of writing! I feel like if one looks too closely at the stories, or the characters, it somehow misses the point. It’s the woven tapestry, the music in the background, that gives us the arresting container in which everything happens. But I love it; the writing is just so tender & well-wrought, the story so inventive, the capture of life so perfect.
I marked very few passages, due to how contextual they are in this book. Here is one that gives a little hint of the writing. Thoughts of a daughter at the bedside of her dying mother:
There was work to dying, Katie could tell, to withdrawing from life, to finding the way out; she had a sense of long corridors, a narrow path over rocky ground, a dark forest closing in. How far away a person can go even when they’re right there, right in front of you! They all held on to Sib, but could accompany her only so far; at some point—at the banks of the dark river—she had to go on alone.
Here is one other passage I marked. It may sound too simple here, perhaps again doesn’t convey the rich, layered impact of this book without one knowing the backstories, but just in case it helps to convey a sense of her writing, I share it:
She’d walked maybe halfway to her car down the condo’s long eucalyptus-lined driveway when it occurred to her that everything was okay. She could stop fighting the way things had turned out. It was still sad that Sib had died and unfortunate that Phil was with IckyPam (so far), but somehow, she no longer had to resist or protest these facts. Everything was all right. She stood still to absorb this idea--and test it. Birds rustled and chirped in the trees, a squirrel chittered at her, cars hummed down on the road...She had been sad and haunted about Sib, and worried about her father for a long while, and now, somehow, she could let up. Relax the vigil. Because all was well. Well enough. The world still ached with beauty…Maybe a shimmer of sadness persisted, but wouldn’t it always, and wouldn’t she want it to?
Along with her excellent characters and story arcs, there is attention to and love of places. I was quite surprised to see how much of this happens (in the first half) in Santa Cruz county, where I live. And a character even lives in my town, Aptos, for a while (I don’t see Aptos in literature much!). So that was fun. Also I enjoyed reading about other parts of California that the author clearly knows so very well. I was taken by this tiny passage as one character drives south on the 101:
The highway left the sparkling ocean and its glinting mist and veered inland, where it was overcast. She would not see water again or hours, till Pismo.
For those who know any of these areas she mentions, she gets it exactly. Even shortening Pismo Beach to Pismo: such a California thing to do. There is a lot of action in southern California, especially the Pasadena/Altadena area, some in the San Diego area; but also the Sierra foothills, the Middle East, Oaxaca. I mention all of this because locations are rendered with much care and liveliness—and the locales may interest some of you. One can tell she knows these places well and carries them in her heart.
This story takes us through ups and downs with a quiet reverence and a delicate humor at life’s many vicissitudes, and too all along, its potential joys. Real yet heartwarming. And then winds up so beautifully swoon-worthy that I read parts of that over and over (the description of that house!, its inhabitants, how they relate, plans—so much light!). One of my favorite endings to a book, ever.
It's both a subtle read and an impactful one.
Highly recommend!
A beautifully rendered story of California family through several decades, beginning in the 1970’s. While there is a “plot” (or a series of them), it is more like snapshots woven through time as things interconnect—so maybe more of a film strip?—thus I’m finding it hard to tell you what it’s about. One could call it a “character study”—but of a family, not of one person. Plus, to share much of these particular storylines is to give spoilers. But for me, it is the superb writing itself that was compelling. It is such an exquisitely imagined and rich portrait of lives being lived. I was constantly surprised and often charmed by the narrative, often with a (never cynical nor jaded) low-key humor at how life treats the living.
Poignant, sad, happy, warm, funny, sweet…it left me feeling very full and glad to have read it. We follow this family and their life events: grief right up front, romances and marriages, pregnancies, child-rearing and…just family experiences/relationships, and life unfolding. Things are woven into the timeline in a back and forth manner to some degree, though mostly moving forward through about half a century to the present. The creativity of the author in how she weaves and connects the characters through time and experiences was ever interesting and satisfying, and even during rough relations or tragedies, often exuded subtle tones of warmth, even the wider meanings of love, as themes.
Does this sound vague? I apologize. I don’t know how to describe this marvelous piece of writing! I feel like if one looks too closely at the stories, or the characters, it somehow misses the point. It’s the woven tapestry, the music in the background, that gives us the arresting container in which everything happens. But I love it; the writing is just so tender & well-wrought, the story so inventive, the capture of life so perfect.
I marked very few passages, due to how contextual they are in this book. Here is one that gives a little hint of the writing. Thoughts of a daughter at the bedside of her dying mother:
There was work to dying, Katie could tell, to withdrawing from life, to finding the way out; she had a sense of long corridors, a narrow path over rocky ground, a dark forest closing in. How far away a person can go even when they’re right there, right in front of you! They all held on to Sib, but could accompany her only so far; at some point—at the banks of the dark river—she had to go on alone.
Here is one other passage I marked. It may sound too simple here, perhaps again doesn’t convey the rich, layered impact of this book without one knowing the backstories, but just in case it helps to convey a sense of her writing, I share it:
She’d walked maybe halfway to her car down the condo’s long eucalyptus-lined driveway when it occurred to her that everything was okay. She could stop fighting the way things had turned out. It was still sad that Sib had died and unfortunate that Phil was with IckyPam (so far), but somehow, she no longer had to resist or protest these facts. Everything was all right. She stood still to absorb this idea--and test it. Birds rustled and chirped in the trees, a squirrel chittered at her, cars hummed down on the road...She had been sad and haunted about Sib, and worried about her father for a long while, and now, somehow, she could let up. Relax the vigil. Because all was well. Well enough. The world still ached with beauty…Maybe a shimmer of sadness persisted, but wouldn’t it always, and wouldn’t she want it to?
Along with her excellent characters and story arcs, there is attention to and love of places. I was quite surprised to see how much of this happens (in the first half) in Santa Cruz county, where I live. And a character even lives in my town, Aptos, for a while (I don’t see Aptos in literature much!). So that was fun. Also I enjoyed reading about other parts of California that the author clearly knows so very well. I was taken by this tiny passage as one character drives south on the 101:
The highway left the sparkling ocean and its glinting mist and veered inland, where it was overcast. She would not see water again or hours, till Pismo.
For those who know any of these areas she mentions, she gets it exactly. Even shortening Pismo Beach to Pismo: such a California thing to do. There is a lot of action in southern California, especially the Pasadena/Altadena area, some in the San Diego area; but also the Sierra foothills, the Middle East, Oaxaca. I mention all of this because locations are rendered with much care and liveliness—and the locales may interest some of you. One can tell she knows these places well and carries them in her heart.
This story takes us through ups and downs with a quiet reverence and a delicate humor at life’s many vicissitudes, and too all along, its potential joys. Real yet heartwarming. And then winds up so beautifully swoon-worthy that I read parts of that over and over (the description of that house!, its inhabitants, how they relate, plans—so much light!). One of my favorite endings to a book, ever.
It's both a subtle read and an impactful one.
Highly recommend!
January 28, 2025
ARC for review. To be published June 17, 2025.
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.
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.
August 20, 2025
I’m happy to give this 3.5 stars but I’m not rounding up.
Here is a case of a story that does not match the cover or the title. So I have a small feeling of being duped. Worse is that the first chunk most certainly matched the cover and title.
And then we take maybe an abrupt turn into the rest of the chapters almost being those interconnected essays like Olive Kitteridge. Which this worked for Olive but here seems like an afterthought.
I think the author can write really nice characters but I didn’t get to know any of them up close. Most annoyingly, I wish she could have stayed with Sally. In the beginning, Sally had Scout Finch vibes.
This book is a read alike to Amy Poeppel books and Ann Napolitano’s Hello Beautiful. If you like those than maybe this. For me, she had elements of both but they didn’t quite measure up to these other authors.
Overall, not a bad read but not one I’m hugging to my chest either.
Here is a case of a story that does not match the cover or the title. So I have a small feeling of being duped. Worse is that the first chunk most certainly matched the cover and title.
And then we take maybe an abrupt turn into the rest of the chapters almost being those interconnected essays like Olive Kitteridge. Which this worked for Olive but here seems like an afterthought.
I think the author can write really nice characters but I didn’t get to know any of them up close. Most annoyingly, I wish she could have stayed with Sally. In the beginning, Sally had Scout Finch vibes.
This book is a read alike to Amy Poeppel books and Ann Napolitano’s Hello Beautiful. If you like those than maybe this. For me, she had elements of both but they didn’t quite measure up to these other authors.
Overall, not a bad read but not one I’m hugging to my chest either.
July 26, 2025
sid was just awful. a review described her as prickly & i object to the word as it minimizes her actions. i can't think of a time that i disliked a character more. i even gave this an extra star because it takes talent to write such a character. otherwise this was fine. i'm not sure it succeeded in emotionality or depth which is odd given this is about kinship & connection.
July 25, 2025
Meet the Samuelson family. This book is a montage of short stories about their lives though the years. It grew out of the author's writing stories from prompts that she had given her Creative Writing students in her college classes. While they are short stories, the book reads like a novel.
Key characters are:
Sybil Samuelson - Mother - tightly wound, perfectionist, secretly alcoholic, and complicated. A gifted elementary school teacher who has more empathy for her students than her own children.
Phil Samuelson - Father - Warm, loving, generous with his family. A civil engineer who travels to Saudi Arabia on assignment and finds himself attracted to a woman there.
Ellis Samuelson - 18 year old son - "A" student, top athlete, never giving his parents a moment of worry - In the summer before college , he takes a road trip with his buddies and decides to stay in "Bug Hollow," cutting off reasonable communication with his parents.
Katie Samuelson - 15 year old daughter - rebellious and surly with her mother - Like Ellis, she has a minor role in the book.
Sally Samuelson - 9 year old daughter - Artistic, creative and sensitive - she is a wonderful character who is easy to relate to.
Eva Samuelson - Infant - Adopted, will have a special aptitude for math. She will eventually reconnect with her birth mother, who happens to be Ellis' former girlfriend.
=====================================
I enjoyed my time getting to know the characters. The book comes across as a collage of their lives. My only quibble is that huge sections of their lives were glossed over, due to the way it was written.
Key characters are:
Sybil Samuelson - Mother - tightly wound, perfectionist, secretly alcoholic, and complicated. A gifted elementary school teacher who has more empathy for her students than her own children.
Phil Samuelson - Father - Warm, loving, generous with his family. A civil engineer who travels to Saudi Arabia on assignment and finds himself attracted to a woman there.
Ellis Samuelson - 18 year old son - "A" student, top athlete, never giving his parents a moment of worry - In the summer before college , he takes a road trip with his buddies and decides to stay in "Bug Hollow," cutting off reasonable communication with his parents.
Katie Samuelson - 15 year old daughter - rebellious and surly with her mother - Like Ellis, she has a minor role in the book.
Sally Samuelson - 9 year old daughter - Artistic, creative and sensitive - she is a wonderful character who is easy to relate to.
Eva Samuelson - Infant - Adopted, will have a special aptitude for math. She will eventually reconnect with her birth mother, who happens to be Ellis' former girlfriend.
=====================================
I enjoyed my time getting to know the characters. The book comes across as a collage of their lives. My only quibble is that huge sections of their lives were glossed over, due to the way it was written.
July 27, 2025
I prefer a chronological story, rather than jumping back and forth through many years with the same characters. And, because the story shifted POV from character to character, I didn’t feel invested or close to any one character.
April 29, 2025
Thank you Penguin Press for this Advanced Reader Proof.
This would be a great book for people who are a fan of Claire Lombardo or Ann Napolitano.
A generational family drama, that hits on grief and complicated family dynamics. Huneven is a skilled writer and I felt connection to Sally especially. The first half of the novel was especially gripping.
If anything, I wanted more from this novel- a deeper dive into the characters, rarely a book should be longer but I think this is one of them.
This would be a great book for people who are a fan of Claire Lombardo or Ann Napolitano.
A generational family drama, that hits on grief and complicated family dynamics. Huneven is a skilled writer and I felt connection to Sally especially. The first half of the novel was especially gripping.
If anything, I wanted more from this novel- a deeper dive into the characters, rarely a book should be longer but I think this is one of them.
August 20, 2025
If your family tree looks more like a bramble than a post oak (like mine), then this novel is probably for you. Or, if you are an only child from a long line of only children, spending a few hours with the Samuelson family of this story, encapsulating decades and generations, sheds joyful light on how lovingly crazy families can be made.
Huneven consistently writes fully human characters in stories that can be enjoyed by everyone from teenagers to grandpas.
Huneven consistently writes fully human characters in stories that can be enjoyed by everyone from teenagers to grandpas.
July 22, 2025
Four and a half stars, almost five, for this charming family story .
July 4, 2025
I LOVED this book, and I have not read anything from this writer before. The writing is rich and vivid, and the story spans decades. It sounds sprawling, but it was surprisingly easy to follow through time and space. I didn’t want to put it down.
The book begins during the 1970s in coastal California and centers on the Samuelson family: the parents, Phil and Sybil, and their three children, Ellis, Katie, and Sally. Ellis, the teenage son has just graduated from high school and takes a road trip. He ends up meeting a woman in a hippie community called Bug Hollow, and from there, everything changes for this family.
What follows is ten interconnected chapters that take on the POV of different characters. It felt to me sort of like an Elizabeth Strout novel but on the opposite coast. The characters experience much of what plagues us in life—strained relationships, issues related to addiction, loss of love. She writes about their conflicts with care and empathy. I was so emotionally invested in each one.
Highly recommend this book! I plan on seeking out more of Michelle Huneven’s novels. Also love this book cover!
The book begins during the 1970s in coastal California and centers on the Samuelson family: the parents, Phil and Sybil, and their three children, Ellis, Katie, and Sally. Ellis, the teenage son has just graduated from high school and takes a road trip. He ends up meeting a woman in a hippie community called Bug Hollow, and from there, everything changes for this family.
What follows is ten interconnected chapters that take on the POV of different characters. It felt to me sort of like an Elizabeth Strout novel but on the opposite coast. The characters experience much of what plagues us in life—strained relationships, issues related to addiction, loss of love. She writes about their conflicts with care and empathy. I was so emotionally invested in each one.
Highly recommend this book! I plan on seeking out more of Michelle Huneven’s novels. Also love this book cover!
September 3, 2025
I liked the structure of this book. And a few of the characters were nicely constructed.
Some of the chapters/stories/PoVs were awful though.
The one with the old teacher and the Jamaican lady was pure torture. How was that relevant to the rest of the story?! I honestly think the editor skipped this bit by mistake.
Some of the chapters/stories/PoVs were awful though.
The one with the old teacher and the Jamaican lady was pure torture. How was that relevant to the rest of the story?! I honestly think the editor skipped this bit by mistake.
June 8, 2026
This has every single trope B&N is super into right now. Ya gotta do something different, babe. It’s not working.
November 24, 2025
Once you realize (like I did 200 pages in) that the author is just listing names and what these characters did, with no emotional weight at all, it really starts to bog down whatever enjoyment I was getting out of the book in the first place.
I'm struggling to see what the point of those 300 pages even was, considering the list of characters just keeps growing until eventually we are doing lesbian weddings for school principals, Saudi Arabian compound cheating, and mindlessly listing off side characters of side characters until eventually rounding that corner on infidelity again, where it would seem NO CHARACTER IN THE WHOLE STORY is offended by? No matter what happens, every character seems to drift slowly into acceptance of these things and the characterization is inconsistent so much so that Sally basically becomes a stand-in mother for Eva, but Sally's chapters are spent pining after married men and donughts, or (even more confusingly) spent detailing someone else's geriatric lesbian marriage to a Jamaican immigrant?? And this is all described in minimal detail , which reads like this:
"and then this happened. and then the characters did this. when this came to be, everyone just kinda was ok with it. then 6 months after that, this happened and this character died. it was a whole ordeal for this character, but honestly ended up not being worth writing about. the next day, after sending a quick concise email that sounds like a robot wrote it , they packed up their things and moved back to the nicest home ever described in Pasadena. then they wept. line break." It became glaringly obvious after retreading the same dull rock tumbler writing style that it wasnt going to ever get any deeper into any of the characters, and instead stayed pretty much written like a yearly report written by a zoologist studying domesticated chimpanzees in a zoo.
Almost DNFed this book, but only finished it because I checked it out from the library. It's likely i will not even remember reading it. Not sure who this book is for but its not for me. thankfully it wasn't any longer, as it feels like the book is artificially extended by an extra 100 pages just coming up with more characters whose only purpose is to increase the word count.
I'm struggling to see what the point of those 300 pages even was, considering the list of characters just keeps growing until eventually we are doing lesbian weddings for school principals, Saudi Arabian compound cheating, and mindlessly listing off side characters of side characters until eventually rounding that corner on infidelity again, where it would seem NO CHARACTER IN THE WHOLE STORY is offended by? No matter what happens, every character seems to drift slowly into acceptance of these things and the characterization is inconsistent so much so that Sally basically becomes a stand-in mother for Eva, but Sally's chapters are spent pining after married men and donughts, or (even more confusingly) spent detailing someone else's geriatric lesbian marriage to a Jamaican immigrant?? And this is all described in minimal detail , which reads like this:
"and then this happened. and then the characters did this. when this came to be, everyone just kinda was ok with it. then 6 months after that, this happened and this character died. it was a whole ordeal for this character, but honestly ended up not being worth writing about. the next day, after sending a quick concise email that sounds like a robot wrote it , they packed up their things and moved back to the nicest home ever described in Pasadena. then they wept. line break." It became glaringly obvious after retreading the same dull rock tumbler writing style that it wasnt going to ever get any deeper into any of the characters, and instead stayed pretty much written like a yearly report written by a zoologist studying domesticated chimpanzees in a zoo.
Almost DNFed this book, but only finished it because I checked it out from the library. It's likely i will not even remember reading it. Not sure who this book is for but its not for me. thankfully it wasn't any longer, as it feels like the book is artificially extended by an extra 100 pages just coming up with more characters whose only purpose is to increase the word count.
July 20, 2025
My favorite genre is family literary fiction that spans decades, stories centered around a single pivotal event that shapes the lives of everyone involved. Bug Hollow is exactly that kind of novel.
Set in the mid-1960s, we’re introduced to the Samuelson family just as their world begins to shift. Ellis, on the brink of leaving for college, vanishes into the Santa Cruz mountains, and what follows is the family’s desperate search for him.
What happens next is best discovered through reading, as the story unfolds in unexpected ways. Michelle Huneven masterfully captures the evolution of a family grappling with loss, growth, and the quiet rhythms of everyday life. Her prose is deeply affecting, and the passage of time, sometimes feeling like mere days, sometimes like whole lifetimes, is handled with subtle, powerful pacing.
My only critique is a particular subplot that felt somewhat out of place, momentarily diverting from the book’s central focus. Still, it didn’t detract too much from the overall impact.
Bug Hollow left a strong impression on me, and I’m looking forward to exploring more of Huneven’s work.
Set in the mid-1960s, we’re introduced to the Samuelson family just as their world begins to shift. Ellis, on the brink of leaving for college, vanishes into the Santa Cruz mountains, and what follows is the family’s desperate search for him.
What happens next is best discovered through reading, as the story unfolds in unexpected ways. Michelle Huneven masterfully captures the evolution of a family grappling with loss, growth, and the quiet rhythms of everyday life. Her prose is deeply affecting, and the passage of time, sometimes feeling like mere days, sometimes like whole lifetimes, is handled with subtle, powerful pacing.
My only critique is a particular subplot that felt somewhat out of place, momentarily diverting from the book’s central focus. Still, it didn’t detract too much from the overall impact.
Bug Hollow left a strong impression on me, and I’m looking forward to exploring more of Huneven’s work.
July 26, 2025
There were a few moments where I thought this family saga was getting very lost, but I was wrong. Sure, it took some turns, but then it all was put neatly in order and the turns made sense.
I don’t like spoilers and it would be easy to spoil parts of this story were I to start explaining too much.
Suffice to say, a family has its moments of closeness, drifting, pain, loss, and change.
I loved Huneven’s Search and enjoyed a few of her other books well enough. This was not quite Search, but still interesting writing about characters I cared about.
I don’t like spoilers and it would be easy to spoil parts of this story were I to start explaining too much.
Suffice to say, a family has its moments of closeness, drifting, pain, loss, and change.
I loved Huneven’s Search and enjoyed a few of her other books well enough. This was not quite Search, but still interesting writing about characters I cared about.
July 8, 2025
4.5 stars, rounded up
March 8, 2026
This was an interesting family saga told from different perspectives as the years passed by. This is the second book I have read by this author and her writing is very good!
July 18, 2025
What a lovely little gem of a novel.
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