Book Review: The Summer of the Serpent By Cecilia Eudave

    As a reader I am gravitating more and more to horror.  I think this is because there is always something interesting going on in horror. 

  I initially was avoiding horror because I really don't need any adrenaline rushes and perhaps I was just not interested in cathartic reading experiences.  

But Horror to me is so much more. I have been fascinated to read horror novels from other cultures, as they offer such an amazing view into that culture- and it's interesting to see what transcends borders in horror and what needs footnotes for outsiders to fully grasp the horror. 

With all that in mind, I boldly sailed into The Summer of the Serpent by Cecilia Eudave.  As an added bonus, this is a book in translation, and I really want to beef up these books in my list.  In hindsight, I would have probably not read this book if I knew that the animal cruelty  and child abuse would be so prominent in parts of the book. This for me was so very difficult to listen to and although it was not extraordinarily graphic or grotesque in any sort of splatter punk way, it was a tough one to read through. Others may not find this as horrifying as I did, but HELP A READER OUT! 

This novel is only 144 pages. In this brief encounter, the reader is able to experience so many things about the sweltering summer of 1977 in Guadalajara, Mexico. 

   It feels as if this is more of a collection of vignettes with points of view from all angles, all experiencing the same time and space, but somehow, having wildly divergent experiences and emotions all tied up together. If you have ever sat around with siblings and recounted a monumental family trip  and realized that even though you were all there, on that trip, together, each one of you has a different memory- this is exactly how reading this felt. I was immersed in this sensation of a fever dream that often overtook my childhood summer days, and although my circumstances were different, these vignettes did bring back my childhood summers- to an extent. I want to read more from this author, but I will be a bit cautious about the content! 

First Published :  6/30/2026

Pages: 144

Available as an Audio Book :  Yes

Trigger Warnings: Death,  ghosts,  reference to child SA, Animal cruelty (not vague),  (this is not a full list, read responsibly)