Cicada Summer (Book)

"A Soundless Cicada"

The loudest noise is silence. It shouts louder than a scream, it dreams bigger than a nightmare, and it pleads more than a beggar. The sound of silence is the most mysterious sound of all, because among all the sounds, it is the soundless that resounds. Andrea Beaty's Cicada Summer connects the drive path from lies and secrets to acceptance and friendship that will make noise and put into an end the silent summer.

Warm breeze signals the summer, but in Olena, Illinois, the troubling sounds of the Cicadas signaled the start of summer. The people in Olena hated the Cicadas for its troubling sound, specially Ricky Fitzgerald who says that the Cicadas attacked his grandma's tall, round, and cave-like hairdo.

Two summers have already passed, aside from the sticky heat and cicadas, there's one more thing that has not change---Lily's silence. It was after a tragic incident that she vowed to herself, never will she use the words that she has kept, that could have saved Pete. Not until Tinny's sneaky attitude came to disturb Olena and Lily's entire being. As she steal not only the candies but also the attention that Lily appreciates deep within, Lily became too serious in protecting Fern, Nancy Drew books, and her secret in the cottonwood tree.

Opposite to a Cicada's noise to attract mate during summer, Lily's silence attracts Tinny's curiosity that led to a brawl of eye contacts and threats through lollipops between the two. Lily's view about invisibility has been one of the point of transition in the story, making the reader watch out on until when can Lily keep her eyes away from others and her voice from telling the truth of the past?

Each of us has always that 'Lily' imprisoned inside. The silent us who keeps all the burdens inside because we're too afraid that an old, rotten past will come to life and haunt your brain, again. Time doesn't heal, acceptance do. We can never move forward if our head is tilt backward. The shackles of the past tighten as time consumes another day. It is only through acceptance that we finally let go of it.

And just as what Tinny does, though sneaky, her curiosity released the secrets that have been kept for a long time. In comparison, we also have this certain incident that will help us to let go of everything and anything that we keep on holding back. If not an incident, one person will always make it possible for us to once again, believe in the future.

Lily said, "I think trouble finds it way without any help at all". Yes, it does. But only us could find the way out of the Cicada's troubling sound and hear the music behind its buzz. It's only a matter of perspective.