Customer Reviews

Firefly Lane: A Novel

5 star:		(181)
4 star:		(63)
3 star:		(34)
2 star:		(20)
1 star:		(42)

 

 

I usually begin my reviews with a brief synopsis, but in the case of Firefly Lane, I want to get the important stuff out there first: HIGHLY RECOMMENDED - Kristin Hannah is at the top of her game with this emotional three hanky read!

Just what is a friend? And what would you do for your best friend? What kind of sacrifices would you make? Many of us will never find this out. But some of us will. Some of us already know. Kristin Hannah shows us with this outstanding novel what friendship really is and how it can endure over the years. She shows us the power of friendship.

Now for the a few details - without revealing so much as to rob readers of discoveries they should make themselves. Kate Mularkey and Tully Hart meet when they are in junior high - both felt they were outsiders. Tully comes into Kate's life a low point. She is the most beautiful, classiest person she has ever met - and she has moved right across the street. But Tully has a secret, one she hides with a lie. Eventually Kate learns to trust Tully and they become best of friends with a friendship that lasts through college and as their lives take very different paths. But this doesn't mean everything is always easy between the two. And it doesn't mean that one isn't jealous of the other, but it does mean that they are there for one another. Which, as the story evolves, reveals itself in a powerful way.

Those who grew up in the 70s will love the references to the songs as the decades go by. Those who grew up in the Pacific Northwest will enjoy all the references to familiar events and locations that make everything come to life and lend an air of authenticity to the novel.

I have followed Kristin Hannah's writing career from the beginning. From its start in historical romance and a hero with the unusual name of Stone Man McKenna to a wonderful time-travel set in the San Juan Islands (Once In Every Life) to the gut-wrenchingly emotional If You Believe to her breakout novel On Mystic Lake and then several bestselling novels that have made her a favorite with readers everywhere. Now with Firefly Lane she has simply reached the summit of the mountain. Make yourself comfortable - set yourself by the fireplace, grab a cup (or two or three) of your favorite beverage, a box of tissues, and put your feet up. You'll be there for awhile because you won't want to put this book down once you've started. Oh - and you'll probably want to have your best friend's phone number handy for you'll want to phone her as soon as you finish.

Tully and Katie. Katie and Tully. The two girls met in the summer of 1974, when they were both in 8th grade. Katie was from a normal, middle-class family. She wore glasses and braces and was basically a nobody at school. Her mom was constantly trying to get in her business and help her to make friends...to no avail. That is, until Tallulah Rose Hart, better known as Tully, moved into the house across the street. Tully was beautiful, destined to be the most popular girl in school....so cool and confident. But looks can be deceiving because Tully was as insecure as they come. She was living with Cloud, the mother who had abandoned her twice before. The mother that was more interested in demonstrations and drugs than her own daughter. Tully was always on edge, just waiting for the other shoe to drop.

But one night, Katie and Tully started talking. From that moment, they were inseparable. That is, until Cloud once again took off, and Tully had to go back and live with her grandmother. But a best friend is a best friend, and even distance couldn't keep them apart.

As the years went by, the girls went to college and studied journalism. Tully wanted to be a star. The next national anchorwoman. And Katie. She really just wanted to find love. Through careers and life changes, the two women stayed friends. Best Friends Forever. Or one could hope.

I wanted to like this book. I really did. But when I was reading this book, I couldn't help but think I had read it before. Then it hit me. I saw the movie: Beaches. Ok....so it wasn't exactly the same, but the theme was there. Although the writing was pleasant, the storyline is a tired one. One that has been done MANY times before.

And the characters of Kate and Tully. Very black and white...in a world that is many shades of gray. Tully was selfish and self-centered. Thinking of her career and her career only. Even when she knew she was in love, she didn't think twice about throwing it away for her job. It didn't even make her think twice about stabbing her best friend in the back for ratings (good intentions aside, she had to know she was wrong). And Kate was just the opposite. She had a very good job, but didn't think twice about giving it up when she found a man to complete her. In today's world, women really can have both, and it kind of frustrates me when I read books like this.

For all of this, I didn't hate this book. I've just read it all before. It didn't stop me from reading it, and even being sad at the end (if you've seen Beaches, I'm sure you see where this is going). But in the words of Randy Jackson from American Idol, "Dude. It just didn't do it for me".

"Firefly Lane" started off pretty good, but just never seemed to go anywhere. The characters of Tully and Kate started to annoy me soon after they became friends.

This book had just enough to keep me wanting to keep reading and find out what would happen next, but overall I would not recommend this book.

I really wanted to enjoy this book - it has all the makings of a fine women's literature novel. But I just couldn't, for several reasons.

1. It's a "Beaches" redux.

Two lifelong friends, seperated by a life-changing dispute, reconnected by calamity. Honestly, if you've ever read Beaches, you'll recognize every single plotline. Barely suppressed jealousy over each character's life choices (the SAHM desires the glam lifestyle, the successful journalist yearns for the SAHM's love and security), second-choice love interest, excruciatingly painful reunion... I had the "been there, done that" feeling for much of the second half of the book.

2. Epic length.

Tully's rise to fame in NYC is covered in a few short chapters, followed by several excruciatingly long chapters detailing day-to-day life of a stay-at-home mom. Kate's daughter goes from 0 to 3 in a few chapters, while Tully's escapades with her English lover are related in great detail for several long chapters.

3. Product/era placement.

Several times throughout the novel, the author goes to great lengths to identify with the era, describing clothing, music (lyrics, too!), hairstyles, trends, you name it. One or two mentions would've sufficed, but really, who needs a decade-by-decade synopsis of popularity? Stirrup pants, Madonna songs, velour bathrobes, menthol cigarettes - the mood being initially set, the author might've better served just giving us a few fleetin reminders instead of a constant barrage of pop genre.

Again, I really wanted to like this story, but was so bogged down by the details that I found myself bored about halfway through. I thought I knew the "big thing" that separated Tully & Kate, and turned out to be wrong - the actual "big thing" that makes them not talk to each other is sad but not really earth-shattering - but, to be honest, by then I just didn't care. I wanted more depth of character. I wanted Kate to *want* her life choices, not just have a feeble idea of what she wanted. When Tully's character is told that she just wants too much, I was reminded of Bette Midler's mother's character in Beaches saying, "You just want too much." I never liked Johnny - seriously, guy, grow a pair - and, having been a volatile teenager myself, found Marah over the top.

The novel plays out like an overly-long Lifetime movie of the week, with a predictable ending and far too much exposition. By the time we see Kate's mom indulging in marijuana and claiming that's how she got through the turbulent teen years of her own daughter, I found myself wishing for the end. And, even though I've sobbed through my 5+ showings of Beaches over the years, there were no hankies on this one. You see the emotional blackmail coming, and that just takes something away from the entire story.

Remember what childhood friendships can be like? Quite often, we become best friends with someone and probably swear to each other that this friendship will last forever. Such is the case in Kristin Hannah's touching story Firefly Lane. We hear, "Best friends forever. They'd believed it would last, that vow, that someday they'd be old women, sitting in their rocking chairs on a creaking deck, talking about the times of their lives, and laughing. "

Even the best intentioned promises can sometimes go awry as we learn in this 30 year history of friendship between Kate and Tully. It began in 1974 when Kate Mularkey was feeling especially isolated and coming to terms with the fact that she wasn't popular or pretty. In fact, she might best be described as ordinary.

Then, miracle of miracles a new family moved in across the street and in that family was Tully Hart , the coolest, best looking girl Kate had ever seen. Further, Tully wanted to be her friend, not just an acquaintance but best friends. They were opposites in many ways, but that didn't matter they swore their friendship would never end.

Tully had aspirations and in the years to come she would do whatever it took to become successful, to be acknowledged by all as the best. She does reach the top as a broadcast journalist. Kate, on the other hand, has no such dreams. She simply wants to be a wife and mother, which she does with her husband Johnny and daughter Marah.

Years pass, 30 of them, when suddenly a friendship that was to last forever seems irreparably broken.

Stage and television actress Susan Ericksen delivers an estimable reading, tracing this story of two women and their friendship, its ups and downs, its strength and resiliency.

- Gail Cooke

Flat, linear, predictable, simplistic, superficial, chock-a-block full of cliche... I think this is one of the worst books I have ever read. The characters are teetering on completely unrealistic. The decisions they make are unbelievable. This saga reminds me of Facebook... telling even the most mundane details of each of their lives. I think the author wrote the story and, basically, chose between the two most predictable endings possible. Then, I think she went back and sprinkled ridiculously obvious references to the various decades of their lives. I didn't glean any new ideas, wisdom or understanding. I guess the author didn't have any to offer.

I am only 1/3 of the way through this book and am already tired of all the very specific references to the mid 70's. It actually seems as if the author made a list of all the songs, foods, fads, books, and anything else specific to say 1971-1978, and wrote a book incorporating this list. I can picture her crossing them off as she found a place to use them within her story. I assume she used all these specific references to endear all of us that were the same age as Tully and Kate during that time. At first it was cute but then, every other paragraph had to mention a song name, toy, food item, etc. and it got wearisome. It is as if the story was written around the "list". The book has no depth.

Author Kristin Hannah's Firefly Lane lacks originality, depth of plot, character development, engaging dialogue, and unique writing style and original voice. The book is long, tedious, predictable, and a knock-off of Beaches. The reader can easily predict every single thing that is about to happen!

Her writing is so cliche! Just like other readers stated in their reviews, I wonder if Hannah sat down with a list of events and songs for each era and checked them off as she mentioned them in her book. Also, someone did a poor job at editing as well.

How this book received such outstanding reviews amazes me. Trust me, there are much better books out there. Don't waste your time.

You may be tempted to drown yourself in it. If you can put up with the characters who spring into their one dimension straight from central casting; if you can make it through the cliched pop culture references that are dropped into the story with the subtlety of an anvil falling on the cartoon coyote's head (it's the seventies, soooo BELL BOTTOMS! It's the eighties, sooo STIRRUP PANTS!); if you can deal with the dull storyline that has been done over and over and over again, you might actually make it to the ending, where you'll want to have a sick bucket right at your elbow.

This is a storyline that appears in women's fiction so often that it's just insulting: mousy, meek, introvert girl meets up with brash, vixeny extrovert girl. They unaccountably become firm friends. Extrovert popular girl leads her introvert loser friend into situations that amount to varying degrees of trouble. Introvert girl, in spite of the fact that being the best bud of her extrovert friend has caused her to blossom, just wants to settle down and have a family. Extrovert girl, who is willing to have her adoring little chum clinging to her coattails, sails on through junior high, high school and college, determined to become the World's Best and Youngest [fill in the blank with a word like "actress," "supermodel," "CEO," "brain surgeon," or, in this case, "television broadcast journalist."

Everything happens according to formula, just as you'd imagine, so there's no need to elaborate at length. Introvert girl grows up to be a stay-at-home mommy in the most irritatingly dull and cookie-cutter way possible. Extrovert girl becomes famous beyond belief in the most predictable manner ever. Extrovert girl is selfish and self-centered and as about as deep as a raindrop; introvert girl is a weary martyr to her yuppie family.

The ending is no ending at all. There's no resolution, no tying up of loose ends. Just a lazy, stupid, melodramatic bunch of schmaltz that made me want to throw the book across the room.

Maeve Binchy, who's been at this novel-writing thing much longer than Hannah, did it so much better in Light A Penny Candle and even better than that in Tara Road. Both of those are friends-forever novel with a lot of unexpected twists in the plot. Marian Keyes does it in just about every book she writes, none better than The Other Side of the Story: A Novel

Gee, where have we seen this before: Plain Jane dish rag martyr is befriended by gorgeous, selfish career-driven (but "alone") vixen--what a new and fresh concept? I still haven't forgiven my bookclub for this book. The book is poorly written, trite and utterly insipid. The characters are stereo-typed sexist cartoons. The dialog is pathetic. The cultural references overwhelm the book and are inaccurate in many cases. The author clearly has no respect for her readers--the book is written for the truly unsophisticated. The plot, such that it is, is emotionally manipulative and highly predictable--a complete waste of time. But, if Lifetime movies are your thing, this is the written equivalent, so go for it! (And while you are at it--eat some Cool Whip and Cheeze Whiz.)This book is Low Brow City--not even a beach read. It has no redeeming qualities.