10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Ride the Running Board with the Firefly Brothers--Whee, January 26, 2010
This review is from: The Many Deaths of the Firefly Brothers: A Novel (Hardcover)
Absolutely loved this book and was telling my friends about it when I was only a third of the way in. (I tend to reserve 5 stars for mind-changing books.) Mullen takes the 1930s gangster teams to a new level by turning the usual tale on its head right off the bat. Set at a time when bank robbers could just as easily be seen as hero or villain, because of all the foreclosures by the banks (sound familiar?), the Firefly Brothers' spree takes on legendary status and for darn good reasons. But...I won't spoil the fun. Suspend disbelief and take the ride with Jason and Whit; it's bumpy but you'll love the wind in your hair almost as much as Darcy did.
Along the way we're forced to think about family relationships, brother to brother, son to father, and how moral choices are made and justified. We also get to 'feel' the Depression from ground level. But it's actually a lot more fun than all that sounds. Heck, just read it for the romping adventure and you'll enjoy it. Come to think of it, I'm not sure I was supposed to enjoy it quite this much. 100% guarantee that there will be arguments about the ending and I look forward to that fun. I can't wait to see what Mullen writes next and what my friends have to say about this book.
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4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
IT'S A GRABBER, February 5, 2010
This review is from: The Many Deaths of the Firefly Brothers: A Novel (Hardcover)
The author's depiction of the 1930's is too real to be comfortable. I was alive during that period, and the author describes the hopelessness and misery of those times as they really were. There were no jobs; some families lived in tents out in the country or vacant lots, and hobo parks were common. There was no welfare, and most people lived wretched lives.
Against this background the author writes about the adventures of Jason Fireston and his brother Whitson, 2 desperadoes in desperate times living their own code of law. The story line is so original I could never imagine where it was going. As the story develops one learns about the family dynamics of the brothers with each other (there is a 3d brother who is a straight arrow) and how each of them became who he is. The story of the family background evolves slowly and is critical to the story. Circumstances and individual beliefs shape the brothers' destinies.
I could not put this book down until my husband ordered me to turn out the lights. I am recommending it to all of my friends and to book clubs. Amelia Koenig
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4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
A Great Escape - And Then Some!, February 3, 2010
This review is from: The Many Deaths of the Firefly Brothers: A Novel (Hardcover)
Gangs, molls and robbing banks. Just the ingredients for a good-old yarn, right? You can practically smell the gunpowder and spilled gin... And yet? "The Many Deaths of the Firefly Brothers" is more than that. Much more.
First, I need to say that this Depression-era novel was eerily reminiscent of today. Of this time in our country where nothing is certain and days are filled with fear and worry about what the next day may bring. This book is set in 1934 - but there many similarities to what is making the news in 2010.
"The reality we'd all believed in, so fervently and vividly, was revealed to be nothing but a trick of our imagination, or someone else's, some collective mirage whose power to entrance us had suddenly and irrevocably failed. What...had happened? What had we done to ourselves? The looks I saw on people's faces. The shock of it all. Capitalism had failed, democracy was a sad joke. Our country's very way of life was at death's door, and everyone had a different theory of what would rise up to take its place."
Jason and Whit Fireson rob banks. They steal money from the few places that still have money in 1934 - and they become anti-heroes to the Americans who are so desperate and so angry at seeing all they believed in and trusted being destroyed. Banks are foreclosing at constant rates, people are out of work, the stock market has crashed, and families are desperate. So when the pair starts garnering fame for stealing from those who are perceived as causing the financial chaos...they are dubbed the "Firefly Brothers" and their admirers start to outnumber their pursuers.
I picked this book hoping for some pure escapism, but got instead a great story AND some great insights.
"People tell their stories to place themselves somewhere solid in this great swirl that they can't otherwise understand. The stories define what is possible, what the tellers yearn for, what they believe they deserve. The self-made man, the American dream, Capitalism, socialism, religion - all those narratives that try to contain everyone's desires and fears within neat lines. Different tales, different obstacles, but the hero is always us, and the ending has us attainting what we've always wished for."
Wow...I just had to read that again.
This really was a great story. It was a compelling tale of escape and adventure, of getaway cars and hideouts. Of double-crosses and dirty money. A chance to enter the mind of a criminal and look around.
"The right thing was confusing, and difficult, and sometimes Jason wondered if it was in fact a nonexistent ideal, like heaven or the American dream. There was no right thing. You did what you did for whatever reasons occurred to you at the time, depending on whichever emotion was running thickest in your blood. Your desire and fear and adrenaline and longing. You made your choice and came up with the reasons later."
But what I keep coming back to is not what the story had to say about Depression-era criminals, but about us, about people in general. People who aren't criminals, but who find themselves forced to consider choices they never expected.
"We believe there are things that are possible and things that are not, actions we can imagine doing and others that are beyond the pale. But then doors are swung shut and what once was impossible, unthinkable, is there before us, happening to us. Sometimes we throw open the doors ourselves, sometimes someone else pushes them open and points at what lies beyond. Sometimes we don't even want to look. But we never have a choice."
Law abiding citizens and criminals. Seemingly different sides of a coin - polar opposites. But in uncertain times, when the world seems upside down...identifying which one is good and which is bad becomes a much harder task.
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