Firefly Lane – Kristin Hannah

4/5

Alright.

You all know I read The Great Alone, and that I loved it, but that I thought there were a lot of cliches.

I might as well and hit copy paste with Firefly Lane. I ended up with puffy eyes and a stuffy nose and a dozen used tissues. This book made me wish I actually talked to people when I was in middle school so I could have a lifelong friend.

Why?

Because Kristin Hannah is so good at capturing the human spirit. Love and passion and loss and grief–it’s all multifaceted and complex. Nothing is black and white in her stories. She acknowledges all sides, something that makes her stories realistic. It makes them feasible. It makes me love her characters.

Except for Tully.

Let me dive into a summary before I elaborate on that fact. Also, the fact that Katherine Heigl is playing her in the Netflix adaptation of this book does not help at all. Absolutely not. I disliked Izzy Stevens from Grey’s Anatomy so much it made me dislike her actress. But that’s a story for another time.

Firefly Lane follows two young girls from 1974 through the rest of their lives. They are polar opposites. Tully is loud, confident, and outgoing. She gets attention; her presence demands attention. Kate is the opposite. She feels like she’s easy to overlook. Tully wants a big, grand life as a reporter so much Kate gets swept up into it.

They have different values. They have different backgrounds. Conflict arises from this and the book follows their entire lives together working through these conflicts.

Overall, a good read. Very enjoyable.

However –

Tully makes several decisions throughout the book that I simply cannot rationalize. They infuriated me. They had my jaw dropping. I was gasping, wondering where she got the audacity to pull the stuff she pulls.

Like????? C’mon.

I’m absolutely positive I was supposed to feel that way. In the end I was a sobbing mess.

When a situation is done in a way that makes it possible to have sympathy for every single character in the conflict, I get gutted. One way or another, I end up losing my mind because I wish the solution was easy. It never is. Not in real life. And it wasn’t as straightforward here. It was frustrating.

It was great.

Despite that, there were a lot of cliches used. A lot. And that’s okay for some people. I certainly did not mind. However, it is the only thing keeping me from giving this book five stars.

Going forward, I plan on watching the Netflix adaptation and comparing it to the book. Of course, there will be spoilers on that review.

Keep an eye out for it.

“One thing I can tell you for sure is this: we only regret what we don’t do in life.”

Kristin Hannah, Firefly Lane