Welcome to the virtual book club for November! This month, we’re reading Firefly Lane by Kristin Hannah.

My 93 year old grandma has read every Kristin Hannah book. She’s a voracious reader and she doesn’t often give me book recommendations. So when she recommends something, I usually take notice. she told me I needed to read some Kristin Hannah. Then, my sister in law, who is smart and hilarious, recommended it as well. Still, this one sat with the growing pile of books on my “to read” shelf.  Then, I was at the library looking at a copy of The Great Alone, also by Kristin Hannah and a random stranger told me I should read Firefly Lane. So, I think the universe was trying to tell me something.

This is a book about friendship. It follows Tully and Kate, two very different girls, through the ups and downs of a lifelong friendship. Tully is bold and beautiful and ambitious and everything Kate wants to be. Kate is smart and shy with a loving family with stability, which Tully longs for. They make it through high school, college, motherhood, love, jealousy, loneliness and life until a betrayal tears apart their friendship. It’s a coming of age novel, but mainly it’s a story of a friendship that defines these two women. The sequel is Fly Away.

Firefly Lane: Discussion

Onto the discussion….

Characters? Some of the reviews I read complained that the characters were one dimensional and stereotypical. Did you feel that way? I was a little surprised by this, because the characters pulled me into the story right away. They were predictable, but I didn’t feel like they were one dimensional. Did you like the characters?  I really wanted to like Tully because she was daring and broken, but I found her kind of exhausting.

What did you think of their friendship?  Did their friendship ring true to you? What I really liked about their friendship is that they both provided missing puzzle pieces to the other. Tully’s boldness gave Kate courage to become who she wanted to be. Kate grounded Tully and gave her the stability she craved. I liked that they became family to each other, but their friendship seemed a bit codependent to me. To me, Tully seemed like someone who would be really difficult to have a long term friendship with, maybe because she’s so manipulative.

Motherhood? There’s no question that these women have Mommy issues. Repeated rejection from her flighty mom has made Tully needy and hard at the same time. Did it wreck her ability to experience love? In Kate’s childhood, she wants her mom to notice and be proud of her, but her mom seems to gravitate to Tully. Is this the root of Kate’s insecurities? How about the portrayal of Kate as a mom? What lessons from her childhood did she bring with her to motherhood?

I thought the way Kate lost herself in motherhood was relatable. Motherhood was what she wanted, but then she felt guilty about wanting it and being happy with an ordinary life. I also thought the idealized version of motherhood that she wanted was interesting. Whether we are working moms or stay at home moms, society loves to tell us we’re doing it wrong and offers up an unattainable ideal to beat ourselves up with. I felt that in Kate’s character.  She felt like her family wanted her to be more, like being a mom wasn’t enough. I kept wondering what would have happened if Tully was the one who got pregnant. Do you think Tully will step it up and be there for Kate’s daughter?

A few random thoughts:

• That scene in the beginning when her mom let’s go of Tully’s hand and leaves her standing in the street. Heartbreaking. It stuck with me. When my kids were little, it was also the thing that sent waves of panic over me – the idea of losing my kid in a crowd. Even now that they’re older, I still stress out about it.
• So, what happened between Tully’s grandma and Cloud? Her grandma seemed pretty awesome and also accepting of her daughter. I kept hoping for some backstory.
• Cloud? Really? I get that the idea was to portray her as a deadbeat, but I felt like it was maybe a bit much. She seemed to have no feelings whatsoever about her kid. No love. No regret. Nothing. I feel like even if you’re a drug addict, you would at least have bursts of love for your child even if you weren’t able to properly care for her, but maybe I’m naïve.
• I didn’t cry during this book. Am I dead inside?

Did you read Firefly Lane? Did you like it? Will you read the sequel? Drop me a comment and let me know what you thought.

 

Want more book club selections? Check out last month’s selection,