I started this almost 500 page book on a one evening, was half way the next night, and finished it last night - actually this morning.
I laughed. I cried. I celebrated. I bawled. It pulled at every single emotion in me. This is an absolute must read for everyone.
The story is about Tully and Kate who for thirty years, are BFF's (best friends forever). The story is about that friendship which like any other has its ups and downs. It is about survival and what one will do in the name of friendship.
Firefly Lane is for anyone who ever drank Boone’s Farm apple wine while listening to Abba or Fleetwood Mac. More than a coming-of-age novel, it’s the story of a generation of women who were both blessed and cursed by choices. It’s about promises and secrets and betrayals. And ultimately, about the one person who really, truly knows you---and knows what has the power to hurt you . . . and heal you. Firefly Lane is a story you’ll never forget . . . one you’ll want to pass on to your best friend.
The story also explores the relationship between a mother and daughter. From the author, Kristin Hannah:
Honestly, I believe that the mother-daughter relationship is magical, complex, potentially dangerous, profoundly powerful, and deeply transformative. To put it simply, all of us have this relationship, and in a very real way, "none of us comes out alive." We are all formed first as daughters and then tested as mothers. There's nothing like motherhood to make us reassess how we were as daughters. One of my favorite parts of Firefly Lane was the circle of Kate’s relationship with her mom. First we see her as an angry teen, slamming the door on her mother...and then later her own daughter does the same thing to her. There's a real symmetry in that, a truth that many of us have learned. I have often wished in the past few years that my mom were here to help me as I raised my own teenage son. As a girl, with my own mom, I thought I knew it all; now I know better. Somewhere, I know my mom is smiling.
It is also a book about love and the consistency of love - friendship love and the love between a man and a woman.
Again the author Kristin Hannah on this theme in an interview:
You're right, they each do continually question the reliability of love. For Kate, it's a self-esteem issue. She absolutely believes in love--she's grown up surrounded by it--but she constantly questions Johnny's commitment to her. I always felt that was largely because she felt like a moon to Tully's bright and shining sun. For Tully, she honestly doesn’t believe that true romantic love exists, and for all of her overblown ambition and belief in herself, she has been wounded by her mother's repeated abandonment. The result is that she feels she's unlovable.
After finishing it at 5:30am, I still could not sleep - the book remained with me. It made me look at my own life. It is a book about coming full circle in life with your own mother and friends and accepting any choice you have made and figuring out that you would do it all the same way again. You are at peace with who and what you have become. It made me look at how profoundly important we as women are to each other. It was only after I had pondered these things that I finally fell asleep.
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