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A review by meeklovestoread
Firefly Lane by Kristin Hannah
Did not finish book. Stopped at 35%.
A quote I liked:
"They were lovers, who didn't love each other, and that made talking easier" (118).
This is the second book of hers that I've dnfed. I really wanted to like this! The storyline seemed right up my alley but it just didn't hit for me. For one, if the author was trying to convince me that these two had a friendship that would stretch through every lifetime, she did an extremely poor job of showcasing that. I feel like the author did a lot of telling the reader that these girls are "best friends" and not a lot of showing it. I was not convinced that these two were best friends at all. Even how they met didn't seem significant or life-altering in any way. And when they did meet you could already feel a power imbalance between them. Kate was so desperate for a friend that she literally had no agency when it came to Tully. It's like she could never say "no" to her and the same pattern trickles on throughout all the pages that I read. Like one of their first encounters is Tully forcing Kate into a makeover and Kate being the obedient sidekick that she is, just goes along with it to make Tully happy. Or when Tully's upset that her grandmother died so she convinces Kate to go to this party with her even though Kate and her both know that going isn't a good idea, but does Kate say anything nope and as a result, they literally get arrested!
Another instance: Kate decides she wants to be a reporter just because Tully wants to. And this stretches out for sooooo long that she literally ends up going to college to study broadcast & journalism and even gets a job where Tully works even though she literally isn't passionate about any of it. I didn't even mind that these two were cliches of one another, but at least make them likable. At least make me root for their friendship!
I did like Tully at first. I really felt for her in terms of her upbringing and the things she had to go through. Weirdly enough I think it's her backstory that made her tolerable for me, but with Kate, I just found her super annoying from the get-go. She lives in this perfect little bubble where she's never had to face a single tragedy in her life and seems clueless about the struggles of the real world (which I understand is a part of her cliche, but I still found it annoying). She's so disrespectful to her mom in the beginning and I just don't get why. She's so desperate for friendship that she befriends the first person who gives her a little bit of attention. I just found her so pathetic. A prime example is when she has a crush on her boss (for what?! i don't know; he literally pays her no mind and isn't all that nice to her, but I digress), but he's obviously into Tully and instead of moving on like a reasonable person she just continues to PINE and PINE and PINE after him even after seeing him kiss Tully. She buys him lunch. She offers emotional support for him. She even accepts him when he shows up drunk on her doorstep looking for TULLY!
Her thoughts: "Maybe she could get him to forget Tully or change his mind, maybe tonight she didn't care if she would be his second choice, or if it would be because of the booze. Love could grow from drunken passion, couldn't it" (157)? Like HOW PATHETIC CAN YOU BE?!🥴
This is also another quote from the book where Kate even admits that she plays second fiddle to Tully:
"If only she were like her friend—confident and sexy and willing to make a grab at whatever—and whomever—she wanted. Then she might have a chance, but the thought of Johnny's rejection, of a blank-eyed, Huh? kept her standing in the shadow. Tully's shadow to be precise. As always, Kate was the backup singer who never stepped into the spotlight........... Kate knew she should say no. The last thing she wanted to do was sit at the table and watch Johnny watch Tully—but what choice did she have? She was the sidekick. Rhoda Morgenstern. And wherever Mary went, Rhoda had to follow, even if it hurt like hell" (152-153).
And I'm supposed to believe their "best friends"?! Get real!
It was so hard to even feel bad for her because she legit puts herself in these situations!
Back to their "friendship". To me, it seemed like a thing of convenience because both of them were desperate for companionship when they were teenagers and it just stretched out for years because they've tricked themselves into believing that their friendship will transcend time or something. In real life, these girls would not be friends. Of course for the obvious reasons I've listed above, but also because Kate seems to hide herself from Tully and seems lowkey afraid of her. Like she's afraid of how Tully would view her. I know I mentioned this before but I find it ridiculous that it's clear Kate doesn't have any interest in being a reporter but she's scared of how Tully will perceive her. Which is so stupid because if they were really best friends it wouldn't matter. This book is full of cliches but the cliche I can't get behind is the assumption that just because two people are best friends that means they should be attached to the hip and do everything under the sun together.
Oh, and when Katie does get some agency and tells Tully how she feels (about Tully having an affair with her professor) it's this whole fight. Tully just can't handle Katie's truth. And I don't think that's sold ground for a friendship. I know hiked on Kate a lot in this review, but honestly, Tully is no better. She usually isn't interested in the things Kate likes and is too self-absorbed to take Kate's opinions seriously. Their friendship is just so forced and you can't convince me otherwise. I just can't understand how little agency someone would have to go above and beyond to impress something that's supposed to be their friend.
Overall this isn't a bad book, but it also wasn't anything phenomenal so I don't see any reason to continue if I wasn't enjoying it. If I had to give it a rating based on the portion that I did read, I'd give it a 3-star ⭐⭐⭐/5. (also, I thought the Firefly Lane Street would've served more significance and maybe it does later in the book, but if not the title it really does render the title of this book redundant)
spice rating: 🌶️.5/5
"They were lovers, who didn't love each other, and that made talking easier" (118).
This is the second book of hers that I've dnfed. I really wanted to like this! The storyline seemed right up my alley but it just didn't hit for me. For one, if the author was trying to convince me that these two had a friendship that would stretch through every lifetime, she did an extremely poor job of showcasing that. I feel like the author did a lot of telling the reader that these girls are "best friends" and not a lot of showing it. I was not convinced that these two were best friends at all. Even how they met didn't seem significant or life-altering in any way. And when they did meet you could already feel a power imbalance between them. Kate was so desperate for a friend that she literally had no agency when it came to Tully. It's like she could never say "no" to her and the same pattern trickles on throughout all the pages that I read.
Another instance: Kate decides she wants to be a reporter just because Tully wants to. And this stretches out for sooooo long that she literally ends up going to college to study broadcast & journalism and even gets a job where Tully works even though she literally isn't passionate about any of it.
I did like Tully at first. I really felt for her in terms of her upbringing and the things she had to go through. Weirdly enough I think it's her backstory that made her tolerable for me, but with Kate, I just found her super annoying from the get-go. She lives in this perfect little bubble where she's never had to face a single tragedy in her life and seems clueless about the struggles of the real world (which I understand is a part of her cliche, but I still found it annoying). She's so disrespectful to her mom in the beginning and I just don't get why. She's so desperate for friendship that she befriends the first person who gives her a little bit of attention. I just found her so pathetic.
Her thoughts: "Maybe she could get him to forget Tully or change his mind, maybe tonight she didn't care if she would be his second choice, or if it would be because of the booze. Love could grow from drunken passion, couldn't it" (157)? Like HOW PATHETIC CAN YOU BE?!🥴
This is also another quote from the book where Kate even admits that she plays second fiddle to Tully:
"If only she were like her friend—confident and sexy and willing to make a grab at whatever—and whomever—she wanted. Then she might have a chance, but the thought of Johnny's rejection, of a blank-eyed, Huh? kept her standing in the shadow. Tully's shadow to be precise. As always, Kate was the backup singer who never stepped into the spotlight........... Kate knew she should say no. The last thing she wanted to do was sit at the table and watch Johnny watch Tully—but what choice did she have? She was the sidekick. Rhoda Morgenstern. And wherever Mary went, Rhoda had to follow, even if it hurt like hell" (152-153).
And I'm supposed to believe their "best friends"?! Get real!
Back to their "friendship". To me, it seemed like a thing of convenience because both of them were desperate for companionship when they were teenagers and it just stretched out for years because they've tricked themselves into believing that their friendship will transcend time or something. In real life, these girls would not be friends. Of course for the obvious reasons I've listed above, but also because Kate seems to hide herself from Tully and seems lowkey afraid of her. Like she's afraid of how Tully would view her.
Oh, and when Katie does get some agency and tells Tully how she feels (about Tully having an affair with her professor) it's this whole fight. Tully just can't handle Katie's truth. And I don't think that's sold ground for a friendship. I know hiked on Kate a lot in this review, but honestly, Tully is no better. She usually isn't interested in the things Kate likes and is too self-absorbed to take Kate's opinions seriously. Their friendship is just so forced and you can't convince me otherwise.
Overall this isn't a bad book, but it also wasn't anything phenomenal so I don't see any reason to continue if I wasn't enjoying it. If I had to give it a rating based on the portion that I did read, I'd give it a 3-star ⭐⭐⭐/5. (also, I thought the Firefly Lane Street would've served more significance and maybe it does later in the book, but if not the title it really does render the title of this book redundant)
spice rating: 🌶️.5/5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Addiction, Rape, Sexual assault, Grief, Toxic friendship, and Abandonment
Moderate: Cursing, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Sexual content, and Alcohol
Minor: War