Firefly Lane by Kristin Hannah

Firefly Lane by Kristin Hannah

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


I've had this book on my shelf for at least 10 years but had never read it. This year, I kept seeing Kristin Hannah's name all over the place, because of The Great Alone, and I decided before I delve into that, I should read her book that I already own.

I started off liking Firefly Lane a lot. The story of two girls meeting in 1974 at the age of 14 and becoming best friends resonated with me and reminded me of some of my own childhood friendships. Then through 30 years of their friendship, it just started to drag and become unbelievable and clichéd. I disliked both of the main characters at different points for different reasons and it was difficult to believe they'd still be friends over all those years.

I can definitely understand the comparisons to Beaches, which I enjoyed a whole lot more. (However, I also read that 30 years ago, in my late teens, so maybe I'd feel differently reading it now.)

Nit-picky minor detail: If the girls met at the age of 14 in 1974, then presumably, it'd be approximately 1978 when they graduate high school and then 1982 when they graduate college. There's a scene right before their college graduation where they were listening to the Purple Rain soundtrack. That album didn't come out until 1984. As soon as I read that I was annoyed. And the annoying feeling, unfortunately, never went away as I read the book.

Despite all that, I finished the whole thing and even shed a few tears toward the end. It wasn't the best book I've ever read, but I liked it well enough and it didn't turn me off Kristin Hannah forever.

For what it's worth, I enjoyed the "soundtrack" of the book--the author makes notes of the songs they're listening to and I created a playlist that's fun to listen to.  Here's the playlist.