Firefly Lane book review

This past weekend, I actually had one whole hour to myself, and I was able to read outside, uninterrupted, for that entire hour!  I can't remember the last time that happened, and I enjoyed every second of it.  I used that time to finish Firefly Lane by Kristin Hannah. The book tells the story of Tully and Kate, two girls who become best friends at the age of 14 in the 1970s and remain best friends for the next three decades.  Here's an excerpt from the summary on the author's website:

For thirty years, Tully and Kate buoy each other through life, weathering the storms of friendship---jealousy, anger, hurt, resentment. They think they've survived it all until a single act of betrayal tears them apart…and puts their courage and friendship to the ultimate test.

I gave the book three stars out of five on Goodreads for a few different reasons.  My favorite part of the book (and this is going to sound really shallow) had to be all the different descriptions of the clothing and hair styles throughout the years.  I'm definitely not someone who keeps up on the latest fashion trends, but it was fun to read about the high-powered working woman suits of the 80s (complete with shoulder pads):


And popular hairstyles like "The Rachel," from Jennifer Aniston's character on Friends in the 1990s:


Parts of this book were entertaining, and the primary setting was Seattle, which I don't know a lot about, so it was interesting to read and I learned a lot.  However, I didn't particularly care for either of the main characters or their relationship (which is unfortunate, since that's what the book was based around).  Tully is self-centered, prideful, and unapologetic (her rough childhood made her this way, so I get it), and Kate is meek and content to be in Tully's shadow.  Throughout the whole book, both characters yearn for the life the other has (your typical "grass is always greener on the other side" idea), and Kate pretty much lets Tully walk all over her (with brief moments of courage throughout).  All of this wouldn't bother me as much if one or both had been dynamic, but by the end, I didn't really feel like either one of them had changed.  Maybe that was the idea or the goal, and Kristin Hannah wanted to show that they had stayed the same through years of change around them.  I'm not sure.  Also, and I won't give away a spoiler, but the end was hard for me to read because it was extremely emotional and a little too close to something I've experienced recently in my own life.  As I finished the book, I had tears running down my face, and that was not enjoyable to me.

All in all, I enjoyed reading the book as long as I didn't think too hard about it :).  I started The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern, so I will be blogging about that soon.

Has anyone else read either of these books?  I would love to know your thoughts!

"We all want to be good parents"

This past weekend, I finished reading Defending Jacob, by William Landay (see previous post for a summary).  I obviously won't give away any spoilers, but the ending...wow.  Just wow.  To be honest, I don't know if I can say that I really liked this book, BUT I couldn't stop reading it.  Does that make sense?  Kind of like how when you see an accident on I-75, you don't WANT to look, but you can't stop yourself from looking.  I think this book had such an impact on me because I'm a mom of two boys, and the fourteen-year-old boy in this book is being accused of murder.  The story really grapples with the idea of how far parents will go for their children.  I read an interview that Landay gave, and this is an excerpt from the interview that hit home with me:

I have two kids myself, boys who are seven and ten years old as I write this, so I understand how vulnerable our children make us, emotionally. We all want good things for our children. We all want to be good parents, make good decisions, do the right thing. And of course we all want to feel proud of our kids. But for a certain percentage of us, an unlucky few, it won’t work out that way. Inevitably some good parents — smart, well-meaning, conscientious people who do everything right — will see their kids wander into trouble anyway. It’s a risk you take when you have kids, and every parent knows it.  http://www.williamlanday.com/books/defending-jacob/defending-jacob-qa/

Ugh, if that doesn't give me even more to worry about with regards to parenting, I don't know what does.  As I read, I tried to put myself in the mom and dad's shoes...and then I got so bothered and disturbed about trying to do that, I had to quit.  I had the same experience one time when I read Jodi Picoult's book Nineteen Minutes, about a school shooting.  It's just a scenario that's a little too close to home, I think.

I won't tell you if Jacob is innocent or guilty, but I do want to share a picture of "Jacob" from Landay's own web site:


It seems as though Landay is wanting a certain message to be portrayed about his character, don't you think?  Yikes.

I moved on to the book Firefly Lane, by Kristin Hannah.  I had heard of this author by looking through Mrs. Palmer's "read" books on Goodreads, and the book was a monthly Kindle deal this month, so it seemed like the perfect time to give her a shot.  I'm about 25 % of the way through the book, and I'm enjoying it.  It's about two eighth-grade girls who have unexpectedly become best friends, and it takes place in the 1970s, so I love the fashion descriptions.  More on this book is to come, so stayed tuned!

Question for my readers:  In this post, I shared two books that disturbed me, yet I read them anyway.  Have you ever read a book that affected you emotionally but you kept reading?  Let me know!