Fly Away

I think I understand why Kristin Hannah's books are popular. It is not because they are good literature. I read Fly Away because it was the selection of a book discussion group I attend. Hannah's stories are somewhat unbelievable and her characters are flat but she is good at playing to the reader's emotions. Her situations are overdone more like cartoons. Many of her characters are more like caricatures of a role. For example Pax, the goth boyfriend of the difficult daughter caricature of a character is an overdone caricature of a prick. He uses and takes advantage of Marah, the daughter of the story. The flashbacks to the 60s also seemed to be cartoonish. Unlike the author I was there in the 60s and it seemed the author did not show more research the era very carefully. I am sure this author will continue to be popular and sell books but I won't be reading any more. show less

I wanted to give this 4 stars, but just couldn't do it this time. Kristin Hannah always captures me with her writing and swirls me up into the story at the beginning. She has a gift of writing down feelings and emotions so that they are truly tangible. With this particular book, the "magic" of it faded for me in the middle. There was a lot of history of other people outside of the main characters and then the timelines and characters would switch without an indication which left me confused for a few paragraphs until I caught on. It still concluded nicely and I'm glad that I pressed on, but just felt like some of the maturity level of these characters was a little unbelievable and unrealistic.

Kristin Hannah is a good writer, storyteller, and memory evoker.

Fly Away is the sequel to the hit, Firefly Lane, which I admit, I did not read but watched. I know I missed out on a spectacular book. That being said, I was intrigued by Fly Away, wondering how Hannah could do it justice following Firefly Lane. She did, mostly.

Tully, following the death of her lifelong best friend, Kate, and Kate's family, struggle to cope. Tully becomes reckless with her health, career, and life, while Kate's 18-year-old daughter Marah is tumbling downhill fast without brakes. All this while Dorothy, formerly known as Cloud, has turned a corner and is looking for a reunion with her daughter, Tully.

There is a lot to Firefly Lane, if you have nothing to show more compare it to and read it as a standalone, you will love, love, love Fly Away. I, however, compared (Sorry Ms. Hannah), and I was left flat. The book is great, it's just not Firefly Lane. That being said, I have yet to read a Kristin Hannah I did not appreciate. She is a fabulous author.

As a standalone, I would give this a 5/5, but as a sequel a 4/5. Rounding up, this one is worth a 5, but I will not reside on my permanence shelf. I will be donating for someone else to enjoy. show less

To begin with, I received this book free via a giveaway from GoodReads. Despite that my opinions are unsullied by prejudice. Further, I have not read the book (or books) that precede this one so I'm viewing this title in isolation from others by this author.

Our story begins with an ending. Or, as they tend to put it in Hollywood, it begins as our protagonist hits rock bottom. Her life and career are in a shambles and her last chance at fixing any of it seems to have slipped away. When her car slams into a bridge abutment, we start to think that her life really is literally and officially at an end. From there, the story unwinds backwards and reveals to us exactly what brought our anti-heroine to her current plight.

Early on, after show more getting a feel for the book but not yet knowing exactly where it was going or how it was planning to get there, I formed an idea that I thought would be the "perfect way" to tell this story. Happily, the book proceeded to execute flawlessly on exactly that notion. So not only did the book not disappoint, it seemed to read my mind.

Like many in the world today, Hannah's characters are plagued with real problems that have their roots decades in the past. I have little doubt that you personally know someone like every single character in this book. The difference in this novel is the way in which it intricately weaves all those stories together linking abuser to abused and cause to effect. Here we have illustrated for us not only some of the horrors that many people live with every day but the answer to the sorrowfully articulated question of "why?" that springs to mind when we see our fellow humans in dire straits.

In summary, "Fly Away" is a unique and multi-faceted panorama of grief and regret from their underlying causes to their consequences and their ultimate resolutions. Seldom is an aspect of humanity suffering brought to light with such skill and emotion. show less

So, I have waited 24 hours to write this review. I did this because I was so overly emotional after I finished reading that I didn’t think I could write appropriately and objectively. But then I thought about it. It is impossible to be completely objective about a book, because our emotions will dictate how we respond, right? So here goes.

Fly Away is the Sequel to Firefly Lane. When I received Fly Away from St. Martin’s Press, I did not realize it was a sequel and so had to get the first one and read that first. You all know how I feel about reading books out of order. Right? Doesn’t work for me. So, if you didn’t see it, here’s my review of Firefly Lane. Go ahead, and see what I thought. I have time, I can wait a few mins.

So, show more if I thought Firefly Lane was an emotional roller coaster, Fly Away was like one of those rides that shoots you up into the air and drops you, over and over again.

This book is very emotionally driven. You get to see how many different reactions there are to the loss of a loved one. Every single character handles it differently and the emotional range is..incredible.

The plot twists and turns and takes you on a ride that you will never forget. This is the kind of book that can totally change lives.

I did give this book only a 4-1/2 star rating. Yep, I know. I gave the first one a 5. I should explain why I dropped the half. There are a few reasons, and to most people, they probably will not matter.

Having read this immediately following reading the first book, I noticed a tiny character inconsistency, or at least what felt like an inconsistency to me. In the first book, the character is William, and in the second book, he is Wills. I wish maybe they would have explained why the character changed how he was referred to, that is all. And it bugged me a little. The other issue I had was the shifting POV. Different sections of the book are from a different character’s perspective, and sometimes that can get confusing to me.

Overall, it didn’t interrupt the flow too much for me, though, and I still managed to devour this book in a day and a half. I loved the words on the page and now I am going to have to go back and read more books by this wonderful author.

You see, what I liked so much about this book is that it was very, very real. You can imagine the scenes as they are happening. you feel as though you are in each of the situations with the characters, feeling what they are feeling and going through what they are going through. Since I try to be spoiler free, there is not much else I can say without giving too much away, so you are going to have to read it yourself to see what I mean. show less

So, I have waited 24 hours to write this review. I did this because I was so overly emotional after I finished reading that I didn’t think I could write appropriately and objectively. But then I thought about it. It is impossible to be completely objective about a book, because our emotions will dictate how we respond, right? So here goes.

Fly Away is the Sequel to Firefly Lane. When I received Fly Away from St. Martin’s Press, I did not realize it was a sequel and so had to get the first one and read that first. You all know how I feel about reading books out of order. Right? Doesn’t work for me. So, if you didn’t see it, here’s my review of Firefly Lane. Go ahead, and see what I thought. I have time, I can wait a few mins.

So, show more if I thought Firefly Lane was an emotional roller coaster, Fly Away was like one of those rides that shoots you up into the air and drops you, over and over again.

This book is very emotionally driven. You get to see how many different reactions there are to the loss of a loved one. Every single character handles it differently and the emotional range is..incredible.

The plot twists and turns and takes you on a ride that you will never forget. This is the kind of book that can totally change lives.

I did give this book only a 4-1/2 star rating. Yep, I know. I gave the first one a 5. I should explain why I dropped the half. There are a few reasons, and to most people, they probably will not matter.

Having read this immediately following reading the first book, I noticed a tiny character inconsistency, or at least what felt like an inconsistency to me. In the first book, the character is William, and in the second book, he is Wills. I wish maybe they would have explained why the character changed how he was referred to, that is all. And it bugged me a little. The other issue I had was the shifting POV. Different sections of the book are from a different character’s perspective, and sometimes that can get confusing to me.

Overall, it didn’t interrupt the flow too much for me, though, and I still managed to devour this book in a day and a half. I loved the words on the page and now I am going to have to go back and read more books by this wonderful author.

You see, what I liked so much about this book is that it was very, very real. You can imagine the scenes as they are happening. you feel as though you are in each of the situations with the characters, feeling what they are feeling and going through what they are going through. Since I try to be spoiler free, there is not much else I can say without giving too much away, so you are going to have to read it yourself to see what I mean. show less

I am such a fan of Kristin Hannah. She writes stories that resonate for months after you close the book. I fell in love with the book Firefly Lane and was so excited when I heard a sequel was being written. There are so many times when you finish reading a book and you constantly wonder what happened to the characters...were they OK, were they coping, were they really trying to find a way in their new set of circumstances.

"Grief is a sneaky thing, always coming and going like some guest you didn't invite and can't turn away. She wants this grief, although she'd never admit it. Lately, it's the only thing that feels real." (Fly Away, Prologue)

Like I said, I was wondering about Tully, Marah, the twins and Johnny. How was the lost of show more Kate affecting each and every one of them? I was so glad to be back with them in Fly Away. I was glad to be with them, even in their grief. To see what happened to them... to see where their paths lead them. It was frustrating, difficult to read and heartbreaking to see how the void of Kate broke each person in their own way. But to be on the journey and to see where they finally ended up brought many tears, relief and closure!

I recommend that you read Firefly Lane first as it will add so much depth to this lifelong story about friendship, family and the unconditional power of love over loss. 4 stars show less