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3.72 AVERAGE
3.72 AVERAGE
emotional
funny
lighthearted
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
That took a long time. I gave it a 3 but it’s much closer to a 2 1/2. Not sure I’ll read another Maeve Binchy if this is a typical book of hers.
Set in Mountfern, Ireland, a small rural town where everyone knows everyone and all of their business. The kids like to play in the ruins of an old grand home that burned down or was torn down years ago. They begin to notice that it seems like something is going on with the land. Turns out an American, Patrick O’Neill, wants to come back to his Irish roots and rebuild the home that once was in his family but not use it just for himself, to create a hotel that will bring some prosperity to the whole town.
We learn about everyone in the town. The paragraphs within each chapter bounce around from character to character. They aren’t confusing but there are so many of them that it drags the book along. Years and years go by and we are still just learning about the characters. Pages and pages go by and I feel like nothing is happening. Why is it called Firefly Summer? Then over halfway in there is finally a mention of fireflies!
Besides Patrick O’Neill and his children Kerry and Grace the other main family is the Ryan’s. John and Kate run a pub right up the hill from where the hotel is being built, Kate is afraid they will lose their business once the hotel is completed. They have 4 kids, twins Dara and Michael, Eddie, and Declan.
Tragedy after tragedy seems to be hitting the town. Will the hotel truly be good for the town for will it cause more bad things?
Set in Mountfern, Ireland, a small rural town where everyone knows everyone and all of their business. The kids like to play in the ruins of an old grand home that burned down or was torn down years ago. They begin to notice that it seems like something is going on with the land. Turns out an American, Patrick O’Neill, wants to come back to his Irish roots and rebuild the home that once was in his family but not use it just for himself, to create a hotel that will bring some prosperity to the whole town.
We learn about everyone in the town. The paragraphs within each chapter bounce around from character to character. They aren’t confusing but there are so many of them that it drags the book along. Years and years go by and we are still just learning about the characters. Pages and pages go by and I feel like nothing is happening. Why is it called Firefly Summer? Then over halfway in there is finally a mention of fireflies!
Besides Patrick O’Neill and his children Kerry and Grace the other main family is the Ryan’s. John and Kate run a pub right up the hill from where the hotel is being built, Kate is afraid they will lose their business once the hotel is completed. They have 4 kids, twins Dara and Michael, Eddie, and Declan.
Tragedy after tragedy seems to be hitting the town. Will the hotel truly be good for the town for will it cause more bad things?
An account of four fateful years in the life of a small Irish town. In particular the Ryan family that runs the local pub. The town changes when American millionaire Patrick O'Neill comes to town with his irresistible charm and pocketful of money. It is a summer that will change everything.
I found this book to be sadder than the previous Maeve Binchys I have read. It was, however, very enjoyable. Maeve really makes you care for the characters. Despite tragedy in the book, you laugh and find humor in life's troubles.
I found this book to be sadder than the previous Maeve Binchys I have read. It was, however, very enjoyable. Maeve really makes you care for the characters. Despite tragedy in the book, you laugh and find humor in life's troubles.
emotional
hopeful
reflective
sad
slow-paced
Disappointing for a Maeve Binchy book. I have read some of her others and couldn't get enough. This one really let me down. I am wondering if it was one of her earlier books and she was still trying to find her writing style.
I seem to be having issues with really getting into Maeve Binchy's earliest works. This one, "Firefly Summer" went on forever. There were way too many characters to keep track of, lack of character development though some characters reach epiphanies, an overall plot, and several side plots, and an abrupt ending to the whole thing.
Starting in 1962, the main focus of "Firefly Summer" is the Ryan family living in the Irish village of Mountfern. Parents John and Kate have five children (Twins Dara and Michael, Eddie and Declan) and are doing their best running their family owned pub. Things change for the family and village when American Patrick O'Neil decides to build a hotel in Mountfern. Due to the hotel being built, it is going to directly impact a lot of businesses, especially the Ryan pub which is going to have to deal with a loss of customers. Patrick has two children named Grace and Kerry who also end up impacting the Ryan family in a lot of ways as well.
There are so many other primary (Patrick O'Neil's hidden mistress/girlfriend Rachel Fine) and secondary characters (the Ryan's live in help Carrie) I would be here all day listing them out. Honestly I wish that the book had just stuck with the Ryan family and their POV throughout the book. Instead we get everyone's POV in this book and the whole thing feels so jumbled. I also kept getting people mixed up here and there, but just went with it because I wasn't in the mood to go back and re-read where they first got introduced.
I will say that my favorite characters in this would be Kate Ryan and Rachel Fine. I loved their friendship and thought it was interesting that Ms. Binchy would include a Jewish character in her book in order to showcase how America in the 1960s was prejudiced against those of a different religious background than Catholic.
Kate Ryan was definitely the heart of this story for me. She loves her family and wants to do everything she can to see them all safe and happy. When an accident happens that impacts her family you get to see how the village pulls together to take care of one of their own.
Rachel Fine I found to be a complex character who I really wanted to tell her to just be done with Patrick O'Neil. Rachel has put up with not being able to really be with Patrick like she wants because she has to deal with knowing her religion keeps Patrick from being officially "seen" with her as anything but her boss. Towards the end of the book we get Rachel finally seeing Patrick as he is and she realizes that she needs to move on. Of course it took like another 100 pages before she did.
I have to say the characters I found the most frustrating were the Ryan twins. I thought they were both beyond self absorbed and obsessed with Grace and Kerry O'Neil respectively. It just got beyond boring for me to keep reading about teenage love when there were so many other side plots going on. Anytime we switched to Dara and her obsessing over Kerry the book dragged. Same issue with Michael and Grace.
The writing is not typical Binchy to me. This whole book felt very long-winded. I like her later novels and short stories when she can tell you so much in just a few short words. Everything in this book felt over explained and described.
The flow was terrible. An event would be brought up and we would get six people's POV on it. The whole book just lumbered until we got almost to the end.
The setting of Mountfern didn't really come alive for me in this book like in previous Binchy novels. I would be able to tell you about all of the people, places in her other books and this one I am still confused on the layout of the town and other people's homes.
The ending was abrupt and the whole book comes to just a stop. I wish there had been an epilogue or something. After trudging through 600 plus pages I felt cheated that we really don't get an idea of what happened to characters. I can guess, but it be nice to have it confirmed.
Starting in 1962, the main focus of "Firefly Summer" is the Ryan family living in the Irish village of Mountfern. Parents John and Kate have five children (Twins Dara and Michael, Eddie and Declan) and are doing their best running their family owned pub. Things change for the family and village when American Patrick O'Neil decides to build a hotel in Mountfern. Due to the hotel being built, it is going to directly impact a lot of businesses, especially the Ryan pub which is going to have to deal with a loss of customers. Patrick has two children named Grace and Kerry who also end up impacting the Ryan family in a lot of ways as well.
There are so many other primary (Patrick O'Neil's hidden mistress/girlfriend Rachel Fine) and secondary characters (the Ryan's live in help Carrie) I would be here all day listing them out. Honestly I wish that the book had just stuck with the Ryan family and their POV throughout the book. Instead we get everyone's POV in this book and the whole thing feels so jumbled. I also kept getting people mixed up here and there, but just went with it because I wasn't in the mood to go back and re-read where they first got introduced.
I will say that my favorite characters in this would be Kate Ryan and Rachel Fine. I loved their friendship and thought it was interesting that Ms. Binchy would include a Jewish character in her book in order to showcase how America in the 1960s was prejudiced against those of a different religious background than Catholic.
Kate Ryan was definitely the heart of this story for me. She loves her family and wants to do everything she can to see them all safe and happy. When an accident happens that impacts her family you get to see how the village pulls together to take care of one of their own.
Rachel Fine I found to be a complex character who I really wanted to tell her to just be done with Patrick O'Neil. Rachel has put up with not being able to really be with Patrick like she wants because she has to deal with knowing her religion keeps Patrick from being officially "seen" with her as anything but her boss. Towards the end of the book we get Rachel finally seeing Patrick as he is and she realizes that she needs to move on. Of course it took like another 100 pages before she did.
I have to say the characters I found the most frustrating were the Ryan twins. I thought they were both beyond self absorbed and obsessed with Grace and Kerry O'Neil respectively. It just got beyond boring for me to keep reading about teenage love when there were so many other side plots going on. Anytime we switched to Dara and her obsessing over Kerry the book dragged. Same issue with Michael and Grace.
The writing is not typical Binchy to me. This whole book felt very long-winded. I like her later novels and short stories when she can tell you so much in just a few short words. Everything in this book felt over explained and described.
The flow was terrible. An event would be brought up and we would get six people's POV on it. The whole book just lumbered until we got almost to the end.
The setting of Mountfern didn't really come alive for me in this book like in previous Binchy novels. I would be able to tell you about all of the people, places in her other books and this one I am still confused on the layout of the town and other people's homes.
The ending was abrupt and the whole book comes to just a stop. I wish there had been an epilogue or something. After trudging through 600 plus pages I felt cheated that we really don't get an idea of what happened to characters. I can guess, but it be nice to have it confirmed.
I enjoy Maeve Binchy's stories. They are long, but worth the read. This one follows the story of the village of Mountfern. The village is filled with such diverse and interesting characters whose lives are typical of a small village, but then a stranger comes to town with big ideas. His dream is to raise his ancesteral home from ruins and create a hotel. He is excited with the prospect of returning to his Irish roots, though he never had set foot here before. What he doesn't realize is the impact that his arrival, his dream will have on everyone involved.
As with a lot of Maeve Binchy books, the concept sounded appealing but I didn't actually like the book once I got there. Ugh. Why is it that every single one of her books has to revolve around (mostly) horrible people doing horrible things to each other, or ten kinds of tragedy? And why do I still read them? Admittedly I haven't read any in years but I still keep the ones I haven't read and think "hmm, someday I'll get to that."
emotional
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
N/A
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes