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bennought's review against another edition
5.0
A beautiful and haunting book which explores the effects of the Depression on a Nebraska family, and how each member (especially the three brothers) deals with their situation. Two of the brothers become bank robbers, incredibly famous ones, while the third sticks to the straight and narrow at home. The fourth narrator is one of the bank robbing brother's girlfriend, who struggles with her own demons. Mullen weaves a unique, enthralling, and powerful story in which his characters grapple with guilt, ethics, death, each other, and, ultimately, the truth. Both this and [b:The Revisionists|13240488|The Revisionists|Thomas Mullen|http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1347926253s/13240488.jpg|15701383] have quickly made Mullen one of my new favorite authors, and I'd be willing to bet that you'd fall for his languid yet precise prose, intriguing and troubled characters, original concepts, and great storytelling.
ridgewaygirl's review against another edition
5.0
I can't write a reasoned, objective review of this book because I loved it so, so much. If I were living in 1934, and the Firefly Brothers were, well, not fictional, I'd be filling scrapbooks with newspaper clippings of their exploits.
The book opens with Jason Fireson waking up in a morgue. He's pretty good at sleeping anywhere, but he's never woken up naked on a metal table before. He's also got a row of welt-like holes on his chest. It doesn't take him long to find his brother on an adjacent table, wake him up and make their escape from the police station, thanks to an all too frightened officer they find in a locker room, who seems to think that they should be dead.
The brothers can't remember anything of the last few days and so the book moves back and forth through time, telling the story of how they became infamous bank robbers and of what happened to them after they woke from the dead. There's a mystery here, too, of what happened to get them killed in the first place.
Mullen takes the unbelievable and weaves it with a realistic depiction of how unrelentingly difficult the depression was for millions of Americans, sending families to live in ramshackle Hoovervilles and causing men to fight for any job available.
The book opens with Jason Fireson waking up in a morgue. He's pretty good at sleeping anywhere, but he's never woken up naked on a metal table before. He's also got a row of welt-like holes on his chest. It doesn't take him long to find his brother on an adjacent table, wake him up and make their escape from the police station, thanks to an all too frightened officer they find in a locker room, who seems to think that they should be dead.
The brothers can't remember anything of the last few days and so the book moves back and forth through time, telling the story of how they became infamous bank robbers and of what happened to them after they woke from the dead. There's a mystery here, too, of what happened to get them killed in the first place.
Mullen takes the unbelievable and weaves it with a realistic depiction of how unrelentingly difficult the depression was for millions of Americans, sending families to live in ramshackle Hoovervilles and causing men to fight for any job available.
retiredbookaholic's review against another edition
4.0
I really enjoyed this book. All I kept thinking while reading is that this book would make a good TV series.
jkkb332's review against another edition
3.0
Spoiler
The best part of this book was the focus on urban life in the Great Depression. That part was interesting, and a good reminder that while this year sucks, it could suck a lot worse. Unfortunately everything else just felt pretty meh. I love the concept - bank robbing brothers who keep returning from the dead - but it goes basically nowhere. They never learn from it, and there's never a good explanation for why it's happening. The main female character is a rebellious automotive heiress with a shitty dad - another concept that does not live up to its potential. I've had this book on my to-read list for a very long time and sadly it didn't live up to my (probably inflated) expectations.jaxxduece's review against another edition
4.0
Interesting read, enjoyed the era
Was great at taking me to a bygone era, I time I couldn't even fathom trying to live in. The book itself d finitely dragged at times, but I still enjoyed it. Shave about 60 pages and it would of been perfect
Was great at taking me to a bygone era, I time I couldn't even fathom trying to live in. The book itself d finitely dragged at times, but I still enjoyed it. Shave about 60 pages and it would of been perfect
ldv's review against another edition
3.0
The writing is okay, not brilliant. I was naively hoping for something like [b:The Sisters Brothers|9850443|The Sisters Brothers|Patrick deWitt|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1291999900s/9850443.jpg|14741473] but this is not nearly as witty. On the one hand, this is a book about two brothers trying to make sense of their apparent resurrections, their family, and their life as bank robbers in the face of their strong personalities. On the other hand, this is a book about the depression and how people tried to make sense of life after the financial catastrophe that destroyed their normal way of living, a time when "working hard and doing good" did not get a person anything, creating space for people to become heroes for alternative avenues. Seen in this second light, the book has more to offer than just a zany story about two men who don't stay dead. But it still works as fun fiction about bank robbers. Take what you like.
karieh13's review against another edition
4.0
Gangs, molls and robbing banks. Just the ingredients for a good-old yarn, right? You can practically smell the gunpowder and spilled gin… And yet? “The Many Deaths of the Firefly Brothers” is more than that. Much more.
First, I need to say that this Depression-era novel was eerily reminiscent of today. Of this time in our country where nothing is certain and days are filled with fear and worry about what the next day may bring. This book is set in 1934 – but there many similarities to what is making the news in 2010.
“The reality we’d all believed in, so fervently and vividly, was revealed to be nothing but a trick of our imagination, or someone else’s, some collective mirage whose power to entrance us had suddenly and irrevocably failed. What…had happened? What had we done to ourselves? The looks I saw on people’s faces. The shock of it all. Capitalism had failed, democracy was a sad joke. Our country’s very way of life was at death’s door, and everyone had a different theory of what would rise up to take its place.”
Jason and Whit Fireson rob banks. They steal money from the few places that still have money in 1934 – and they become anti-heroes to the Americans who are so desperate and so angry at seeing all they believed in and trusted being destroyed. Banks are foreclosing at constant rates, people are out of work, the stock market has crashed, and families are desperate. So when the pair starts garnering fame for stealing from those who are perceived as causing the financial chaos…they are dubbed the “Firefly Brothers” and their admirers start to outnumber their pursuers.
I picked this book hoping for some pure escapism, but got instead a great story AND some great insights.
“People tell their stories to place themselves somewhere solid in this great swirl that they can’t otherwise understand. The stories define what is possible, what the tellers yearn for, what they believe they deserve. The self-made man, the American dream, Capitalism, socialism, religion – all those narratives that try to contain everyone’s desires and fears within neat lines. Different tales, different obstacles, but the hero is always us, and the ending has us attainting what we’ve always wished for.”
Wow…I just had to read that again.
This really was a great story. It was a compelling tale of escape and adventure, of getaway cars and hideouts. Of double-crosses and dirty money. A chance to enter the mind of a criminal and look around.
“The right thing was confusing, and difficult, and sometimes Jason wondered if it was in fact a nonexistent ideal, like heaven or the American dream. There was no right thing. You did what you did for whatever reasons occurred to you at the time, depending on whichever emotion was running thickest in your blood. Your desire and fear and adrenaline and longing. You made your choice and came up with the reasons later.”
But what I keep coming back to is not what the story had to say about Depression-era criminals, but about us, about people in general. People who aren’t criminals, but who find themselves forced to consider choices they never expected.
“We believe there are things that are possible and things that are not, actions we can imagine doing and others that are beyond the pale. But then doors are swung shut and what once was impossible, unthinkable, is there before us, happening to us. Sometimes we throw open the doors ourselves, sometimes someone else pushes them open and points at what lies beyond. Sometimes we don’t even want to look. But we never have a choice.”
Law abiding citizens and criminals. Seemingly different sides of a coin – polar opposites. But in uncertain times, when the world seems upside down…identifying which one is good and which is bad becomes a much harder task.
First, I need to say that this Depression-era novel was eerily reminiscent of today. Of this time in our country where nothing is certain and days are filled with fear and worry about what the next day may bring. This book is set in 1934 – but there many similarities to what is making the news in 2010.
“The reality we’d all believed in, so fervently and vividly, was revealed to be nothing but a trick of our imagination, or someone else’s, some collective mirage whose power to entrance us had suddenly and irrevocably failed. What…had happened? What had we done to ourselves? The looks I saw on people’s faces. The shock of it all. Capitalism had failed, democracy was a sad joke. Our country’s very way of life was at death’s door, and everyone had a different theory of what would rise up to take its place.”
Jason and Whit Fireson rob banks. They steal money from the few places that still have money in 1934 – and they become anti-heroes to the Americans who are so desperate and so angry at seeing all they believed in and trusted being destroyed. Banks are foreclosing at constant rates, people are out of work, the stock market has crashed, and families are desperate. So when the pair starts garnering fame for stealing from those who are perceived as causing the financial chaos…they are dubbed the “Firefly Brothers” and their admirers start to outnumber their pursuers.
I picked this book hoping for some pure escapism, but got instead a great story AND some great insights.
“People tell their stories to place themselves somewhere solid in this great swirl that they can’t otherwise understand. The stories define what is possible, what the tellers yearn for, what they believe they deserve. The self-made man, the American dream, Capitalism, socialism, religion – all those narratives that try to contain everyone’s desires and fears within neat lines. Different tales, different obstacles, but the hero is always us, and the ending has us attainting what we’ve always wished for.”
Wow…I just had to read that again.
This really was a great story. It was a compelling tale of escape and adventure, of getaway cars and hideouts. Of double-crosses and dirty money. A chance to enter the mind of a criminal and look around.
“The right thing was confusing, and difficult, and sometimes Jason wondered if it was in fact a nonexistent ideal, like heaven or the American dream. There was no right thing. You did what you did for whatever reasons occurred to you at the time, depending on whichever emotion was running thickest in your blood. Your desire and fear and adrenaline and longing. You made your choice and came up with the reasons later.”
But what I keep coming back to is not what the story had to say about Depression-era criminals, but about us, about people in general. People who aren’t criminals, but who find themselves forced to consider choices they never expected.
“We believe there are things that are possible and things that are not, actions we can imagine doing and others that are beyond the pale. But then doors are swung shut and what once was impossible, unthinkable, is there before us, happening to us. Sometimes we throw open the doors ourselves, sometimes someone else pushes them open and points at what lies beyond. Sometimes we don’t even want to look. But we never have a choice.”
Law abiding citizens and criminals. Seemingly different sides of a coin – polar opposites. But in uncertain times, when the world seems upside down…identifying which one is good and which is bad becomes a much harder task.
cami19's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.75
mparker546's review against another edition
4.0
It starts out in 1934 with the Famous, Bank Robing Firefly Brothers waking up in a rural police morgue. A very compelling novel; great characters within an excellent story, hard to put down.
My only complaint is that it's third person POV tended to meander while taking the reader on a ride through memory lane; this left me wanting a time stamp within the chapters to keep the sequence of events straight.
My only complaint is that it's third person POV tended to meander while taking the reader on a ride through memory lane; this left me wanting a time stamp within the chapters to keep the sequence of events straight.