Book No: 2
Title: Firefly Cloak
Author: Sheri Reynolds
Genre: Fiction
Completed: 1/16/08
No. of Pages: NA-Audio
Rating: 3/5*****
Sheri Reynolds is the author of one of my all time favorite books The Rapture of Canaan. I was looking forward to Firefly Cloak and am sorry to say I was disappointed.
When Tessa Lee Birch was 9 years old her mother abandoned her and her 3 year old brother Travis, leaving them at a campsite with the phone number of their grandparents written in magic marker on Travis’ back. The only item Sheila leaves behind is a cloak decorated with embroidered fireflies, which Tessa Lee wraps herself in.
Skip ahead seven years and Tessa Lee has run away from the home she had been living in with her grandmother Lil, in search of her mother who has been seen working at a nearby boardwalk amusement park. When Tessa confronts her mother, and tells her something terrible has happened, Sheila denies being Tessa Lee’s mom and disappears once again. Returning home Tessa Lee must come to face some hard truths about her mother and face the loss of her mother, her grandfather and ultimately Travis.
The story had a lot of promise, looking at abandonment, death, addiction and family ties, forgiveness and redemption. The problems with the tale begin with the characters. Tessa Lee is 16 yet at times thinks and says things more appropriate for a 10 year old, perhaps to show that part of Tessa is still that little girl that Sheila deserted, but it just didn’t ring true. The next problem is Sheila, a character I had no sympathy for. Reynolds does not shy away from the terrible things drug addiction can do to her a person, yet I never felt anything for this woman except pity tinged with disgust.
I enjoyed Lil, Sheila’s mom and Tessa Lee and Travis’ grandmother, a strong woman, set in her ways, yet starting to change her stern outlook on life and someone who would do anything to help Tessa Lee and Sheila too. The mystery of what happened to Travis was dragged out a little too long and the ending of the book was littered with coincidences so in the end it was just an average book, lacking that spark that made The Rapture of Canaan so wonderful.
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2 comments:
I owuld have to disagree. I too first fell in love with Sheri reynold's books when I first read the Rapture of Canaan, and I can admit she has written better book such as the Gracious Plenty. However, the Firefly Cloack was a great story of a young girl coming to age and a strung out drug addict who finds a way to come back to the girl she once was. Although it did lack some Sheri Reynold's twist and tirns this story is more relatable than her others. I also liked how the character's past wasn't given to you in a chapter, but instead given piece by piece through short memories.
Jessica Maldonado-S. FL
You are certainly welcome to disagree, and are entitled to your opinion. I stated mine and I stand by it. Different people bring different things to every book they read and this one did not resonate with me. I wasn't looking for a twist to the story, it just felt flat to me and very unrealistic. It is just my opinion.
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