Dance Of The Fireflies
How great and how beautiful is literature. Parallel world. Like any art. Many times so close to reality. Such a mirror without measure in what it narrates, in what it counts. Undressing, uncensored. In the background, the heartbeat of the author. In this case from the author, Kristin Hannah. A book can be beautiful, The Dance of Fireflies is.
It speaks of the fear of two teenagers who feel lonely, when neither of them thinks that it is impossible for the other to be. This wall falls, the meeting occurs; And it happens as it happens many times in reality, with a misfortune and a confession in a moment of vulnerability.
A moment when Tully can’t take it anymore and has to stop protecting himself, trusting, because otherwise he would disarm. Kate is there, waiting for her, as she always will (in her last years of high school, in college and beyond, far beyond), so that Tully does not fade away. Actually, so neither of us will.
The dance of fireflies is the story of two friends
Talk about how the fear of rejection ends up melting out of curiosity to know more and break the chrysalis. The challenge to the known, the desire to find a love similar to the one depicted in novels. It shows us that beyond experience, what is important is what we do with it : our toolbox for big occasions.
Kate has a family that loves her and imposes rules on her. Tully is a star who, from so many times she has been abandoned by her mother, has had to learn to shine for herself. In both we see a shared need that no adolescent ever confesses: the longing to awaken a look of pride in their parents. Kate thinks Tully has it all, Tully thinks Kate has it all.
Their friendship is born when they realize that one knows how to count and that the other knows how to listen. Tully soon knows what she wants to do and how she wants to do it, Kate, good Kate, takes longer. As she follows Tully and lifts her up when she threatens to fall, when the force of her past threatens to return her to the bottom of a dark well.
Each one will seek to save themselves as they learned. Tully being a (TV) star, Kate loving, loving, giving and understanding that there are people who have been so hurt that they have not learned to ask for forgiveness.
Tully is so powerful that she is able to capture the full attention of a room full of people. Kate is so brave that she is able to stay in the same room, even if no one is looking at her, protecting them all. In one way or another, Kate air to Tully and Tully is air to Kate, and living in two seemingly very different worlds, the two are able to breathe each other.
Love and friendship
The Dance of the Fireflies is not a realistic novel, it does not pretend to be. He does not aspire to be a faithful mirror, he is aware that most friendships do not work that way. However, it is a small hymn to hope, a beautiful story of how it could be if we knew how to do it many times.
Perhaps one of the most beautiful elements of its pages is how it is able to give voice to what a mother or daughter can feel in those moments in which one is too aware of the dangers that lie in wait and the other ignores them completely, approaching the bonfire that burns waving a deceptive flag of freedom.
In order not to spoil the pleasure of those who dive into its pages after this article, I do not intend to reveal too much of The Dance of the Fireflies , although it would not matter if I even reel them in full. Because perhaps the narrative has more value than the narrative, and that has a lot of merit when the background, the story itself, is worth it.
Perhaps the great merit of Kristin Hannah is to build two characters that we can recognize in their evolution. Something that we can see very well with Kate and how she learns to be a good mother. Your daughter’s gestures that hurt her, those that comfort her, annoy her or excite her.
There are many reasons that invite us to Dance of the Fireflies, the best thing is that you find yours. So, open your eyes wide and enjoy.
Editor’s note for the reader’s fears. The Dance of the Fireflies is not a novel for adolescents, it is a novel of the whole life. Adolescence is only the starting point of the exciting path that they will trace separately, together.
