The Light of the Fireflies

The Light of the Fireflies Kindle download $5.99

The Light of the Fireflies     3/5   ***
                                   Paul Pen - Fiction/mystery

***The Light of the Fireflies is a KINDLE FIRST selection for March, 2016 which means you could download it for FREE or pay only $1.99!***

The Light of the Fireflies  was my Kindle first selection for March and I am still a little unsure how I feel about the book as a whole.  
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The premise of the book is good. The characters are well developed and there’s enough intrigue to keep the reader reading, but how the characters and the plot twist together to formulate the conclusion leaves me feeling unsettled and a little disappointed. 

A boy born and raised completely in the confines of an old lighthouse basement; having never smelled fresh air or felt the grass between his toes, it’s sad and selfish. He shares the confines of the basement with his parents, brother, sister and grandmother but his only friends are a cactus and the mysterious fireflies that suddenly appear. 

Things get a little wonky when his sister has a baby. The speculation jumps from one family member to the next after Mr. Pen builds the relationship between father and son, a relationship described only as fragile and fake. But maybe things aren't as they appear,  maybe its all a farce? A ploy to get the boy to do something he may not want to do.  

Without giving too much away, I will say the reason as to how and why this family ends up living in a basement is a bit absurd and very unbelievable. Granted, The Light of the Fireflies is a fictional piece, the characters and events of the text are mostly plausible so I feel like the rest of the book should be as well. It feels like Mr. Pen felt he needed something extra dramatic to make his book pop and, in my opinion, there were better avenues to achieve that goal.  

I enjoyed the book but I would have enjoyed it more with a different ending. 

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